The Wooster Square neighborhood, as it came to be identified as an enclave for Italian immigrants, found those of other ethnic origins leaving, and the original Yankee industrialists abandoned their stately homes in favor of other neighborhoods that were more protected against foreign intrusion.

The diaspora-like  influx of the primarily southern Italians was due, in no small measure, to the desperate economic and political conditions that existed in Italy at that time. Deciding to relocate to a new country with strange customs and language must have been a very difficult choice to make, but made out of necessity. The creation of a welcoming neighborhood mitigated the severity of the life-altering changes that were taking place.