by Clare Martin, Glucksman Ireland House, New York University

© Clare Martin, 2024. All rights reserved.

185 York Street, on the corner of Hudson Avenue, was known to Irishtown residents in the mid- to late 19th century as  “Fenian Hall.”^[1] It served as a political meeting place for citizens of Brooklyn’s 5th Ward, whether they were civilians or “white boys in blue”—a moniker indicating both soldiers and sailors in this context.^[2] As the name states, Fenian Hall was a home for Irish Nationalism on American soil; Irish emigrants to Irishtown were able to financially support Fenian efforts at home and in other states or countries as well as garnering civilian military prowess in case of an Irish uprising against colonial England.^[3] In addition to serving as a meeting place, 185 York Street also housed families; it was a multi-purpose space that was one of multiple fixtures of Irish-American Irish Nationalism in mid-19th century Irishtown.^[4]

^[1] “Political Meetings,” The Brooklyn Eagle, Aug. 26, 1868, p. 2. Accessed 3 December 2024. https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/50427723/?match=1&terms=%22“185%20york”%22.

^[2] “A Meeting of the Conservative Soldiers and Sailors,” The Brooklyn Eagle, Aug. 19, 1868, p. 3. Accessed 3 December 2024. https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/50427700/?match=1&terms=%22“185%20york”%22;

“The White Boys in Blue,” The Brooklyn Eagle, Aug. 27, 1868, p. 2. Accessed 3 December 2024.  https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/50427727/?match=1&terms=%22“185%20york”%22.

^[3] Kevin Kenny, “American-Irish Nationalism” in Making the Irish American, ed. Marion R. Casey and Joseph Lee (New York University Press, 2006), 290-292; “Meeting on Fort Greene,” Brooklyn Evening Star, Jun. 21, 1848, p. 2. Accessed 3 December 2024. https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/117458778/?match=1&terms=“Shakespeare%20Hotel; “Fifth Ward Musketeers,” The Brooklyn Eagle, Aug. 29, 1868, p. 2. Accessed 3 December 2024. https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/50427735/?match=1&terms=%22185%20york%20%22;

^[4] “Shannon,” The Brooklyn Eagle, Mar. 27, 1875, p. 2. Accessed 3 December 2024. https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/50419337/?match=1&terms=%22“185%20york”%22