James Hegney Entrepreneur

JAMES HEGNEY 1843-1907 

West Second South Street Entrepreneur 

 

    For nearly 20 years the northwest corner of block 54, today’s Sixth West Second South, was identified with an influential Irish American businessman named James Hegney or “Jim” as he was known to his family and friends. He was the proprietor of the Rio Grande Hotel and the Albany Hotel from at least 1885 until his death in 1907. He was also instrumental in the development of Second South between Fifth [Sixth] West and Sixth [Seventh] West. Salt Lake street names, west of West Temple, were readjusted in the mid Twentieth Century. Second West became Third West, and so on. Fifth West thus became the Sixth West of today. 

     Hegney owned land on Sixth [Seventh West] on which the “Kozy Bar” was built. This bar would, in the 1980’s, become the second incarnation of the premier gay dance club known as The Sun. It was interesting to note that Jim Hegney owned properties which would later become two gay clubs, the In Between and the Sun. The Sun Club was destroyed from the Salt Lake tornado of 1999 and the building was demolished. 

 Jim Hegney was also involved in local progressive politics, fraternal organizations that promoted Catholic unity, as that he was a devout Roman Catholic, as were his Irish parents. However, when he married in 1885, he married a widowed woman from a Mormon family of English converts. 

  Early Beginnings 

     Jim Hegney came to Utah from Ohio between 1880 and 1885. As that Mormons dominated the downtown and eastern portion of the city, Jim Hegney went to the western outskirts of the city to make his fortune. The majority of Hegney’s businesses were on what was now the corner of Second South and Sixth West also though he owned property as far west as Seventh West.  

 Jim Hegney’s parents were both Irish Immigrants, and more than likely, they were hard scrabble, great potato famine refugees. They made their way to Sandusky, Erie County, Ohio where Jim was born 29 Apr 1843. During the American Civil War, when he was 21 years old, Hegney enlisted in the Union Navy in which he served from 1864 until 1865. A pension record showed that Jim had the rank of “Landsman”, the lowest rank of the United States Navy in the 19th Century. The rank was given to new recruits with little or no experience at sea and they performed menial and unskilled work aboard ship.

 After the Civil War ended, Hegney returned to Ohio to live with his widowed mother and his siblings. The next fifteen years of his life are a mystery, however, the 1880 United States census showed that Hegney was living with his mother and his other siblings in the town of Oxford, in Erie County, Ohio.

 In that year he was 34 years old, unmarried, and working as a farm laborer. Sometime between 1880 and 1885 Jim Hegney headed west, bringing with him his mother and some of his brothers. He settled in the outskirts of Salt Lake City and amassed a small fortune probably in mining and as a land speculator. 

 Hegney’s motivation to move west to Utah Territory is unknown but it must have been for economic opportunities. He was a Catholic at a time when Utah Territory was controlled by a theocratic Mormon polygamists’ oligarchy. In the 1880’s, mining and railroad work were the main source of employment for “gentiles” as non-Mormons were called in the 19th Century. 

 Brigham Young had discouraged the Saints not to engage in mining fearing the corrupting and temporary life of mining camps. This provided an economic incentive for "gentiles" to exploit Utah's mineral riches. For whatever the reason that brought Jim Hegney to Utah, by 1885 he was financially well off enough to marry.  As a middle-aged man he married a Mormon widow with children of her own. 

 He became the proprietor of a modest establishment he named “The Rio Grande Hotel,” which was located directly across from the recently built Denver and Rio Grande Western Rail Road’s passenger depot. 

 A Salt Lake Herald Republican newspaper article, dated 28 October 1893, reported on Hegney’s financial and political status, by quoting his associates. One of whom stated, “I don’t wonder that Jim Hegney clings to the rotten hulk of the Liberal Party, said a gentleman, who claimed to know what he’s talking about. When Hegney came, he was as poor as the proverbial church mouse. During his residence in Salt Lake, he has accumulated about $100,000. Only a few days ago he purchased real estate and buildings valued at $75,000.”

 The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Depot 

     Part of Hegney’s wealth probably came from investing in land on the western outskirts of Salt Lake City, where in 1881, the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad bought up four city blocks, containing 40 acres, on which to build a passenger and freight depot. 

     At that time the west side of the city reached from West Temple as far as the Jordan River and was sparsely populated with small farms and shops. The land was considered cheap as being a distance from downtown and from the residences of the east side of the valley. 

