Discover the History of Denver’s Irish

Jan. 30, 2012 - PRLog -- New from Arcadia Publishing’s popular Images of America series is Irish Denver by local authors Dennis Gallagher, Thomas Jacob Noel, and James Patrick Walsh. This pictorial history boasts more than 200 vintage images and provides readers with a unique opportunity to reconnect with the history that shaped their community.

The very first Irish in Denver came as miners, railroad workers, soldiers, and domestic servants. These workers, cogs of an expanding American industrial empire, later gave way to 20th-century politicians, priests, and business leaders who defined Irish respectability.

Denver has always been a prominent stopping point for Irish patriots and cultural icons on their way to California. Former visitors include Oscar Wilde, Michael Davitt, Eamon de Valera, and Mary McAleese. Irish cultural institutions and businesses continue to flourish across Denver, which today boasts of having the second-largest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the nation.

Irish Denver is the first ever book on Denver’s Irish. It focuses on the Irish at work and at play and sparkles with many heretofore unpublished photos and true tales.

Denver native Dennis Gallagher served 24 years in the Colorado Legislature and eight years on city council. Thomas Jacob Noel is a professor at the University of Colorado Denver, an author or coauthor of 40 books and articles, and appears as “Dr. Colorado” on Channel 9’s Colorado & Company. James Patrick Walsh, author of Michael Mooney and the Leadville Irish, also teaches at the University of Colorado Denver and Regis University and is the founder of the Romero Theater Troupe.

Available at area bookstores, independent retailers, and online retailers, or through Arcadia Publishing at (888)-313-2665 or www.arcadiapublishing.com.

# # #

With more than 7,500 local history titles published to date, Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States. Widely recognized sepia books feature hundreds of vintage historical images.