He had made his fortune with his partners, John Judge and David Keith through their business, the Silver King Mine in Park City.

[2] He was also the publisher of the Salt Lake Tribune newspaper, and continued his leadership role in early Utah when he became a United States Senator.

Bishop Lawrence Scanlan, of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City, gave the sisters a small, two-story adobe building for the purpose of caring for the orphans.

The acreage on which the orphanage was built consisted of rich farmland where the sisters would grow food for feeding the orphans.

[6] Kearns-St. Ann's Orphanage was dedicated on October 7, 1900,[7] and quickly became home to 92 children and the Sisters of the Holy Cross who cared for them.

[8] Funding for the orphanage was difficult and relied heavily on donations from benefactors in the Salt Lake area.

[10] The sisters worked with the residents of Salt Lake City to provide a very loving home for the children.

However, the legacy of the founders continued when St. Ann's Orphanage was converted into a parochial school beginning in 1955.

A decision had to be made regarding whether to demolish and rebuild the crumbling, nearly century-old building, or renovate it in a way that preserved its historic integrity.