     The new Denver and Rio Grande railway’s freight and passenger hub was built on what is today Sixth West but then Fifth West, between Second South and Third South. The train yards actually extended from Fourth South to South Temple and west between Sixth West to Eight West. The main track line ran along Sixth [Seventh] West Street which then divided the west side of the city from downtown and the more affluent eastern half of the city. 

    The location of the new depot brought in hundreds of workers to lay tracks and build repair shops to the area. Whether Jim Hegney had already acquired property at Fifth [Sixth] West between Second South and Third, when the train depot was being developed, is not known without an extensive land title search. However, his proximity to the Denver & Rio Grande depot made his hotel a favorite for travelers making their connections in Salt Lake.

The Rio Grande Hotel and Saloon 

        Prior to operating the Albany Hotel, Jim Hegney was the proprietor of the Rio Grande Hotel that was built in the 1880’s. The Albany Hotel was built circa 1890 which also contained the “Hegney Saloon”.   Salt Lake City Directories do not list Jim Hegney until 1888, when he was listed as the proprietor of the Rio Grande Hotel “opposite of the D.& R.G. Depot”. However, he had to have built that hotel, which was directly across the street from the Passenger Depot, before 1886 from information found in a newspaper account. 

    The 1884 Salt Lake Directory listed the Rio Grande Saloon at 227 South Fifth [Sixth] West. The business was also listed as being located at 221 South Fifth [Sixth] West. Later an article printed in the Salt Lake Tribune, dated from 4 April 1886, mentioned a burglary at the Rio Grande Hotel and that Hegney was the proprietor. Taking into consideration the amount of time it took to build the hostelry, it had to have been constructed around 1885 at least, perhaps even earlier. Additionally, the 1890 city directory for Salt Lake listed “James Hegney” as a hotel proprietor of the Rio Grande Hotel. 

    The Rio Grande hotel contained a Saloon for its thirsty guests as well as for railroad men. Jim Hegney was also according to the directory, the owner of a General Store located next to the hotel at 237 South Fifth West. His primary residence, in that year, for his young family was at the Rio Grande Hotel. 

The Albany Hotel

    The proximity of the Rio Grande hotel to the train depot and yards was lucrative for Hegney and he acquired a building that was larger and more accommodating hostelry adjacent to his Rio Grande Hotel. His new enterprise was named his new establishment “The Albany Hotel”, mostly likely, after the premier Albany Hotel located in Denver, which had an excellent national reputation for accommodations for travelers. 

    The Albany Hotel, as described on a Sanborn Fire Insurance map, was built just three feet north of Hegney’s old hostelry. 

August 1890 Carroll and Kern architects yesterday closed a contract with Mr. Brown of Ogden for erecting the Daly, Burk and Kullak building Second South and Fifth West the building will be 165 X 50, two stories high. The contract price is $18,000. It will contain a large lodging house and nine stores.  

In September The eight inch two story brick wall recently built as the south wall of the Kullak and Daly building, corner of Second south and Fifth West streets, fell over Friday night onto the Hegney’s Rio Grande Hotel. It smashed in the roof, and descended on the bed of one of the hired girls like a Kansas cyclone. Fortunately she tumbled over onto the floor ere the weight of the full weight of the timbers came onto the bed, and escaped uninjured except for her wits. Mr. Hegney says that had the other girls been in bed they would have been killed. Loss about $3=200, Kullak and Daly footing the bills. Mr. Hegney thinks the building Inspector ought to look over many of the buildings now going up, as they bear watching. 

August 1891 James Hegney and others asked that a sidewalk be constructed on the north side of Second South from Fifth west to Seventh West. Referred. Asked that the abatement of a nuisance in the shape of a pool of stagnant water on Second south between Fifth and Sixth West.  In October the sidewalk was approved. 

September 1893 James Hegney is evidently not afraid to put money into real estate in this city. A deed was put on record at the County Recorder’s office yesterday from the Salt Lake Real Estate and Investment Company and John J Daly to James Hegney for $27,000. The property sold is a 10 by 12 corner on Second South and Fifth West Streets.

  Oct 1893 Fifteenth Ward sixteen delegates Albany Hotel Second South and Fifth west. Liberal Party Primaries.

Nov 1893 Renewal of retail liquor license for three months James Hegney Second South and Fifth west

 

1894

 1894 special tax approved for the construction of sidewalks on Second South between Fifth West and the Jordan River adopted.

