O P I N I O N
THE SOAPBOX
Stand up. Speak up. It’s your turn.
The story of Manchester is written in the calloused hands and unyielding spirit of Irish immigrants who arrived fleeing famine (as did my own family) only to build our city from the ground up. By the 1840s, they formed the Granite State’s first major wave of newcomers, their labor laying the railroads that connected our commerce and raising the red brick walls of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company – the largest textile mill in the world. Yet their welcome was etched in prejudice.
Manchester’s Protestant majority recoiled at their Catholic faith and Gaelic tongue, viewing them as economic threats. This bigotry erupted in the July 1854 riots when mobs armed with clubs ravaged Irish homes and nearly torched St. Anne’s Church – only halted by a Protestant builder, John Maynard, who stood defiantly in his nightshirt, pistol in hand. Through this, the Irish forged Manchester’s industrial spine and proved their loyalty in Civil War battles, ultimately earning the city’s respect and electing Edward Harrington as its first Irish mayor in 1859.
The Irish did not just work in Manchester; they physically constructed its infrastructure and economic engine. Thousands excavated the canals, their expertise later adapted to railway and road construction that linked Manchester to the world. Within the mills, they performed brutal, humid work within rooms intentionally kept damp to prevent cotton threads from snapping, while enduring wages as low as five shillings a week for 14–18 hour days as handloom weavers. Their residential footprint was equally foundational and born of necessity. Over 18,000 Irish lived in Manchester’s cellars, windowless dens where multiple families shared single rooms, fighting cholera and typhus in neighborhoods like “Little Ireland.” Yet even in these depths, they organized. Figures like John Doherty, an Irish cotton spinner, who rose to lead the Cotton Spinners’ Society, fighting for child labor laws and declaring, “We are not your slaves; we are your equals.” This defined their contribution: they were the literal brick and mortar of Manchester’s rise.
Today, that legacy of perseverance lives in leaders like Jim O’Connell. A son of Ireland who settled here decades ago, O’Connell channels the tenacity that rebuilt St. Anne’s from the ashes of prejudice. His work as vice chair of the Manchester Board of School Committee since 2019, overseeing student opportunity and new construction, is a direct inheritance of the Irish belief in education as liberation. Though his recent Executive Council campaign addressed statewide housing and healthcare, his deepest belonging lies in the mayor’s position. Manchester needs a leader who understands that classrooms are the bedrock of opportunity and who better to bridge our past and future than one rooted in the immigrant grit that built us? To O’Connell, I say: Your blend of innovation and commitment embodies the spirit of Harrington. The mayor’s office awaits your vision.
Similarly grounded in Manchester’s ethos is Kevin Cavanaugh, whose Ward 1 roots reflect the working-class solidarity that sustained this city. His tangible accomplishments, from policies enabling 2,000 new housing units to securing 33 new police officers, reveal a leader who delivers.
The endorsements from Manchester Firefighters IAFF Local 856 and the Police Patrolman’s Association were earned through years of advocacy for first responders. Cavanaugh’s pivot to an alderman-at-large seat would be institutional wisdom in action. His citywide appeal, forged through neighborhood-level results, positions him to unite all wards while creating space for renewal in Ward 1-a selfless act echoing the Irish communal ethic.
That space invites Bryce Kaw-uh, a housing champion whose boldness matches Manchester’s urgency. As Planning Board Chair, Kaw-uh has already driven transformative change, like Cavanaugh, also approving thousands of critically needed housing units and advocating zoning reforms for walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods.
His engineering precision targets systemic solutions, expanding affordable housing funds and prioritizing our streets for safety. With Cavanaugh’s move citywide, Kaw-uh’s rise in Ward 1 becomes essential, a transition honoring experience while empowering innovation.
We also need June Trisciani back on the board to represent all wards. Her state senate campaign showcased rare skill: dissecting complex issues like infrastructure while building consensus across divides. In a time demanding practical solutions, her return would fortify the board’s ability to act decisively without sacrificing collaboration.
The Irish taught us that progress flows not from erasing history, but from building upon it – cellar by cellar, brick by brick, school by school. O’Connell’s educational stewardship, Cavanaugh’s institutional wisdom, Kaw-uh’s push to address the housing crisis, and Trisciani’s diplomacy form that unbroken continuum. Like the annual Irish Festival that fills our streets with fiddles and solidarity, we honor our past by investing in our future.
So let us champion their next steps: urging O’Connell toward the mayoralty, backing Cavanaugh’s citywide bid, welcoming Kaw-uh’s vigor in Ward 1, and returning Trisciani’s sharp mind to the board. For in their stories, as in Manchester’s own, the immigrant’s promise endures:What was built in struggle can be governed in hope.
Rosanna McMahon lives in Manchester, NH
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