Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has only been in office for a few months, yet he’s already clearly distinguished himself from his predecessor Thomas Menino, who held the mayoral seat for a record five terms.

  The November election of Marty Walsh signaled a return to a long tradition of Irish-American mayors in Boston. Starting in 1885, Hugh O’Brien of County Cork became the city’s first Irish mayor, and in the 1900s, Irish-American politicians held the mayor’s seat for 85 out of 100 years. However, Boston’s Irish residents weren’t always so accepted.