Irish and Italian history guides — the communities that built the city
Cleveland's immigrant neighbourhoods are among the most historically significant in the American Midwest. Irish families arrived first in the 1840s, settling the Cuyahoga River banks and the hillside bluffs. Italian immigrants — predominantly Sicilian — followed in the 1890s, building one of America's best-preserved Little Italys. These are their stories.
Cleveland's original Irish settlement on the south-side bluff above the Cuyahoga River — built by famine-era immigrants from Mayo, Galway, and Clare. Its Gothic church towers are the neighbourhood's enduring monument.
Read the history →One of America's best-preserved Italian-American neighbourhoods, settled by Sicilian stone cutters and masons in the 1890s. Home to Holy Rosary church and the Feast of the Assumption — held every August since 1898.
Read the history →Cleveland's earliest Irish settlement, where canal workers turned produce vendors established the market tradition that became the West Side Market — still operating after 130+ years on the same corner.
Read the history →Love Ireland is a weekly newsletter for Irish descendants worldwide. 64,000+ readers across the US, Canada, Australia, and Ireland.
Read Love Ireland — FreeMore neighbourhood guides: Chicago · Boston · New York · Pittsburgh · Philadelphia