From the Introduction to

“The Irish Fellowship Club of Chicago—One Hundred Years”:

The centennial of The Irish Fellowship Club of Chicago marks a moment of high history in the story of the growth and development of the Irish in the City of Chicago. This amazing century, spanning the years from 1901 to 2001, stands as a golden era of Chicago life. The political, commercial and religious character of the city was galvanized by the arrival of teeming numbers of immigrants whose commitment to hard work and New World achievements made Chicago a twentieth century wonder. And no one made themselves more at home in the wonder of Chicago than the Irish whose voice and hope shaped its neighborhoods, whose faith fashioned its parishes, whose sweat built its streets and railroads and whose muscle began it all in the building of the Illinois and Michigan Canal.

This informative and engaging book provides an invaluable glimpse into the early days of The Irish Fellowship Club and demonstrates how Irish-Americans throughout Chicago, and The Irish Fellowship Club members in particular, stood shoulder to shoulder on the front lines of Chicago’s battle for world prominence. Author Thomas O’Gorman proves that the ascendancy of Chicago to the world political stage is inextricable from the Irish-American experience and that, in many ways, the Irish-American experience is inextricable from Ireland’s struggle for independence from British rule.

The book contains hundreds of historical photographs and includes a list of all 100 Club Presidents.

158 pp.
$25.00

Click on the images below to view larger images of book spreads.