 

December 1894 Ordinance passed to place 160 lights one at the intersection of each principal street and one at alternate intersections Big reduction number now used  lamps on Second South between Sixth west and Fifth West

There are but two lights west of Fifth West  and very few of West Third South

 

Hegney and the Odd Fellows Lodge 

Jim Hegney was an active member of the West Second South business community, building bonds with other local businessmen. One of the ways he accomplished this was his becoming a member of the Odd Fellows’ Lodge. An article dated 7 August 1887 showed that Jim had donated 50 cigars to the International Order of Odd Fellows for a fundraising excursion. While the Catholic Church prohibited practicing Catholics from joining fraternities, Jim must have seen the benefit of contributing to a "Christian fraternal organization" that met weekly in order to "create a stronger brotherhood among its members, as well as to do good in the community". In a time where there were no governmental safety nets, money collected from dues and fundraisers from Fraternal Orders took care of their members when sickness and or death occurred. 

Hegney and Politics

Jim Hegney was a leading political figure in his Salt Lake City Second District and was instrumental in organizing the “Liberal Party”, known then also as the anti-Mormon Party. The Utah political party was part of a progressive movement within the city and state. The Liberal Party was formed in 1870 to oppose Mormon domination of local politics via the People's Party. Though vastly outnumbered, the Liberal Party offered an opposing voice in Salt Lake City and won several local elections. The Liberal Party also constructed the city's first sewer, constructed the expensive joint Salt Lake City and County Building, and established Liberty Park. 

The Liberal Party’s primaries, for the Fifth Ward in District 2, were held at the Albany Hotel on 10 October 1893. The Fifth Ward contained most of West First South, West Second South and Third South. A Salt Lake Tribune article called “Liberals of Two Precincts” dated 3 November 1893 reported, “The Albany Hotel was altogether too small for the comfortable accommodation of the rousing Liberal meeting held there last night. The old reliable Fifteenth Ward turned out enmass and the orators of the event were received with old time enthusiasm.” 

After the rousing defeat on the Liberal Party in the November election of 1893, Hegney then became a Democrat. A Salt Lake Herald Republican’s article, dated 27 December 1893, declared, “On Friday evening there will be a-rousing Democratic rally at the Exposition Building and another at Hegney’s hall adjoining the Albany Hotel.” 

Gambling at the Albany Hotel 

Jim Hegney had allowed illegal gambling to take place in his saloon according to court records from 1892. He was charged with “conducting a game of chance”. He probably had allowed card games to be played in his saloon and whether he was convicted or paid a fine was not known. On 25 January 1893, Jim Hegney was called to be appear in city police court but he did not attend. Instead he had was attorney plead not guilty for him. The newspaper account of the case stated that Hegney had been “indicted almost a year ago on the charge of conducting gambling houses.” A month later, 20 February 1893, Hegney appeared in Judge Charles Zane’s court to answer a charge of “conducting a game of chance.” No details of whether he found guilty or not was in the article. If guilty he would have paid a fine. It was doubtful he served any jail time having the means to pay a fine. 

The Businessmen's Association

The charge, of conducting a “gambling house”, didn’t seem to hurt Hegney’s reputation any, as in that same year he was a member of a committee called “the Business Men’s Association”. The purpose of the association was to raise funds for a copper smelting plant in north Salt Lake. As the proprietor of the Rio Grande Hotel he was said to have raised $75 from other Second South Street business owners for the cause.

 Lawsuit Hegney vs. the State Insurance Board 

At the end of the 19thCentury Jim Hegney was next found suing the State Insurance Board because five different insurance company denied him property insurance; even after he had paid one but the policy was later rescinded. He complained that his property, being on the west side of town, was being discriminated against. The Salt Lake Herald Republican -Republican reported on 17 April 1898 in a feature titled “May Sue the Board James Hegney was denied property insurance,” that one of the reasons Hegney was denied insurance was probably due to the high crime rate that occurred in the Rio Grande Depot proximity. 

Certainly the demographics of the area were changing and the city provided little police oversight. Five years earlier, in August 1893, it seemed that someone had deliberately attempted to burn the Albany Hotel down. Small fires were set in the kitchen and an upstairs storeroom but were quickly discovered in time to be put out without much damage. An article said there was only about $10 worth of damage and that the building and furnishings were well insured. 

