They Oughta Name a Street: Gratton and Shields streets
By MARY KROHLOW
for The Hawk Eye
Large numbers of Irish immigrants began arriving in the United States beginning in the mid-1840s. They sought work and relief from the potato blight and devastating famine that had struck Ireland.
At first they came to the eastern cities - New York, Boston and the like. Then they began moving westward to areas more in keeping with their Irish heritage. Burlington became one of these destinations. The 1850 census shows 63 Irish immigrants; 1860 has 155; 1870 has more than 200.
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Henry Grattan, for whom Gratton Street in Burlington is named, was an 18th-century proponent of Irish independence from England.
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