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Richmond's Most Famous Irishman And His Two-man St. Patrick's Day Parade

From his bright green suit, his towering top hat, his striped socks poking out from his shiny black buckled shoes and his engraved wooden cane that read "colonel," John O'Grady hardly went unnoticed as he made his journey from his Church Hill home to City Hall each year.

And, if his overall get-up wasn't enough to catch their eye, the myriad of furry forest animals that followed behind him certainly did.

For 25 years, O'Grady, Richmond's unofficial Irish ambassador, conducted his one-man parade ushering in the holiday and Richmonders came to expect him and one of his pets — a pig, a duck, a skunk, a fox — to greet them.

Original 1961 Cutline: John O'Grady and Allie Duffy, all decked out in St. Patrick's Day gear, parade in the downtown area today. The two wore green top hats, cutaway coats, striped trousers, green ties and socks, green carnations and carried shillelaghs adorned with large green bows.

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In 1936, when O'Grady's one-man parade became a two-man parade thanks to his friend Allie Duffy, the festivities grew and even more ground was covered.

"The O'Grady-Duffy parades usually last all day. They visit banks, department stores, City Hall, the Capitol and other likely establishments," reporter Al Wagner wrote in the Sunday, July 7, 1957, edition of the Times-Dispatch. "Bowing and waving, they shout "Top o' the mornin' to you," until the sun goes down or until their feet give out."

O'Grady was born in 1890 to first-generation Irish Americans in the city's Fulton Hill neighborhood. His father, John O'Grady, owned a popular, albeit infamous, saloon in town. It was there, he and his two brothers were brought up.

His grandparents, like many Irish immigrants, came to the United States in the early and mid-1800s to escape economic hardship caused by the potato famine, only to find themselves in somewhat similar conditions.

In Richmond, which welcomed a few thousand Irish immigrants, many worked in the city's factories and were subject to hard labor. It was not easy in Antebellum Richmond, but they found their own communities and grew roots in the city.

By the start of the 1910s, O'Grady's name began to pop up in the newspaper — not because of his eccentric personality, which would come later — but for his success as a banker and later as a construction executive.

He managed to establish himself among some of Richmond's elite, despite the odds, and by the time he built his home in Church Hill, he'd become a prominent member of the who's who around town.

While animosities and curiosities still remained for Irish Americans, O'Grady, in part, helped educate people in his way: through humor.

"I wear big hats because nobody else wears them," O'Grady told the Times-Dispatch on Sunday, July 7, 1957. "I carry a cane, not because I need one, but because nobody else carries one."

O'Grady was known in the neighborhood for his various animals — all of which, he claimed, were Irish. That was except for his black snakes. Ireland doesn't have any, thanks to St. Patrick, he'd tell onlookers.

Once, while stopped at a gas station, he asked the attendant if he'd like to see the kitten he'd found alongside the road. When he lifted the cage, it was a skunk. He said he'd gotten a free tank of gas that day.

In another instance, when the city was deciding on a new traffic light, O'Grady came before the council to argue against the plan. He claimed putting the green light on the bottom was wrong; green should always be on top.

O'Grady managed to get his own parking space at Fort Lee marked for "Col. O'Grady" despite never serving in the military. When asked how he got the title, he'd say "I gave it to myself."

Original 1957 Cutline: There's no question about the destination of John F. O'Grady, unofficial representative of the Emerald Isles here for years. He and his wife -- his "bride" he insists on saying -- left Byrd Field today for a month-long visit in Paris, Rome, London and ultimately, an automobile tour of Ireland. 

Staff Photos

When he took his first and only trip to the home country, in 1957, he promised to kiss the Blarney Stone and then "transfer the kiss to all the girls in Richmond."

When he began his one-man — later two-man — parades, the city had not held any St. Patrick's Day celebrations outside of the Catholic Church. O'Grady helped bring them to the mainstream for over 50 years.

In 1961, O'Grady would hold his last parade in a car painted glittering green. He died later that year.

A Richmond News Leader editor lamented the lack of a parade and the loss of O'Grady on Saturday, March 17, 1962, with a special note addressed to him. In it, he stated, "May you be in heaven twenty-four hours before the devil even knows you're dead."

In the 1970s, Richmond began celebrating St. Patrick's Day on a massive scale with parades and festivities. 

Staff photos

In the late '70s, others began to plan their own St. Patrick's Day festivities. This time, the parades featured dozens more participants. Today, the city hosts a number of events including the Church Hill Irish Festival, in O'Grady's old neighborhood.

"The genial O'Grady has made St. Patrick's Day here an occasion to be remembered," the Wednesday, Aug. 21, 1957, edition of the Richmond News Leader reported. "He's established a Richmond tradition promenading through downtown bringing Irish cheer."

