Mary Judge or Mrs. John Judge?
The historic plaque on the Judge Building at 8 East 300 South rather trivializes Mary Judge, the woman responsible for having it built, as a “business-savvy widow” and “capable businesswoman” and refers almost as much to her husband as it does to her.
Mary Harney was born in Ontario, Canada in 1841 to Irish Catholic immigrant parents. Mary moved to New York, where she met and married penniless Irish native John Judge, a survivor of the Irish potato famine and three years her junior. When he came to Utah in 1876 to find work at the territorial penitentiary in Sugar House, she and their children stayed in Moriah, New York. How she supported her family at this time is unknown. Eventually, they too moved to Utah and John Judge began mining in Park City with Thomas Kearns and David Keith, amassing a fortune with the Silver King Mine.
After John Judge’s death in 1892, Mary Harney Judge took over the family business and expanded extensively into real estate, particularly in downtown Salt Lake City. She also expanded her interests in mining to Nevada while maintaining her position as principal stockholder in the Silver King mine in Park City. Judging from her constant appearance in Salt Lake newspapers, Mary Judge was involved for some 20 years in nearly every large real estate development in Salt Lake City on one level or another during the Belle Époque, the period of cultural flourishing between 1871 and 1914. She was also a great philanthropist, contributing extensively to the construction of the Cathedral of the Madeleine and its beautiful stained-glass windows. She donated $10,000 to the YMCA of Salt Lake and financed the construction of a miners’ hospital in honor of her husband, Judge Memorial Hospital. The hospital’s architect was David C. Dart, who also designed the Judge Building. Staffed by the Sisters of Mercy, once a miner’s home, only a few miners used it and a decade after her death in 1909 it was converted to Judge Memorial Catholic High School. 2012 marked the High School’s100th anniversary. On top of all her business pursuits, she and her four daughters also reigned in Salt Lake’s high society, entertaining from the lavish mansion she had built in 1896 at 737 East South Temple (on the corner of J Street). It was once one of the crown jewels of the gilded boulevard once known as Brigham Street. Sadly, overwhelmed by enormous increases in property taxes, her family had the mansion demolished in 1933. A eulogy for the mansion describes one of the first of many cherished and famous “Judge Sunday Night Suppers” in 1896:
The large high-ceilinged room is crowded with a throng of evening belles and blades. From one room comes the strains of music. The gas-lit chandelier was a glittering bright light over young men and women gathered around a huge golden oak dining table hand-carved. The table is laden with cold meats, fowl, salads, bottles of wine and champagne nestled in silver buckets of ice. Circulating among her guests, seeing that each is happy, is gray-haired Mary Judge. Surround by beaus are the sisters Frances, Katherine, Agnes, and Elizabeth Judge, each beautifully attired in the style of the day…How eagerly invites to these suppers were sought!
Perhaps a better plaque for the grand old building on 300 South would say:
The Judge Building was built by businesswoman and philanthropist Mary Harney Judge (1841-1909), a native of Canada and widow of John Judge. With her extensive real estate holdings and mining stocks, she increased her own wealth and contributed greatly to the benefit of Salt Lake City. The Judge Building was once known as the Railroad Exchange Building and, by 1909, 22 railroad companies had their offices here. The Commercial style building features a copper cornice, colorful ceramic tile triangles, and swags of carved stone fruit above the seventh-story windows.