Prosperous Heritage
Prosperous Post Office in 1923 (without the pillar box)
In the picture (L-R), a very young Peter Healy, Fr. Michael O’Connor, and the owner of the post office, John Healy who died in 1938.
We shouldn’t fail to mention, the first car in Prosperous – a Model T Ford, belonging to a, Mr. Doorley of Ballinafagh.
Map of Kildare in 1752. Note there is no Prosperous on the map as it didn't exist. Also note there is no Ballinafagh or road to Landenstown as there was no canal. The residents of Landenstown House would have had to travel to Clane via Digby Bridge back then.
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The Church of Our Lady and St Joseph in 1971. This photo was taken by Alle Hamstra from Holland. He took this while on a visit to his wife Rose Brereton's relatives. Rose is a sister-in-law of Tommy Cullen Snr of Cullen's Kitchens.
Note that the bell is still out at the front of the church back then. The wall surrounding the church had been lowered at this stage after construction and landscaping work that took place in 1967, almost 100 years after the building of the church was complete in 1869. Also compared to the video if 1949, overhead, is now electrical cables and poles placed about the village. These came in after the rural electrification scheme had wired up Prosperous in 1952. The white sign outside the church looks rather charming. Also note at this point, we had no tennis courts or pitch and putt course. The land wasn't purchased by the Community Association for another 7 years.
Prosperous in 1949
These pictures were extracted from an old film given to us. It was filmed on 8mm film. We have enhanced as best we can. The first shot is where Christy's pub is. The second shot is facing from the church up towards Ballinafagh. As you can make out, all that is there between the church and Larry's is Burke's and Daly's houses which were built in 1780 when the village was established. The third picture is facing towards Clane. It looks very different then compared to now. The fourth picture is Andy Casey (father of former national school principal Christy Casey) out in Curry's field cocking hay. The fifth picture is facing towards Landenstown. As you can see there is nothing there at all. No schools or houses in existence. The sixth and seventh pictures are again facing up the Clane road. In the truck is Ollie Reilly Snr delivering fuel or gravel. The eighth picture is of the thatched cottage known as Mangans “House of Parliament”. Nancy Duffy and her mother Kate lived there after Mangans. The cottage was knocked to make way for the current primary school. The ninth picture is Ollie Reilly Snr unloading whatever he is delivering to the thatched house.
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Paul Kenny and Jimmy Devine of Gorretti Terrace in the 1980's delivering turf and passing by John Cummins' Londis shop. Back then you could buy groceries, sports equipment and even tools in the shop.
Member of the legendary Prosperous Table Tennis Club.
From left to right
Back row; Tony Gannon, Sean Reilly, Peter Daly, Shay Curry.
Front row; Rose Healy, Mary Ward, Marie Danagher, Ada Pricea
The demolition of the old handball alley where the entrance to Ann Street and the Ruth Hackett monument are now.
This was a very popular amenity in the village. It was sad to see it go at the time but the first roars of the Celtic Tiger were heard throughout Kildare and the demand for housing and the housing boom took over with the rising population in rural areas.
The year was 1952, and the much-anticipated day for the national school children of Prosperous had finally arrived. Three CIE buses lined up in the village to take the children on their greatest adventure ever, to Donabate Seaside in north county Dublin. The event was organised by the Prosperous Branch of Muintir na Tíre as part of Community Development.
One week before the trip, a CIE inspector paid a visit to Prosperous to ascertain if it was possible to turn the buses in the village, thankfully he went away satisfied, and the trip was on. Not only had most of the children never seen the sea before, many had never travelled on a bus before that very day. So once the doors of the buses closed, the greatest adventure for these youngsters was about to start.
I'm a paragraPlenty of familiar faces to be seen, some of the parents and teachers are;
Lizzy Reilly, Eileen Devine, Janie Mullen, Alice Rynne, Mrs. McEvoy, Mrs. McCarthy, Ms. Sullivan. Fr. Mimnagh, Jack McCormack,
You will most likely be able to identify some of the children, from their own children today, as they say, the apple never falls far from the tree.ph. Click once to begin entering your own content. You can change my font, size, line height, colour and more by highlighting part of me and selecting the options from the toolbar.
They may have dreamed of swashbuckling pirates and buried treasure for a long time afterwards, but their feet were firmly planted on the ground, as they went on to provide a service to the community, as teachers, doctors, bus drivers and farmers.
(Front row L-R) Marie Dunny, Pat Curry, Anthony Dunne, Tony Fitzpatrick, Albert Foster, Sean Kelly, Charlie Brilly, Andrew Rynne.
Prosperous in 1956
Aerial photographs taken by Alexander Campbell "Monkey" Morgan. (1919 - 1958) Morgan himself was, tragically, killed when his plane crashed near Shannon Airport in 1958. These are some digital pictures we have zoomed in on and took our own extracts of different areas in the village. Do you know anyone or are you related to anyone who was around at the time?
Any sign of your house? Is your house even there? Prosperous seemed like a busy little village back then. Lots of activity in these pictures, including farmers out on their land, the building of the Ideal Ballroom, Cribbin's shop at Dowlings, people out walking to the shops, McCarthy's Hardware beside Moran's Butchers, donkey and cart, old cars... We'd love to hear from anyone who remembers the village all the way back then and share the memories with us!
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