Pennsylvania Judicial Center Portraits

Opened in 2009 and located across the street from Pennsylvania's historic Capitol Building, the Pennsylvania Judicial Center houses offices from all three appellate courts, offices that administer the state's Unified Judicial System, and the Supreme Court's History Center. The Chief Justice's chambers display a number of portraits of former Justices.

Address

601 Commonwealth Avenue

Harrisburg, PA 17120

Opening Hours

Mon - Fri

8:00 am – 5:00 pm

Walter H. Lowrie

Oil Painting on Linen - Undated - Artist Unkown

Chief Justice Lowrie was first admitted to the Allegheny County Bar in 1829. In 1846, Lowrie was appointed as a Judge, and he was later among the first Justice ever elected to the Supreme Court in 1851 and became Chief Justice in 1857. During the Civil War, US Marshalls seized the Jeffersonian newspaper in West Chester, a paper critical of the Federal Government. Chief Justice Lowrie presided over the trial in which the jury found the seizure unconstitutional and ordered its return to the owner. Lowrie finished his public service as the President Judge in Crawford County and died in office in 1876.

Ellis Lewis

Oil Painting on Linen - Undated - Artist Unkown

Orphaned at the age of nine, Lewis worked as a printer at a newspaper founded by his father in Harrisburg. Lewis first became a judge when he was appointed President Judge of the Eighth Judicial District and later the President Judge of the Second Judicial District. After an 1850 constitutional amendment required judges be elected, Lewis was elected to the Supreme Court. That new group of Justices drew straws to determine the length of their term. Justice Ellis drew the second-shortest term at six years, with the final three years served as Chief Justice.

George W. Woodward

Oil Painting on Linen - Undated - Artist Unkown

Chief Justice Woodward began his public service as the President Judge of the Fourth District in the center of the state. President Polk nominated Woodward to the US Supreme Court, however he was unable to obtain confirmation from the Senate. After his failed nomination, Woodward was appointed to fill a vacancy on Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court in 1852. In 1867, Chief Justice Woodward wrote his most important decision in an appeal from an order of his fellow Justice, William Strong, that prevented railroad cars from running on Sundays. Influenced by his extensive travels in Europe, Woodward reversed Strong, finding cheap travel to the countryside was a blessing for the working class. After his time on the Supreme Court, Woodward found himself in the US House and Strong was later appointed, and confirmed, to the US Supreme Court.

James T. Mitchell

Oil Painting on Linen - Undated - Artist Unkown

Mitchell attended Harvard and later studied law under a prominent Philadelphia lawyer, George W. Biddle, before being admitted to the Philadelphia bar in 1857. Mitchell was elected as a judge in Philadelphia county in 1871 and later a Justice in 1888. At the first argument after Mitchell’s early retirement in 1909, Chief Justice Fell announced the Court’s decision to appoint Mitchell as its prothonotary – a position he served in until his death five years later.

William Tilghman

Oil Painting on Linen - Undated - Artist Unkown

Tilghman studied law under Chief Justice Benjamin Chew and was initially admitted to practice in Maryland. An elector of President Washington, Tilghman was later nominated by President John Adams to serve as Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He was known as the “midnight judge” because the Senate confirmed him just before midnight when John Adams’s term expired. After that court was abolished, Governor Thomas McKean, himself a former Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, appointed Tilghman as the President Judge of the First Judicial District and later as Chief Justice of Pennsylvania.

William Allen

Oil Painting on Linen - Undated - Artist Unkown

William Allen studied law in England and returned to Philadelphia to manage his family’s business interests. At their own expense, he and his future father-in-law, Andrew Hamilton, bought the land upon which Independence Hall was later built. Allen was elected to the Pennsylvania House and during his service, was appointed Mayor of Philadelphia and served as a judge in four jurisdictions. His marriage to Margaret Hamilton made Allen the wealthiest man in Philadelphia and one of the most powerful. Allen was appointed Chief Justice of Pennsylvania in 1751. During his tenure, Allen founded Mr. Allen’s Town in Northampton County, later renamed Allentown. A bitter opponent of Benjamin Franklin and with sympathies to the crown, Chief Justice Allen resigned his position in 1774.

Jasper Yeates

Oil Painting on Linen - Undated - Artist Albert Rosenthal

This portrait was painted based on a miniature owned by Jasper Yeates Brinton, Esq. of Philadelphia. A native of Philadelphia Yeates studied law under Edward Shippen before moving to Lancaster to practice law. In 1791, Yeates was appointed to the Supreme Court by Pennsylvania’s first Governor, Thomas Mifflin. During his tenure, Yeates was appointed by President Washington to travel to Western Pennsylvania and help quell the Whiskey Rebellion.

Thomas Passmore, a plaintiff in a civil case before the Supreme Court, publicly posted a notice in Philadelphia that one of the defendants, among other things, was “a liar, a rascal, and a coward.” The Court ordered Passmore to apologize and, after he refused, the Court found him in contempt. In 1805, the Pennsylvania Legislature brought impeachment proceedings against Yeates, Shippen, and Thomas Smith for imposing a fine and prison term on Passmore. That impeachment attempt was unsuccessful and Yeates died in office in 1827.