A Place of Many Peoples

A Place of Many Peoples. . , From its earliest days, Springfield has always been a multicultural community some of the city's earliest residents were enslaved African Americans brought to Springfield in the 1820s. Later, the city was home to an ever-expanding list of ethnic groups. , Working-class members of these groups tended to locate in neighborhoods on Springfield's northern and eastern sides. For some newcomers, houses of worship provided familiar surroundings for those navigating an unfamiliar language and culture. In some cases, residents were forced to meet separately from fellow members of their denominations when racial or other prejudices caused them to be considered "outsiders." , Among Springfield's prominent churches was St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church, which has served members since 1840, German immigrants created Trinity Lutheran and St. Peter and St. Paul Catholic churches. Portuguese Protestants exiled from their homeland founded Fourth Presbyterian Church. , The Catholic Church was well represented in Springfield. St. Patrick served the large Irish community, while Sacred Heart was attended by Germans, Dutch, and Hungarians., Jewish Congregations Grow , Springfield had a growing Jewish community beginning in the mid 1800, as Eastern European and Ruian Jewish immigrants moved to the United States Nineteen members of Springfield's Jewish community formed what was to become Temple B'rith Sholom in 1858, meeting in a third-floor room in a building on South Sixth Street That synagogue lay became a Reform synagogue, and an Orthodox synagogue B'nal Abraham was founded in 1896, which through a later merger became the Conservative Temple Israel located at 1340 W Governor St. , City of Immigrants , Springfield was home to a large German and Irish communities during Abraham Lincoln's time in the city In 1849 a colony of Protestant Portuguese arrived here after being driven from their homeland by religious prejudice. , , After the Civil War, Springfield saw an increase in the African American population, joined by Italian, Lithuanians and eastern and southern European natives in the 1800s and early 1900s. These residents were attracted to the a by coal mining and factory by World War 1, 13 percent of the day's residents had been born outside of the United States.