Construction of the Ohio & Erie Canal from 1825 to 1832 required approximately 5,000 workers, and many of them were Irish immigrants. Several had worked on the Erie Canal project in New York state, which was completed in 1825, then moved on to Ohio for the next canal project. The 308-mile, hand-dug Ohio & Erie Canal connected Lake Erie to the Ohio River at Cleveland and Portsmouth.
While the Cascade Locks section of the canal was under construction, canal laborers erected housing for themselves and their families along Furnace Street in Akron. This became one of the city’s earliest working-class neighborhoods, and for many years it was known as Little Dublin. While nothing remains of Little Dublin today, a familiar Akron landmark, St. Vincent de Paul Church in West Hill, is tied to these canal builders.
After the completion of the Ohio & Erie Canal through Akron, many of the Irish stayed in Little Dublin and took jobs digging clay for the local pottery companies, constructing the Pennsylvania & Ohio Canal, quarrying stone, building the Cascade Race channel to power the mills along the canal, and later building and maintaining the railroads.
Akron’s Irish immigrants face discrimination, low-paying jobs
The Irish experienced a great deal of prejudice in the United States in the 19th century. Many did not speak English and therefore could not find employment outside of low-paid, manual labor positions. They were also discriminated against because of their Catholic beliefs, especially in communities such as Akron that had been founded by Protestant New England settlers.
Akron’s Irish population increased even more during Ireland’s Potato Famine of the 1840s. In addition to Little Dublin, another Irish neighborhood was established on the south side near Thornton, South Main and Washington streets, close to the railroad and blast furnaces and near the site of today’s GOJO Industries headquarters. The fiery furnaces inspired the neighborhood’s nickname, Hell’s Half Acre. Anti-Irish sentiments of the time also fed into the neighborhoods’ pugnacious reputation.
As is the case for many immigrant communities, traditional religious gatherings served as opportunities to find solace and connection in addition to meeting spiritual needs. The first Irish Catholic Mass was held in the log cabin home of James McAllister in 1833 by the Rev. John Martin Henni from Cincinnati. In 1837, Father Basil Shorb founded Akron’s first Catholic Church, St. Vincent de Paul. Masses continued to be held in private Irish homes until 1845, when a small wood-frame building was completed on Green Street. The parish’s school opened in 1853.
Church construction begins in 1864, finishes in 1867
Construction began in 1864 on the current Romanesque Revival stone church at the corner of Maple and West Market streets. The stone for the church was quarried in Twinsburg. The congregation held regular fundraisers to support the project, including concerts, St. Patrick’s Day festivals and dinners. The church was formally opened on Sunday, Oct. 20, 1867, although the final interior touches wouldn’t be complete until the following year.
The 10 original stained glass “figure” windows were made in Chicago and installed in 1868. They featured apostles, prophets and saints – including the two saints most associated with Ireland, Bridget and Patrick. Exterior architectural details include the keystone in the form of Jesus’s head above the central tower window and the humorous “grotesques” above the east and west windows.
The church underwent several renovations in the 1940s, including the installation of rubber tile flooring, a redecoration of the sanctuary, the replacement of the stained glass windows and copper roof, and the installation of a new front staircase. Eikona Studios of Cleveland completed a meticulous restoration of the sanctuary’s decorative plasterwork in September of 2023.
In the more than 150 years since the original building’s completion, St. Vincent parish has expanded into a campus. St. Vincent High School was opened in 1906 at the corner of West Market and Walnut streets. The current parish elementary school building was built in 1956. In 1972, St. Vincent High School merged with South Akron’s St. Mary High School, becoming St. Vincent-St. Mary. The current high school building was completed in 1973. The original high school building was torn down in 1996 and the family center was constructed in its place.
If it wasn’t for the Irish canal workers, Akron arguably wouldn’t be here. St. Vincent de Paul Church, Akron’s oldest Catholic church, serves as a monument to them and the later generations of Irish who helped shape Akron from its origins as a canal town into the city it is today.