Wonderful news--thank you for the information. Utica is my hometown and St. Patrick's was my grandmother's church from her 1898 bap. through her 1922 marriage, until a family move to North Utica. Family names: Murphy and Callahan (Callaghan), related to Martin, Mulligan, and McGinley in Counties Donegal and Wexford. Joanne Garland (Massachusetts) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Neal Carrier" <nfcarrier@gmail.com> To: <NYONEIDA@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2007 8:23 AM Subject: [NYONEIDA] Irish/Utica Utica OKs land sale for Irish center Dec 06, 2007 @ 06:35 AM By RENEE GAMELA Observer-Dispatch UTICA — The Mohawk Valley Irish Cultural Center could open in West Utica by St. Patrick's Day 2009, organizers said. The Common Council Wednesday night voted unanimously to sell a parking lot on Columbia and Cooper streets to the Great American Irish Festival Inc. The project could cost about $2 million, organization President Matt Sullivan said. "We hope that our project is something that enhances Varick Street in terms of the entire environment down there," Sullivan said. Plans for the center call for a large gathering room, an Irish pub, a library and office space for several Irish groups. The lot is where the former St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church was founded in the 1850s, and is a place organizers refer to as sacred ground. Sullivan said his group is satisfied with