The Lombard Historical Society will present “The Irish in Illinois” with Professor Sean Farrell at 7p.m. March 22 at the Carriage House, 23 W. Maple St.

This is a free program offered in-person and virtually. Registration is required by March 22. For more information, visit lombardhistory.org, email info@lombardhistory.org or phone 630-629-1885.

Today over 1 million people in Illinois claim Irish ancestry. Farrell brings together both familiar and unheralded stories of the Irish in Illinois, highlighting the critical roles these immigrants and their descendants played in the settlement and the making of the Prairie State.

They fought in the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, the Civil War and two World Wars; built the state’s infrastructure and worked in its factories; taught Illinois children and served the poor.

Irish political leaders helped to draw up the state’s first constitution, served in city, county and state offices and created a machine that dominated 20th-Century politics in Chicago and the state.

This lively history adds to the understanding of the history of the Irish in the state over the past 250 years. Illinoisans and Midwesterners celebrating their connections to Ireland will treasure this rich and important account of the state’s history.

Farrell is a professor of history at Northern Illinois University. He is the author of “Rituals and Riots: Sectarian Violence and Political Culture in Ulster, 1784–1886″ and a coeditor of “Shadows of the Gunmen: Violence and Culture in Modern Ireland.”