Episode 17: Bread, Beer, and Boarders

In the 1860s and 1870s more and more Irish immigrants decided to go into the business of providing goods and services to their neighbors. Opening a grocery store, a saloon, or a boarding house increasingly became an option for immigrants who didn’t have a trade but had the ambition to be their own boss. People in those days didn’t travel far and wide to shop in specialty boutiques or to sample craft beer or whiskey. They sought the basics in food and drink in their own neighborhoods, even on their own blocks. Irish-run grocery stores, saloons, and boarding houses on both the West and East Sides of the River, near the River mouth, a grocery store in Newburgh, and one in Tremont reflected settlement patterns for Irish people in Cleveland. These small business owners paved a path toward upward mobility for themselves, but at the same time gave their immigrant neighbors a sense of community and belonging.