"From the Archives" series

"From the Archives" is a series of stories exploring the history of Richmond and the reqion through the files of The Times-Dispatch. Have a topic you'd like us to check out? Email reporter Em Holter at eholter@timesdispatch.Com and visit richmond.Com to see more from our archives.

PHOTOS: Recognize these Richmond-area places?

In October 1951, workers constructed a section of Forest Hill Avenue in South Richmond. The segment sits between Westover Hills Boulevard and Prince Arthur Road.

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In December 1990, a Richmond Ballet dancer stretched before rehearsal of "The Nutcracker."

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In February 1953, Richmond Department of Utilities workers used a 65-foot hook-and-ladder firetruck to install new lights on Broad Street after attempts to secure other ladder equipment from private companies had failed.

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In May 1954, Scoop sniffed around the pet food aisle at a grocery store in Richmond's West End. The store offered a large selection of pet foods, a relatively new concept for the era. The accompanying article said: "Gone, apparently, are the days that Fido took the scraps from the table and liked them."

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In September 1942, members of Richmond Hotels Inc. Donated typewriters to the War Production Board and the Office of War Information in response to an appeal for businesses to let the government have any machines they could spare.

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In August 1981, children enjoyed outdoor recreation at Camp Happyland in the Richardsville area of Culpeper County, not far from Fredericksburg. The Salvation Army started the camp in the late 1950s to improve children's health through exercise and proper nutrition.

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In March 1971, a crowd estimated at several hundred waited outside City Council chambers at City Hall in downtown Richmond. Residents of the recently annexed Broad Rock area were protesting the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority's proposal for low-rent public housing in the area.

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In March 1969, a sign went up to mark the site of Henrico County's first permanent designated library, on Laburnum Avenue near New Market Road. On hand were (from left) Varina District Supervisor Edwin Ragsdale, library board trustee Mrs. F.M. Vaughan, library assistant Virginia Liles and county libraries director David Rowland. The library opened in December 1970.

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In June 1969, a Trappist monk at the Holy Cross Abbey near Berryville in Clarke County began his daily meditation. The monks spent their days balancing quiet prayer, spiritual reading and manual labor.

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In June 1956, the Rev. Lawrence V. Bradley Jr. Of Grove Avenue Baptist Church in Richmond and his secretary, Jean Bolton, got out the summertime heat beater: a simple cardboard fan. The pews were liberally stocked during the warm months because the church had no air conditioning.

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In July 1959, the normally bustling downtown Richmond business district, including this stretch along Eighth and Main streets, was much quieter as motorists stayed home because of triple-digit heat.

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In April 1966, Union Bag-Camp Paper Corp. Officials oversaw manufacturing at a new plant in Chesterfield County. The facility produced millions of bags for supermarket chains and other clients on the East Coast. At the time, about 265 employees worked in two local company plants; the old factory at 13th and Canal streets in Richmond was open for limited operation until it was sold.

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In March 1969, a sign went up to mark the site of Henrico County's first permanent designated library, on Laburnum Avenue near New Market Road. The branch opened in December 1970. Posing with the sign were (from left) Varina District Supervisor Edwin Ragsdale, library board trustee Mrs. F.M. Vaughan, library assistant Virginia Liles and county libraries director David Rowland.

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In August 1982, David Tidwell of Croaker posed with his girlfriend's dog, Blazing Amber of Cinder, at the humorous "Norge Dog Station" at Norge Grocery on U.S. Route 60 west of Williamsburg. The sign had been put up seven years earlier, and the spot became a popular photo opportunity for visitors.

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In March 1987, in preparation for new carpeting, the Dumbarton branch library in Henrico County had to remove about 80,000 books from shelves. About 50 people handled the first phase overnight — but restocking the shelves awaited.

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This 1957 photo shows Collegiate School in the 1600 block of Monument Avenue in Richmond. The Town School elementary building was on the left and the high school on the right. In 1960, the Town School and the Country Day School merged, operating on the campus off River and Mooreland roads in Henrico County. It remains the location today.

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In November 1970, a Richmond officer rode his horse by the police bureau's new stables, which were under construction. The facility near Brook Road and Chamberlayne Avenue included eight stalls, a scrub area, a horseshoeing area and a tack room. The bureau had been looking for an established home for its horses since the mid-1960s, when the Virginia National Guard moved from the Richmond Howitzers downtown armory, where the horses had been stabled for two decades.

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In March 1971, a crowd estimated at several hundred waited outside City Council chambers at City Hall in downtown Richmond. Residents of the recently annexed Broad Rock area were protesting the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority's proposal for low-rent public housing in the area.

