In the early 1900s, Hartford was a booming economic center. Italy, on the other hand, suffered both economically and socially. Hundreds of thousands of Italian men looked for unskilled work in other countries; many eventually headed to the United States. Hartford’s potential job opportunities attracted Italians and soon the city’s number of immigrants increased dramatically.

Many of the Italian men became construction laborers building factories, housing, and railroads. However, Italians were the poorest paid workers in Hartford, earning substantially less than their Irish and German immigrant counterparts.