Articles in both the Salt Lake Herald Republican and the Salt Lake Tribune featured reports regarding the fire set at the hotel. However The Tribune contained more details about the fire in an August 19 featured; “A Base Attempt”. “A firebug made a dastardly attempt last night at 10:30 o’clock to destroy the Albany Hotel building on Fifth West ]between Second and Third South. It was first in the restaurant on the ground floor then in a storeroom in the second story. Both blazes were extinguished with buckets of water by the people about the house." "Before the fire was discovered, a man was seen to rush hurried down by the rear stairway from the second story, and a roomer, who followed him, discovered the blaze in a rear room of the restaurant." "The loss will not exceed $10. The building was owned [mortgaged] by Burke & Daly and was valued at $13,000. The lodging house furniture owned [mortgaged] by Henry Lyne was insured for $1000 and the restaurant owned by Mrs. Van Gilder for $325." 

The 1900 Federal Census 

At the turn of the Century, James Hegney was enumerated on 7 June 1900 in District 25 of the Second Precinct of Salt Lake City. His residence was given as 595 West Second South in Salt Lake City. He stated he was born in April 1845 in Ohio to Irish parents. His wife Eliza [nee’ Grundy] was born November 1856 in Utah to English parents. His occupation was given as Hotel Keeper. In his household were listed 5 daughters and two sons. 

The other residents of the Albany Hotel were also enumerated in the 1900 United States Census. Jim Hegney employed two Swedish women in their mid twenties, as “hotel servants”, a fifty year old Scotsman as his hotel clerk, a thirty-nine year old Irish American as a bartender, and two Chinese men in their forties as hotel cooks. Forty men roomed at the hotel; all but five were single men ranging in age from twenty-three years to sixty-three old. Thirteen of the men were in their twenties, eight were in their thirties, ten were over forty years old, seven were in their fifties, and two were over sixty years old. 

A Rise of Crime in the Neighborhood 

The last remaining years of Jim Hegney’s life, he saw his neighborhood change as the old Mormon shop keepers and businesses moved away, replaced by a “foreign element” of recent Southern European immigrants many of whom were unable to speak English.

 In a 22 January 1903 Salt Lake Tribune article called “Burglary on West”, the paper reported on a break-in at his hotel and drug store. Hegney was quoted in the account of complaining of the lack patrolmen after midnight on the west side of Salt Lake City. 

“James Hegney, owner of the Albany Hotel and the West Side Drug Store, had a visitation from thieves early yesterday morning. The rear of the hotel and one of the drug store windows were entered by the looters who secured about $140 worth of good.'" "Nothing was known of the matter until Mr. Hegney made the discovery late last night that about $40 worth of articles from the store were missing. Then he made a search and learned that the window glass in the side of the building had been cut away. No disturbance was made by the burglars in their operations." 

"Mr. Hegney says that from the rear of the hotel he missed three bundles of goods. In one of them being a very valuable gun that he prized highly. Many carpenter tools from the same place were stolen. All the articles aggregating about $100 which together with the stuff taken from the drug store brings his loss up to about $140." 

"Mr. Hegney speaks very bitterly of the lack of police protection in the neighborhood of the Rio Grande Western depot. 'It’s an outrage,' he said, 'that we can’t have an officer out here at night, just as other portions of the city have. It was always dangerous for residents in this part of the city. Robberies occur very frequently in this quarter and holdups are even more frequent. I think it was about time we were given a little more protection from thieves.” 

In August 1903, the acting Chief of Police, Joseph E. Burbridge, sent communications to the council committee on Police and Prison recommending that the liquor license of the Albany Hotel and bar be revoked. James Hegney’s bartender George Westfield had been fined $50 for violation of the liquor ordinance prohibiting the sale of alcohol on Sunday and had been fined $50. Hegney had to appear before the committee to show why his license should not be revoked. 

Two masks men held of the Albany saloon in January 1905 only absconding with $4 of $5 from the cash register. George Blundell was the bartender and he and three other men in the saloon were lined up against the wall and searched “but they had very little money.” The robbers were “slender and well dressed.” The 1907 Polk Directory stated that Blundell moved off to Boise, Idaho. 

Jim Hegney's Death 

The Albany Hotel was Jim Hegney residence for 17 years until his death in 1907. Towards the end of his life he witnessed the change of his “lodgers” from being a “respectable” cliental to a more rougher and more indigent one. He must have also been dismayed at seeing the property values of the area declined as the demographics changed with the influx of “foreigners” primarily from Southern Europe and the Near Middle East. 

In February 1907, Jim Hegney passed away from a type of kidney disease while residing in the Albany Hotel. His death was noted in both the Salt Lake Telegram and the Salt Lake Herald Republican newspapers. 

