From Ohio History Central
The West Side Irish-American Club is an organization of Irish Americans who live on the west side of Cleveland, Ohio.
Even before Ohio attained statehood in 1803, large numbers of Irish immigrants came to what would become the seventeenth state within the United States of America. As late as 1900, 55,018 native-born Irish people resided in Ohio, making them the second largest such group, behind only Germans, in the state. The number of Irish migrants declined over the next twenty years. In 1920, only 29,262 native-born Irish people lived in Ohio, ranking them as the tenth largest group behind Germans, Hungarians, Poles, Italians, Austrians, Russians, British, Czechoslovakians, and Yugoslavians. The number of Irish immigrants continued to decline during the rest of the twentieth century, with it nearly ceasing following World War II.
Despite the declining numbers of Irish immigrants, Irish Ohioans established numerous organizations to celebrate their homeland. One such organization was the West Side Irish-American Club. Established in 1931, this organization was founded in and remains in the Cleveland area today. The West Side Irish-American Club celebrates Irish culture, providing local Irish Ohioans with opportunities to engage in traditional Irish customs and celebrations. At the time of this writing, the organization boasts more than one thousand members. The West Side Irish-American Club illustrates the influence that Irish immigrants have had on Ohio's development.
- Van Tassel, David D., and John J. Grabowski, eds. The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996.