Episode 45: Land of Opportunity: Irish Immigrants in the 1950s and 1960s

After the immigration wave of the 1920s, the next big wave occurred in the 1950s and 1960s. While the 1950s immigrants came from all over Ireland, the earlier connections between Cleveland and County Mayo were reinforced. Several factors slowed Irish immigration down between the late 1920s and the 1950s: the first restrictions on immigration from Europe in 1924, the worldwide depression of the 1930s, and World War II. Many Irish people found it easier to immigrate to England in the 1930s and 1940s. When the English economy was slow to recover after WWII, some Irish immigrants looked to Canada or Australia. But the US was still the destination of choice. Most of the 1950s and 1960s immigrants worked at laboring jobs. They had a strong presence in the Building Laborers Local 310. Some were able to parlay laboring occupations into business ownership. Cleveland's economy was still humming then, and they were absorbed into it readily.