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In November 1948, Army Lt. Charles D. Smith Jr. Administered the oath to the first set of postwar draftees processed at the Richmond induction station at First and Broad streets. Several of the men were immediately sent to Camp Pickett in Blackstone.

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In December 1938, Richmond Glass Shop had a new home at 814 W. Broad St., site of the old Ashland Railway Station. The shop, run by brothers Frank R. And A.G. Bialkowski, had glass of many types, and offered bath and kitchen installation, storefront construction and paint products.

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In March 1979, corrections officer Howard Alexander held the homemade rope used by convicted murderer Michael Irwin Cross to escape from the State Penitentiary, then located along Spring Street in downtown Richmond. Cross was captured two months later after attempting to free a fellow convict who was being treated at Medical College of Virginia Hospital.

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In June 1986, "Mr. Newspaper" greeted a young girl and her mother at a Richmond-area mall. The RTD mascot often traveled around town promoting the newspaper.

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In July 1951, Alonzo Moore, 74, walked down a street in Cape Charles on Virginia's Eastern Shore and blew his horn, alerting locals to his sale of the fresh catch of the day.

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In July 1960, the Schellenberg family of Highland Springs prepared to have a bomb shelter installed in their yard, one of Virginia's first privately owned radiation fallout shelters. The enclosure was designed to accommodate up to six people during a nuclear attack. The horizontal steel tank (rear) was 7 feet in diameter and 16 feet long. Once installed, the only elements aboveground would be a domed entrance and air filter and exhaust pipes.

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In June 1979, Terry Woo set bricks for a walkway as construction of Kanawha Plaza in downtown Richmond continued. The $4 million dollar city-financed plaza linked the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond building and the Virginia Electric and Power Co. Building.

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In July 1951, two women enjoyed the white sand beach of Cape Charles on Virginia's Eastern Shore.

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In June 1968, workers welded boilers at Old Dominion Iron and Steel Corp., located on Belle Isle under the Lee Bridge in Richmond. At the time, Old Dominion's owner was interested in expanding operations, and the city was interested in using the island as part of a James River park. The company's history on Belle Isle spanned from before the Civil War to the 1970s.

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In November 1972, after the remnants of Hurricane Agnes had washed out a bridge, a barge carried vehicles and workers across the James River from Tredegar Street toward Belle Isle in Richmond. A day earlier, a welder for Old Dominion Iron and Steel Corp. Drowned after a boat carrying him and others capsized on the same route.

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This December 1973 photo shows the front counter in Roaring Twenties, a new restaurant and nightclub on state Route 10 in the Hopewell area. It was designed to resemble a 1920s speakeasy, with features including an antique cash register, a diving girl and even a dining table from Al Capone's Florida home.

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In October 1969, cadets at John Marshall High School in Richmond posed with their ribbon-bedecked sponsors after an awards ceremony. The school's Corps of Cadets was established in 1915 — it was the first military training program in a public school in Virginia — and disbanded in 1971.

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In May 1989, a transformer exploded under the sidewalk on the Fourth Street side of the Richmond Newspapers Inc. Building downtown. The ensuing fireball charred two cars parked on the street and sent flames up the side of the building. No one was hurt in the nighttime explosion, and delivery of the next morning's Richmond Times-Dispatch (which was printed in the building) was only slightly delayed.

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In August 1972, motorists approaching construction on Interstate 64 south of Bryan Park in Richmond were greeted by a robot signalman waving a bright red flag. "Silent Sam," as the decoy was nicknamed, was used by the state Department of Highways to slow drivers as they neared workmen building an I-195 interchange and bridge near the Acca rail yards.

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Soccer, Snake Saturday And Other Events Could Snarl Downtown Traffic

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Four huge events are all taking place within a 3 mile radius Saturday in downtown Kansas City and just north of the river in North Kansas City.

The Snake Saturday Parade will take place near Armour and Swift at 11 a.M.

The Kansas City Current's first ever game at CPKC Stadium kicks off at noon.

The Big 12 Championship final is at T- Mobile Center at 5 p.M.

How to get to CPKC Stadium: Parking, shuttles and more for Current games

Finally, from 10 a.M. Until 10 p.M. The Kansas City Auto Show will take place at Bartle Hall.

"The fact we're open for 12 hours allows people to take in everything that's going on in Kansas City whether it's The Current, or a basketball game, the auto show will be going on the entire time. So when you are done with one definitely come to Bartle Hall and check out the KC Auto Show," KC Auto Show Producer Larry Carl said.

The event is offering discounted tickets discounted from $20 to $12 to anyone in basketball gear of their favorite Big 12 team.

"I think its sweet. I was talking to my dad because I was not planning on coming home and I was like what are the chances I can catch a flight and come home and then he told me about the auto show and the games," BYU sophomore Lincoln Russell said.

