They built, by hand, stately downtown office structures, roads, bridges, the Merritt Parkway, railroad tracks, and their houses. They opened grocery stores, restaurants, bakeries, tailor shops, barber shops, butcher shops, pharmacies, and dentist’s offices. They were skilled carpenters, electricians, masons, plumbers and mechanics. They worked in the city’s factories and fought in the nation’s wars.

When Stamford’s largest Catholic parish relegated them to the basement, they bought land and built their own church. When unions and political parties and business organizations shunned them, they created their own social structures and helped each other survive.