October Lecture - John Lally: The Kilbannon Man Who Built America

John Lally was by any standards, a remarkable man, after receiving a basic education in a hedge school, an Irish speaker, he started his working life as an itinerant agricultural labourer in England. In the late 1870s he left Cloonkeely, to find fortune in America. From a Boston base, where he worked in construction, he moved to contracting and he patented a weight-bearing column that revolutionised construction technology, particularly in the areas of safety and skyscraper design. The success of his invention saw him become a manufacturer with 4 or 5 factories in pre-Depression America. This lecture will explore John’s life, the community he left behind and the society he found in Boston in which he succeeded so brilliantly.

The lecture will be delivered by OTS member and past president, Pat O'Hora on Thursday, the 18th of October at 8:30 pm at Tuam Town Hall, The Square. Admission is free and all are welcome.