Episode 47: Join the Club: 1950s and 1960s Immigrants Take the Lead

Postwar immigration energized Irish club activity in Cleveland. The newcomers helped to revitalize the city's longest-lasting Irish organization--the Ancient Order of Hibernians and its Ladies Auxiliary--and the West Side Irish American Club which had already been a community hub since its founding in 1930. The 1950s and 1960s immigrants also established new clubs: The Pioneer Total Abstinence Association and four clubs that were devoted to preserving traditional Irish culture and joined forces as the Associated Irish Clubs: The Gaelic Football Club, the Gaelic Hurling Club, the Irish Musicians Association, and the Gaelic Society. The 1950s and 1960s cohort also revived interest in an east-side social center, resulting in the Irish American Club East Side, which was founded in 1978.