St. Patrick’s Day festivities are in full swing in New Orleans, bringing parades and festivals to the city all month long. This Saturday, March 14, the Irish Channel St. Patrick’s Day Parade will run again after last year’s cancellation, resuming a beloved tradition.
The Uptown parade has been organized by the Irish Channel St. Patrick’s Day Club since 1947. Today, the president of the committee is Richard “Dick” Burke, Jr, son and nephew of two of the founders, Dick and Paul Burke. With such a long presence in New Orleans, the Irish community has shaped this city for generations.
Laura Kelley, adjunct professor of history at Tulane University, wrote a book called “The Irish in New Orleans,” which traces Irish immigration to New Orleans and describes the continued importance of the Irish community.
As opposed to other American cities with large Irish populations, the first Irish immigrants arrived in New Orleans starting as early as the 1700s, decades before the Irish Potato Famine in the mid-1800s, according to Kelley.
The first large wave of Irish immigration arrived after the Napoleonic Wars in the early 1800s, which is also when the first St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New Orleans rolled. By the 1850 census, almost 25% of New Orleans’ total population was Irish-born — a much larger percentage than in other major cities like Boston and Philadelphia.
Many early Irish immigrants in New Orleans also did not come directly from Ireland. Instead, for those who arrived when Louisiana was still under colonial rule, many first went to Spain or France before coming to New Orleans. This is owed in large part to the fact that both Spain and France were Catholic, so Irish Catholics escaping religious persecution under the Penal Laws fled to these countries.
Catholicism was present in New Orleans before the Irish under Spanish and French rule, but as more Irish Catholics arrived, they built up the city’s collection of churches.
One example is St. Patrick’s Church on Camp Street, which Kelley said was “built by the Irish, for the Irish” in 1840.
Kelley said that where Irish immigrants in other cities were targets of religious persecution, Irish Catholics in New Orleans were able to construct their own churches and community centers without fear.
The permanent settling of Irish immigrants meant the beginnings of specific Irish neighborhoods, according to Kelley, like the area around Lafayette Square, parts of Mid City, Central City and, of course, the Irish Channel.
“If you want to know where the Irish communities were in New Orleans, look to where their churches are,” Kelley said.
Kelley said historians don’t know the origin of the name of the “Irish Channel,” but they do know how the neighborhood contributed to New Orleans’ culture, especially in the case of the Irish Channel St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
Founded by the Burke brothers in 1947, Kelley said the parade actually started as a form of community action for neighbors facing poverty from World War II and the leftover impacts of the Great Depression.
The Burke brothers were both property assessors for the Irish Channel, and in New Orleans, assessors did more than just deal with property matters — it was about “helping your own,” Kelley said.
In the early days of the Irish Channel Parade, the iconic vegetable throws still thrown today, including cabbage and carrots, were introduced.
“Because these were hard times, and [the food throws are] a really great way … to hand out food to your community without anybody feeling ashamed,” Kelley said.
These vegetables are “everything you need to make an Irish stew, but the meat,” Kelley said. “I love that aspect to it, because it’s really being in touch with your community,”
The Irish Channel St. Patrick’s Day Parade will start at 1 p.m. on Saturday, bringing back the city’s beloved cultural celebration from its brief hiatus and giving us a taste of the deep history of Irish settlement and community in New Orleans.