TOOELE — The main courtroom inside the spacious new Tooele courts complex wasn't quite large enough to accommodate everyone who wanted to honor the building's namesake.
Several of the 200-plus people who visited the courthouse Monday afternoon were forced to stand along the walls or just outside the doorway for a ceremony dedicating the complex as the Gordon R. Hall Courthouse.
Hall, 81, is a Tooele County native whose career included 12 years as county attorney, eight years as a 3rd District judge and 16 years as a Utah Supreme Court Justice.
Now, Tooele Valley Justice Court Judge William Pitts said, people who visit Tooele for years to come will know Hall's name.
"Gordon Hall was always respected, no matter what he did," Pitts said.
The $10.4 million, 58,000-square-foot complex at 74 S. 100 East opened March 1. It includes three courtrooms for use by the district, juvenile and justice courts.
"Tooele County is very proud to have (Hall's) name on this wonderful building," said Colleen Johnson, county commissioner.
For 12 of the 16 years Hall served on the state Supreme Court, he was chief justice, said Christine M. Durham, who currently fills the post. He was the first person to serve 12 years in the position, Durham said, "and given the rigors of the job, maybe the last."
Hall said he's honored to be the focal point of what he says is "recognition for every member of the judiciary."
"I'm so pleased it happened during my lifetime so I could see it," he said.
E-mail: jpage@desnews.com