Immigrant of the Day: Father Flanagan (Ireland)

Father Edward Joseph Flanagan (1886–1948) was a Roman Catholic priest. He was the founder of what is arguably the most famous orphanage–Boys Town. The campus is not just an orphanage, but now a center for troubled youth.

Father Flanagan was born in the townland of Leabeg, County Roscommon, near the village of Ballymoe, County Galway, Ireland. He immigrated to the United States in 1904, and became a U.S. citizen in 1919.

Father Flanagan attended Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland, where in 1906 he received a bachelor of arts degree and a master of arts degree in 1908. Father Flanagan studied at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie, New York. He continued his studies in Italy and at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, where he was ordained as a priest in 1912.

Father Flanagan’s first parish was in O’Neill, Nebraska. He then moved to Omaha. In 1917, in Omaha he founded a Home for Homeless Boys. Because the downtown facilities were inadequate, he established Boys Town, ten miles west of Omaha, in 1921. Under Father Flanagan’s direction, Boys Town grew to be a large community with its own boy-mayor, schools, chapel, post office, cottages, gymnasium, and other facilities where boys between ages 10 and 16 could receive an education and learn a trade.

A 1938 movie called Boys Town was produced on the life of Father Flanagan, starring Spencer Tracy, who played Father Flanagan and won an Oscar for his role, and Mickey Rooney.  A sequel, also starring Tracy, Men of Boys Town, was released in 1941.

Father Flanagan received many awards for his work with delinquent and homeless boys. He served on several committees and boards dealing with the welfare of children, and was the author of articles on child welfare.

When he died in 1948, Father Flanagan was buried in the Dowd Chapel at Boys Town. In 1986 the United States Postal Service issued a stamp commemorating Father Edward J. Flanagan.

KJ