Irish immigration to Michigan dates back to the early 1800s, with a heavy increase between 1845 and 1855 during a period of famine in Ireland, lasting well into the 1920s. Starting first in Detroit, the Irish made their way north and westward, landing throughout both the Lower and Upper Peninsulas where they found work in factories, fishing villages and copper mines. Nearly one-third of Michigan’s foreign-born population was from Ireland in 1870. Today, only about 10% of the state’s 9.9 million population is of Irish descent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.