Carl recommends starting your search for parking at the Plaza Parking Garage. But there's likely to be a trickle down effect that starts with the Snake Saturday Parade and it's expected 100 thousand parade goers.

"The parade kicks off at 11 a.M. I always recommend get here at 9 a.M. And stake out your spot," Mindy Hart, Snake Saturday publicist, said.

Hart advises KC Current fans not to expect find parking North of the River. If you are headed to the Big 12 Championship you may run into traffic from Current fans leaving the game, but then again you might also want their parking spot.

MoDOT released the following: Expect temporary traffic control changes at NB/SB I-35/I-29 and Front St./Berkley Boulevard on Saturday, March 16.

Food at CPKC Stadium: What restaurants fans can find at Current games

This includes traffic control changes to the on and off ramps from NB/SB I-35/I-29 to Front St./Berkley Blvd. And on Berkley Blvd. The permitted temporary traffic control is in place for the home opener of the Kansas City Current at CPKC Stadium at Berkley Riverfront Park. Please follow the temporary game day signing. Motorists may experience delays in the area.

For more information about parking and transportation on game day, see here.

If you are having trouble fitting it all in Saturday, the auto show will also take place on Sunday until 6 p.M. Kansas City's St. Patrick's Day parade in the Midtown area will be held Sunday at 11a.M.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TVNews, Weather, Sports.

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Hong Kong Man Indicted In US For Smuggling Protected Turtles Overseas: DOJ

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A Hong Kong man was indicted by a federal grand jury on Friday for allegedly smuggling eastern box turtles – which are a protected wildlife species – from the U.S. To China, to be put on the black market.

The Department of Justice announced that 53-year-old Sai Keung Tin of Hong Kong has been charged with four counts of exporting merchandise contrary to law.

Although Tin was indicted on Friday, he was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City on Feb. 25.

The indictment alleges that in June 2023, Tin knowingly and illegally aided in the exportation of 40 eastern box turtles from the U.S. To Hong Kong.

RED PANDA FOUND INSIDE SUSPECTED SMUGGLERS' LUGGAGE AT THAILAND AIRPORT

Sai Keung Tin of Hong Kong allegedly sent eastern box turtles wrapped in socks, in packages from the U.S. To China. (USFWS)

Boxes containing the turtles and addressed to "Ji Yearlong," an alias believed to be used by Tin, were intercepted at an international mail facility in Torrance, California, court documents claim.

Tin is accused of falsely labeling the packages as almonds and chocolate cakes to throw inspectors off.

Three of the boxes contained up to 12 live turtles bound in socks, according to the allegations, and a fourth box contained seven live turtles and one deceased turtle.

Agents also claim the sender on each package was fake.

SC MAN CONVICTED OF SMUGGLING PROTECTED TURTLES BETWEEN US, HONG KONG CHARGED WITH ANIMAL ABUSE IN GA

Sai Keung Tin of Hong Kong allegedly sent eastern box turtles wrapped in socks, in packages from the U.S. To China. (USFWS)

The eastern box turtle is a subspecies of the common box turtle and can be found in forested regions of the eastern U.S., though there are isolated populations in the Midwest.

The foreign pet trade black market places a high value on turtles with colorful markings, especially in places like Hong Kong and China, the DOJ said.

But the eastern box turtle is protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which is an international agreement in place to protect fish, wildlife and plants that could be, or are threatened with becoming extinct.

Both China and the U.S. Are parties that signed off on the agreement.

FLORIDA FISH AND WILDLIFE TARGETS RING THAT ILLEGALLY TRAFFICKED COBRAS, VIPERS, AND OTHER VENOMOUS SNAKES

A sign outside the U.S. Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The allegations included in the affidavit filed with the criminal complaint against Tin claim he was an associate of Kang Juntao of Hangzhou City, China. Juntao is a convicted felon and international turtle smuggler who recruited turtle poachers and suppliers in the U.S. To assist with shipping turtles to middlemen. The middlemen would then bundle the turtles with other packages and send them to Hong Kong.

The DOJ claims the turtles were bound in socks so they could not move and alert authorities to their presence, but also to protect their shells.

Between June 2017 and December 2018, Kang was responsible for the shipment of at least 1,500 turtles from the U.S. To Hong Kong. The total value of the turtles was estimated to exceed $2.25 million.

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In March 2019, Kang pleaded guilty to money laundering after being extradited from Malaysia and was sentenced to 38 months in federal prison.

Federal authorities continue to intercept packages to Tin and others, despite Kang's conviction.

If Tin is found guilty of the crimes, he faces up to 10 years in prison for each smuggling count.

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