Late 19th Century Irish Power

As Evelyn Savidge Sterne argues in her book, Ballots and Bibles, many Irish immigrants came to Providence with organizing experience and quickly infiltrated the Democratic machine. The self-styled Republican Mayor Doyle helped promote his fellow Irishmen (regardless of party alliance) into managerial positions within the city government.[17] Especially with the professionalization of the police and fire departments, the Irish quickly gained political power. The Irish specifically used the Catholic Church as a political tool to argue for religious pluralism in Providence. While the Irish were still a political minority, during Mayor Doyle’s reign, their power grew at a remarkable pace.

In 1872, the Providence diocese was formally separated from the offices in Hartford. Local Irish leaders used this newfound formal recognition of their community to transform the prominently Irish west side of downcity. The Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul was in disrepair and missing part of the ceiling. First Bishop of Providence and Irish-born Thomas Francis Hendricken hired Irish-born Patrick Keeley to build a grand new cathedral to serve the ever-expanding Catholic population of the city. The Cathedral was formally dedicated in 1889. As one local historian described it, “The Cathedral became a monument to the Irish Catholic experience in Providence.”[18]