The influx of Irish immigrants working for the railroad formed a community that included a Catholic church, a cemetery, and a public market.

Just around the corner from the B&O Railroad Museum is another, lesser-known train museum. The Irish Railroad Workers Museum honors the contribution that Irish immigrants made to the nation’s bustling railroad infrastructure. In contrast to the B&O Museum, the Irish Railroad Workers Museum focuses on the people and way of life in the tiny Irish neighborhood.

Workers built locomotives and track that would expand the Northeast and help transport supplies and munitions during the Civil War. The museum is located inside two-row homes on Lemmon St., one serving as a period model row home of the 1860s.

James and Sarah Feeley Home

In 1848, many row homes were built on Lemmon St. to house people working in the railroad industry. The homes differed from those built in Fells Point, incorporating small windows in the attic level instead of dormers to accommodate bedrooms. The Feely family was one of the families that lived in this neighborhood during that time. Sarah and James Feeley raised several children and eventually bought their home after renting for 20 years.

Irish Passage Room

The museum’s Passage Room tells the story of how Irish Immigrants made their way across the ocean to America. Starting in the 1840s, more than six million people came to the U.S. to escape the potato famine in Ireland. Many of those immigrants landed in coastal cities like Baltimore. Visitors will learn about the conditions aboard the ships that brought the immigrants to America and what life was like once they got here.

Visits and Walking Tours

The Irish Railroad Museum is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. A donation of $10 per person is suggested to cover admission. Private docent-led tours are available for groups larger than six, via appointment. Walking tours of the area are also held several times a year. The tour describes 19th-century Baltimore and features St. Peter’s Church and School, Lemmon St. houses, and nearby Hollins Market.

Tour dates are announced on the museum’s social media.