Celebrating a Historical Summer!

Happy summer everyone! During the summer we usually stray from legal research topics and pick a theme and stick to it for our summer posts. Last year we chose Rhode Island food (which was a fun and delicious theme!) and this summer we are choosing Rhode Island history. In every post, we will be discussing some aspect of Rhode Island history or a Rhode Islander of historic significance. To kick the season off, this post will be about Florence Murray.

If the name Florence Murray sounds vaguely familiar to you, it may be because the Newport County court house is named in her honor. She was a Newport native and led a life of “firsts.” She was the first woman appointed to the Superior Court in Rhode Island (1956), the first female presiding judge of the Superior Court (1978), and the first woman appointed to the Rhode Island Supreme Court (1979). he also was elected to the Rhode Island Senate and served there for four terms.

For more information on Florence Murray, see Justice Florence Kerins Murray: The Legacy of a Pioneer in the Rhode Island Courts.

This summer when you are visiting Newport for fun or for your summer, stop by and see the portrait of Justice Murray which is located in the stairwell of the Florence K. Murray Judicial Complex. She was a Rhode Island trailblazer and legal pioneer!