Galway Society of Philadelphia
Galway Society History
On a Sunday afternoon in March 1909, a group of eleven immigrants met in Carpenters Hall in Philadelphia to form an Irish society. The purpose according to record, "To cultivate more intimately the generous impulses of the human heart and bring into closer communion the men who have memories to refresh, purposes to declare and objects to accomplish." This was the beginning of The Galway Society of Philadelphia.
Ten years later, the Society had a membership of over four hundred men. By the end of World War One, forty-three members had served in the United States Armed Services.
One paid the supreme sacrifice on the battlefield in France.
The Society feels proud of its many notable accomplishments and its many contributions to Irish political and cultural causes. In 1935, when the triumphant Galway Football Team visited our fair city they were feted by the Society. History repeated in 1965. When the Bishop of Galway visited Philadelphia in the early sixties, he was the guest at a banquet and received a generous donation. Later on during construction of the Great Galway Cathedral, a stained glass window was donated in memory of the late members of the Galway Society. When the Irish Center was purchased in 1959, the Society was one of the biggest investors in that venture.
Although membership has dwindled in late years, the Society has managed to survive,despite many adversities. Membership has been expanded to include women and any Irish-American who wishes to continue the traditions and further the ideals of those eleven Founding Fathers.
