Family History

. Jennie Lenington and otheres (sic), Dolan Hotel,
Judith Gap, MT, July 4, 1917

My mother was born in January 1922, in Judith Gap, Montana. The kids in the picture were still in grade school when she was born.

Mom was the youngest of four. Jack and Marie (Ness) Roney had Jack Jr., Virginia, Eleanor and Frances. In Judith Gap, Marie and Jack homesteaded on a small plot. Jack, a French Canadian, was a trapper and he left the family one day in 1923, never to return.

I hear that it was a tough life. Grandma Roney kept the plot going by cleaning and laundering, perhaps for this hotel as well as for her neighbors and the saloons. When Mom was about 6 or 7, Marie moved the family to Great Falls, MT, about 110 miles to the northwest, so that the children would have proper schooling. Except Eleanor, who was "slow".

As a teen, Jack got a job on the local radio station, and he was eventually hired by the producer of a new radio program. The producer moved Jack and the family to the city where the show would originate: Washington, DC. Jack was the first announcer for "Meet the Press", and he worked there for the rest of his life.

Here is an article from www.JudithGap.com:

Where it all started...Judith Gap started to provide stop for steam engines
Lewistown News-Argus **
Sunday, December 18, 1994
Christmas Edition
by Don Miller

Cowper once stated in "The Task" that God made the country and man made the town.

This is so true of the little town in the gap of Judith country, nestled sweetly between the majestic Snowy Mountains and the magnificent Little Belt Mountains, as if cradled in the arms of God.

Judith Gap was founded in 1908 when upon the completion of the Great Northern branch from Billings to Great Falls, the steam engines couldn't make it the whole distance and needed a division point to reload on coal.

They chose and purchased two homesteads, that of Mrs. Jennie Olson for $2,000 and Olof Sandberg's for $3,000, sister and brother of Carl Olson to place their division point.

The Great Northern wasn't interested in building a town site at the sight of the Ubet depot that was built for the Jawbone railroad (later called the Milwaukee Railroad) one mile northwest of Judith Gap because of the swampy land. But the depot at Judith Gap was still named Ubet depot but "of Judith Gap" was added.


In July of 1908 the postal charter given to the Great Northern also was called Ubet with George Haynes postmaster.


This Ubet made the third in the area. The first one was four miles west of Garneill. The second was the Ubet depot for the Jawbone and the third was the Ubet depot of Judith Gap.


The postal charter in August of the same year was for Judith Gap with George Haynes as postmaster because it had always been known as the gap into the Judith country. After the purchase, they built an 11 stall roundhouse, a depot, a coal chute, a water tank, repair buildings and added some sidetracks. When the postal charter changed they changed the sign on the Great Northern Depot to read Judith Gap.


Sam Small was a land surveyor and the editor of the first newspaper in Judith Gap called the Judith Gap Journal, which he owned until 1913 when he sold it to Mr. Cowan, who owned it until 1929 when the paper shut down the presses.


The town site was surveyed by Sam Small in July, 1908, and in August of the same year, Small sold lots. People came from all over to grab hold of this opportunity of a lifetime and a building boom started. People built on the lot that they had just bought that same day.


The first building to be built in Judith Gap was by Charles Beers and George S. Haynes. The building was a general mercantile. Beers ran the store while George was postmaster at the post office. George Haynes and Beers had previously owned a store in Garneill and Great Falls before moving to Judith Gap.


Another one of the first pioneers in Judith Gap was C.R. Stone who had earlier established a small store at the Milwaukee U-Bet Station in June of 1908. When the store was built on the newly purchased lots of Judith Gap he moved and operated a store and restaurant with his sister, Nettie N. Stone (Haynes), later wife of George Haynes. The store still stands today across from the Legion building.


Several families’ names started businesses here. One of which was C.J. Volf, father of Chuck Volf. He was a threshing machine operator and later went into the garage business.


McCaull-Webster Grain and Lumber Co. of Vermillion, S.D., also took advantage of the building boom and built a 25,000 bushel grain elevator and opened a lumber yard and also opened a restaurant that ran for 12 years.


In Judith Gap, compared to the two bars that now grace the streets of the Gap, there were seven saloons, one of which was the Walter Hards Palace Saloon and another one was named the Bucket of Blood. Walter Hard's Palace Saloon had potted plants and an eagle in a cage adorned the ceiling. Outside in a steel-fenced pen, lived a black bear.


Hal Bills opened the first bank and his brother Glen started a law and real estate office. After a fire destroyed the Hanson Hotel, John Dolan built one in its place and the bank was sold to a man from Minnesota.


Because Judith Gap was a train town, two of the restaurants in town were open 24 hours a day to accommodate the passengers and train men from the eight passenger trains that ran day and night.


The people of the community had public transportation provided by three firms - the three Stanley brothers, the five Murphy brothers and the two Gurley brothers. They ran 12 passenger buses drawn by horses’ nd the only one left to see use the car was Clarence Gurley.


Judith Gap kept up with the progress of the world and the first car to be owned was a case owned by C.R. Stone. There were several businesses that didn't make it very well in Judith Gap. One was a cheese factory build in 1898 and only lasted a year.

A small log cabin sat at the present day Terry Vorhes place and was used for a school in 1908. They purchased a two story building that used to be on old saloon and used that until 1911 with the school was built.

The first teacher was Mrs. Greene, a homesteader's wife, who taught without pay. The new school was done enough to be used at the beginning of 1912, the north half of the school was not finished until 1916 and was valued at $20,000. Electricity was installed in the building in 1916 or 1917.

In April, 1929, a petition for a school gymnasium was passed around and the building was contracted to Axel Johnson and John Bring. On Sept. 17, 1929, construction began on the gym and it was completed by Nov. 15.

Before the building of the gym, basketball was played outside then they moved inside into a lumber yard. The court was surrounded on three sides by stacks of lumber with catwalks on top to seat the spectators. Only one drawback to the setup, the floor was still made of dirt, and the boys came off the floor after a game looking like coal miners. Ora Rice was the first graduate in 1916.

Another thing that was important in all small and large communities was the churches. The first Catholic church was built in 1918, but before that the Catholic families met once a month in the theater.

The first wedding in the church was the wedding of Phil Redmond and Sadie Conroy. The first double wedding was held Nov. 5, 1919 between Michael Siebenaler and Mary Boutsen and Charles Volf married Mary's sister Lena.

The Methodist church was dedicated in 1921 as the Congregational church and in 1957 was changed to Methodist. At one point in the late 1940's there was no church held at the church building, until Max Johnson, an Assembly of God preacher who worked for contract harvest company, was talked into holding church at the Methodist church.

Through all its ups and downs- the population soaring to over 1000 and then dropping to the present day population of just over 200 - it is true, if it weren't for the man, Judith Gap would not have been a town.