A canal craze swept the nation after the Erie Canal was completed in 1825, resulting in many states looking to create canal systems. Indiana began planning a man-made waterway to connect Lake Erie in Toledo, Ohio, to the Ohio River in Evansville as early as 1826. The United States Congress gave Indiana a large amount of land to begin canal construction the following year. Construction on the Wabash and Erie Canal finally began with a groundbreaking ceremony in Fort Wayne on February 22, 1832. Advertisements for available construction jobs in Indiana were a major draw for Irish immigrants coming to the United States in the 1830s and 1840s. By 1837, about one thousand workers were employed on canal projects throughout the state. Newspapers circulated advertisements to recruit more workers. Though not explicitly recruiting Irish workers, advertisements appealed to immigrants who needed a well-paying job.
Arriving at the canal corridor, Irish men found jobs as contractors and laborers. Some advertisements in news publications around the state promised laborers lodging and $20 a month for their work and offered plots of land around the canal for $1.25 per acre. However, most laborers only received $10 a month, roughly worth about $363 today. Contractors often docked workers’ pay to account for food and lodging costs. Sometimes, the canal company paid laborers in certificates for small pieces of land rather than money.
Canal workers faced many hardships. Irish immigrants working on the canal lived in small, unhealthy shelters. The men, some with their wives and children, usually lived in cheaply built camps of 100-200 people. Contractors often had small homes to themselves, while most laborers lived together in larger buildings. Diseases were common in the canal environment, especially among the camps. Insects carrying illnesses, poor sanitation practices, and hard labor resulted in a high death rate among canal hands. The work itself was brutal. Men first cleared wide paths through trees and brush. Diggers followed, using picks and shovels to load cleared earth into horse-drawn carts. Many camps had nearby mass graves to bury laborers who died in work accidents and malaria or cholera outbreaks.
Thousands of Irish laborers survived horrible conditions and backbreaking work to complete the Wabash and Erie Canal in 1843. At 468 miles, the canal was the longest in the United States. Navigable water systems were important to the transportation of both goods and people. Indiana became more involved in national trade routes with the canal connecting the state to the Great Lakes via Toledo. However, the state did not have enough money to maintain the canal for long. The Wabash and Erie Canal closed in the 1870s.
]]>In late August 1897, three branches of the Ancient Order of Hibernians gathered for their annual picnic at Robison Park in Fort Wayne. Over 3,000 people of Irish nativity or descent flocked to the new amusement park to enjoy the festivities. The afternoon boasted a variety of sporting events, allowing Irish American men to demonstrate their athletic skills. The “fine program of sports” included baseball, Gaelic football, and hurling. With a combination of American and Gaelic sports, the Irish community celebrated its cultural heritage and ideas of traditional Irish masculinity while shaping its distinct Irish American identity.
Robison Park was decked with green on August 27, 1897, for one of its largest events of the year. The excursion offered food, dancing, and speeches from community leaders, but sport was the main attraction. The afternoon began with a baseball game between the Shamrocks and the Emeralds, two local teams in the Robison Park League. Other teams in the league, like the Hibernian Rifles and the Clover Leaves, also boasted Irish-inspired names and had largely Irish rosters. The Emeralds prevailed over the Shamrocks, 14-8.
Though baseball was growing into a popular pastime for Irish Americans in the Midwest, Gaelic sports attracted the most attention, symbolizing cultural revival and nationalist pride. A Gaelic football match followed the baseball game. Young men from existing area teams met on the grassy pitch to play the uniquely Irish sport, which combined elements of soccer and rugby. Division 3 defeated Division 1, one goal and three points to none.
The sporting events concluded with the first hurling exhibition ever played in Fort Wayne. The ancient Gaelic sport, now the national sport of Ireland, was a high-contact activity with militaristic undertones. Using a curved wooden stick called a hurley, athletes attempted to hit a small ball known as the sliotar through or over their opponent’s goalposts. The team of recent immigrants who learned to play hurling in Ireland easily defeated the American-born team, one goal and one point to one point.
The Irish community of Fort Wayne continued celebrating Hibernian Day at Robison Park into the 1910s. Sport remained a significant part of the festivities and the Irish identity of the athletes and attendants.
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