WORCESTER, Mass — A new bar is now open in Worcester's Canal District, with some interesting ties to the city's history.

Boland's Bar and Patio celebrated its grand opening Saturday on Water Street. The pub is named after Irish immigrant Tobias Boland, who helped construct the Blackstone Canal. According to the College of the Holy Cross' archives, Boland also constructed Temple and Winter streets and built houses in the area as well.

The bar's owner, Stephen Porter, says he and his partners are all Irish, and wanted to not only incorporate their heritage into the new bar, but tie it in with the city's Irish history.

"When we were initially looking for the bar, we needed to find the Irish heritage of the neighborhood," Porter said. "Because all of us, me and my partners, are all Irish. So, I just came acoss Tobias Boland and it blew my mind, and obviously the domino effect from that finally about the Canal District, all the Irish links to the building of the canals. So, it became a bit of a no-brainer then. To kind of just, we need to honor this guy, you know."

Porter says he came to the U.S. from Dublin. His hope is to expand the bar's Irish footprint even more.