Irish Immigration and the Creation of Cathedral Square

Nearing the end of the eighteenth century, Slater Mill was constructed in the nearby town of Pawtucket, heralding in the industrial era. Due to abundant waterways and eager investment from the city’s merchant elite, Providence quickly became one of the most prolific factory cities in America. By the 1820s, there was a large demand for factory laborers in the city. This drew a wave of immigrants (mostly from Ireland as a result of famine) to Providence. Textile factory business was booming and new laborers were in high demand. Francis Hye,[1] one of the few Irish arrivals to become a citizen at the time, was able to purchase a plot along High Street from Isaac Mathewson in Duty Greene’s store near Hoyle Square In the 1830s, the Irish were still a small minority of the population, but a growing number of immigrants banded together for worship. Father John Corry, an Irish immigrant himself, was appointed parish priest. He set out to buy land in the Protestant city but was rebuffed. Hye transferred the land deed to Corry and construction of a new parish shortly began. The new humble Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul was dedicated in 1838. The Cathedral was barely taller than the surrounding houses, but it was still a major community site for new Irish migrants.

During the economic boom of the early nineteenth century, Cathedral Square flourished as a new residential area for Providence’s merchant elite. Textile merchants, like Daniel Arnold, used their deep connections to Southern ports to invest directly in cotton produced by enslaved people in the South.[2] Arnold commissioned prominent Providence architect John Holden Greene to design his mansion, known as the Arnold Palmer House. Greene also designed many other houses that lined the square.