28 Feb 1907 Salt Lake Telegram: “James E. Hegney, owner of the Albany hotel and an old resident of this city, died yesterday afternoon at the age of 63 years. For a number of years he had conducted the Albany hotel at the corner of Fifth West and Second South streets which has been the stopping place for nearly all the railroad men who had to layover in this city. The deceased leaves a widow, five daughters and two sons. The funeral will be held from St. Mary's cathedral at 9:30 o'clock Friday morning. He died of Bright Disease.  The genial host enjoyed a wide acquaintance, and his business adventures in Salt Lake the past 25 years proved successful and he left a neat fortune to his family." 

28 February 1907 Salt Lake Herald Republican: “James Hegney Passes Away- Kept Albany Hotel and was known everywhere as the Railroad Man’s Friend. ACCUMULATED A FORTUNE- WIDOW AND FIVE CHILDREN SURVIVE HIM- In the death of James Hegney of Salt Lake, proprietor of the Albany Hotel, Railroad men of the intermountain country have lost a friend of a quarter of a century. Not an engineer, fireman, conductor or brakie, freight and passenger alike, running on the long roads that stretch from Salt Lake, but knew and loved “Jim” Hegney. The Albany was the railroad’s man’s hangout when in town, and the old man behind the counter knew them." 

"The hotel man died at the age of 65 at his home at 575 West Second South. He died wealthy, the greater portion of his wealth being in real estate." "A widow, five daughters, three of whom are married and two sons survive him. The younger two daughter are Maida and Gladys. The two sons are James and Charles and the three married daughters are Mrs. Thomas Lamplugh, Mrs. Frank Conrad, and Mrs. Thomas Charlton.” The funeral will be held from St. Mary’s Cathedral Friday morning. A high requiem mass will be celebrated by Father Curran. Father Kelly and old friends of the deceased will preach the funeral sermon. Interment will be in Mount Calvary.” 

Hegney was given a Catholic Mass and then buried in the Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery located at 275 North U Street (1252 East) in Salt Lake City. 

After the death of James Hegney, his family moved out of the hotel and his estate leased the building to a series of Greek “proprietors”. The once prestigious Albany Hotel eventually became a ‘rooming house’ for the mostly single Greek men who emigrated to Salt Lake City during the first decades of the Twentieth Century. 

Descendants 

James Hegney only had the two sons, James Edward Hegney and Charles Francis Hegney. Hegney’s three daughters, were Mrs. Sophia Conrad, Mrs. Maida Quinlin, and Mrs. Gladys Peterson. Additionally he had two step daughters Mrs. Eudora Lamplugh, and Mrs. Mary Charlton. 

James E. Hegney died in 1910 of acute Peritonitis at the age of 23 while he was a student at the University of Utah. James Hegney’s only surviving son, Charles Francis Hegney, married, separated, but did not divorced as they were a Catholics family. They also never had children. Charles Hegney continued to manage the family’s property on Second South after his mother died in 1925. He still had property interest in the old Albany Hotel building as that in April 1949, he paid $1675 for a building permit to install a new ceiling in the establishment. Tragically Charles Hegney committed suicide in 1951 by shooting himself while living at the Congress Hotel in Salt Lake City. 

James Hegney’s eldest daughter, Sophia Hegney married Winfield Franklin Conrad and had two sons, James Franklin and Jacob. However, Jacob died of smallpox as an infant. The surviving son “Jim” Conrad became a professional baseball player for the Coal League before later becoming the owner of the Kozy Korner Tavern, located on the property that his grandfather had owned at 700 West and Second South. 

The middle daughter, Maida Hegney, also called “Mary”, was married three times but only had children by her first husband Thomas Russell Sprunt. She had the two children named James Hegney Sprunt and Mary Elizabeth “Betty” Sprunt.     Maida and Thomas Russell Sprunt were divorced by 1930. She then married twice more. Her second husband was Arthur Pachkofsky, a soldier in the U.S. Army at Fort Douglas. He died a year after they were married from a truck rollover accident in Cedar City. In September 1940, Mary married for the third time, James J Quinlin. She died, however, a few months later while visiting Los Angeles. She died of pneumonia at the age of 48. Her two children then inherited their mother’s shares of the estate left by James Hegney. 

The youngest daughter of James Hegney, Gladys Hegney, married Oscar T. Peterson but she also had no children either. She died in 1961 at the age of 66. The only surviving grandchildren of James Hegney, and his heirs therefore, were James Franklin Conrad, Mary Elizabeth Sprunt, and James Hegney Sprunt.