New York Basque Club

However, once the cross-country railroad was finished,

this
brought immigrants to the port of New York where they
disembarked and then continued on with their direct
movement
by rail to the west. The majority of those first Basque
immigrants
to New York had plans to move west, but instead found
employment
in the ports of New York and New Jersey, and a few had
reached
the end of their tolerance for traveling and simply refused
to move any further.
It is often forgotten that "the trip" from the Basque Country
to the United States was not only the crossing of the Atlantic,
but actually began days earlier with travel by horse or train
from a rural town
to the cities of Bilbao or San Sebastián-Donostia.
The entire next day would include a train trip north to the
French ports of Bordeaux or Le Havre. There, emigrants
waited
additional days completing paperwork and eventually
boarded a passenger
ship if they were lucky or wealthy, and a cargo ship if they
were not. The journey for most Basques at the beginning of
the 1900s was lengthy and frightening.
Crossing the Atlantic could take anywhere from fourteen
to thirty
days depending on the itinerary, weather and storms, and
the type
of ship traveling. Hundreds of interviewed Basque
immigrants remember the fear of the voyage and the
seasickness
they experienced, and advancing the last miles to the
entrance of the port of New York was overwhelming for
many. It also augmented a new fear of the metropolis,
which was far beyond the stature any of them could have
ever imagined from their experiences in the rural Basque
Country.
Between 1855-1890, Basque immigrants arriving to New
York were processed at Castle Garden -as one of eight
million other new arrivals. Ellis Island officially opened as
an immigration processing station in 1892 and remained
active until the 1924 National Origins Act was passed by
Congress, allowing potential immigrants to undergo their
inspections before they left their country of origin.
Between 1897 and 1902, there were 636 persons with
definite Basque surnames that entered the country through
the immigration offices in New York. Eighty-six percent
were male and seventy-seven percent were single. There
most likely were many other Basques who also entered who
were not counted because their surnames were not so
obviously recognizable

Basques were only one of hundreds of ethnic groups speaking
a
myriad of languages that disembarked at Ellis Island. All new applicants were then held at Ellis Island for health inspections,
medical inspections, hearings for those detained, literacy tests,
and others. Persons with physical deformities, sickness or
disease could be refused entry and sent back to their
countries of origin. The relief of passing all of the inspections
and tests was fantastic.
Valentín Aguirre was one of those first Basque pioneers to
reach New York City. He arrived from Bizkaia in 1895 and
eventually become one of the most significant Basques in
the United States.
He and his wife, Benita Orbe, had eight children, and
together they established the Basque boarding house
known as the Santa Lucia Hotel and the Jai-Alai Restaurant.
The Santa Lucia was also named the Casa Vizcaína. Though
the exact records that Aguirre meticulously kept were
unfortunately later thrown away carelessly, it is estimated
that several thousand Basque immigrants stayed at the
hotel and benefited from the Aguirres' care and assistance
in continuing on their journey to Nevada, California, Idaho,
and Oregon.
Valentín, or one of his sons, would go out to the docks of the

city and meet the passenger ships that brought the new

immigrants into the city from Ellis Island once they has

passed all of their inspections and paperwork. One can

certainly imagine the overwhelming relief the Basques felt

when from the busy docks of New York City they could hear

the shout of "Euskaldunak emen badira?" "Are there any

Basques here?" Basques on board shouted back with joy,

"Bai, bai! Ni euskalduna naiz!"

The Casa Vizcaína served as a travel agency as well, and

Valentín Aguirre made arrangements to get Basque

immigrants their train tickets to their final destinations in

the west, along with employment information and Basque

boarding house along the way information.

After staying in New York for a few days to recover from

their sea voyages, the majority of Basques continued on to

meet the relatives and fellow villagers. Benita Orbe Aguirre

made each one a huge basket of food with French bread,

tortilla, chorizo, ham and fruit to last them during the first

few days of their train journey. Other Basques were thrilled

with the energy of the city and decided to stay. Many were

from coastal towns in the Basque Country and wanted to

remain living in a coastal environment. Others had years

of experience working on the docks and in maritime

commerce and found jobs in the ports and docks immediately.

The original Basque community took root at the foot of the

Brooklyn Bridge along the docks of Cherry and Water Streets.

Besides the Aguirre hotel there were Basque families that

gave room and board to Basque immigrants in their own homes.

There were Basque grocery stores and restaurants; Basque

delivery businesses; wine and beer distribution businesses.

Carmen Moneo sold imported goods from the Basque Country

and Spain for more than seventy-five years until the 1980s.

Most of the Basques attended Catholic mass at St. Joaquin's

Church, St. Joseph's Church, and at the Our Lady of Guadalupe,

where there was a Basque priest. Many of the Basque couples

were married at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church.

In approximately 1905, Valentín Aguirre, Elias Aguirre,

Juan Cruz Aguirre, Escolástico Uriona, and Toribio Altuna

gathered together one night to discuss creating a Basque

association for Basques in New York. By 1913 they had

formed the Central Vasco-Americano Sociedad de

Beneficiencia y Recreo, the first Basque Center of the

United States, and in 1928 they purchased their first

building.

Initially this association was a mutual benefit and charity

organization dedicated to helping those newly arrived,

and to aiding those Basques living in New York that

might be in financial difficulties. The Central Vasco-Americano,

later renamed Centro Vasco-Americano, began as an

all-male member organization although their families

participated in all events. The building purchased in 1928

had an indoor fronton, and there was a Basque dancing

group for youth. Basques organized their festival picnics

at Coney Island and later at various parks.

Oñatibia directed this group from 1950 to 1963 and later

was selected by the Idaho Basque Studies Center and the

North American Basque Organizations to teach Basque

language, dance and txistu at their annual summer music

camps for adolescents.

The priest José Mari Larrañaga was another instrumental

figure in maintaining Basque identity and collective activity

in New York. While at the Church of St. James from 1962

to 1970, he united both generations by helping to organize

dinners and dances for the Basque community. He gave

masses in euskera. In 1966 the women of the New York

Basque community also formed their own group named

Andrak. In the 1960s the attendance at Basque picnics,

dinners, and dances increased from a usual 150 to over

600 persons.

In the decades after World War II, the Centro Vasco-Americano suffered from various problems of circumstances and had

to move the seat of the organization various times, renting

in different places in Manhattan.

In 1973, after many years of renting and moving, the now

named Euzko-Etxea of New York, bought their own building

in what was a Polish neighborhood in the Brooklyn borough.

The building was formerly a two story church and the Basques renovated it to include a large kitchen and bar, a dining room,

a small meeting room or classroom for language classes,

a small library, and the upstairs is a reception hall for special

events that can seat more than 400 persons. A stage and

piano complete the second floor reception hall.

New Website www.NewYorkBasqueClub.com goes officially

on line on February 28th., 2007