Since the early 1820’s the hilly neighborhood west of downtown Syracuse has been known as Tipperary Hill. Settled primarily by Irish immigrants who made up a large part of the labor force on the Erie Canal the area received the name Tipperary Hill because most of settlers were originally from County Tipperary in Ireland.
When the canal, which extended from the Hudson River at Albany to Buffalo on Lake Erie, was completed in 1825, many of the Irish laborers stayed on because Syracuse, with its central location on the canal had just been named a village and was on its way to becoming a thriving city in two more decades.
In the latter part of the 19th century many factories located at the southeastern corner of the sprawling Tipperary Hill had provided good jobs for the many Irish in the neighborhood. St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church was established there in 1884 and serves the area to this day.
When the City of Syracuse first started to install traffic signal lights in the 1920’s, they put one at a busy intersection on the hill, the corner of Tompkins Street and Milton Avenue. Some Irish youths, incensed that anyone would dare put the “British” red above the “Irish” green broke the light continually until the city relented and let the green remain on top. Today at the intersection, a small park and sculpture memorializes the group known as the “Stonethrowers”. On March 15, 2005 Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern visited Tipperary Hill and had his photo taken at the light. His comment: “What they were up to in those days were kept for the future. I’m not sure how legal it was...but anyway ...ha ha ha!”.
Tipp Hill is enjoying a resurgence today as a comfortable city neighborhood populated by a diverse but Irish influenced citizenry.