Portland, Oregon’s connection to Ireland and Irish America

The Portland Hibernian Society exists for anyone who wants to get together with like-minded people to learn more about Ireland - its history, its culture, its people, its politics. Check out our newsletter. Hibernian Independent newsletter. Welcome to our website.

From the Hibernian Independent

Featured
JFK Marycrest HS.jpg
1960 Election: When JFK was everywhere in Oregon. Samhain:Made in Ireland.
Read More →
Meeting Tonight and News From Ireland
Meeting Tonight and News From Ireland

Rugby star Bundee Aki was one of more than three thousand new Irish citizens welcomed in ceremonies this month.

Read More →
How 12 “devoted nuns” made history here.
How 12 “devoted nuns” made history here.

Anyone “taught by nuns” knows that not all Sisters were created equal, at least in the eyes of their students. Some were sent by God to teach us and guide us through childhood and adolescence with a firm but gentle hand. Others we didn’t get along with so well. Here in Greater Portland, there have been a number of historically important Orders.

Read More →
Ireland’s Impressive Olympics
Ireland’s Impressive Olympics

The 64 women and 69 men who went to Paris to represent the Republic of Ireland at the Olympics returned to a hero's welcome at the GPO with more than just medals. More medals than Ireland had ever won at the Olympics. They also brought home stories. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.

Read More →

From the Blog

Featured
SIX TAKEAWAYS FROM JFK’S OREGON CAMPAIGN 
SIX TAKEAWAYS FROM JFK’S OREGON CAMPAIGN 

The Kennedy for President campaign came early and often to Oregon.

Read More →
Edna O’Brien: A writer revered and reviled in Ireland
Edna O’Brien: A writer revered and reviled in Ireland

Edna O’Brien outlived most of her critics in Ireland. The writer died at 93 on July 28, 2024.

Read More →
RED, WHITE, BLUE AND GREEN 
RED, WHITE, BLUE AND GREEN 

Thousands of soldiers who sailed to America from Ireland in the 1700s joined their sons on the front lines of the Revolutionary War to free America from British rule.

Read More →

Hibernians Meet Stephen J. McCormick - Irish Community Muckamuck*

Greater Portland about 160 years ago came to life at the Portland Hibernian Society meeting Feb. 22 at Kells Restaurant. The brilliant public career of Stephen J. McCormick, native of Dublin and tenth Mayor of Portland, provided a glimpse of what life was like when you were Irish Catholic in these parts in those times.

*Muckamuck - Chinook Jargon for important person or leader. McCormick published the first Dictionary of Chinook Jargon.

Featured
Who WAS Stephen J. McCormick? A timeline.
Who WAS Stephen J. McCormick? A timeline.

In April 1859, the men who voted for a new Mayor of Portland ignored the “virulent nativism” that had taken hold in some eastern cities during the turbulent 1850s. Their response to those who treated the Irish Catholic immigrant as second class citizen was to elect one as Mayor. Stephen J. McCormick was 29 when he won that election.

Portland’s Irish Potato Famine Memorial

Featured
Build the Nation: A Blessing
Build the Nation: A Blessing

by Father Jim Galluzzo. Delivered at the fifteenth anniversary of the dedication of the Oregon Potato Famine Memorial - 13 December 2023 - Mount Calvary Cemetery Portland Oregon.

Oregon Potato Famine Memorial 15th Anniversary
Oregon Potato Famine Memorial 15th Anniversary

In the summer of 2023, the newly appointed Consul General of Ireland on the West Coast, Micheal Smith, came to Portland to visit the Oregon Potato Famine Memorial. Here’s the presentation given to familiarize Smith with its back story and the accomplishment this Memorial represents for local members of the Irish Diaspora.