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Birth:          21 Jan 1862 Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.
Death:          1948 

Notes
living per
info from a posting on ancestry.com (in a wp file).
awt Who Was Who in Ramsey Co., Minn.
1880 in Providence, R.I., student
1910 in St. Paul, Minn. partner in wholesale hardware business 6 servants
1920 in St. Paul, Minn. supply merchant 1 servant
1930 in St. Paul, Minn. proprietor of plumbing fixtures store 3 servants
all over google! One of St Paul's most successful businessmen. President (1906-1909) 
and early investor in 3M. All sorts of buildings named after him. Also a Nature 
Preserve. And Ordway Center for the Performing Arts.
www.angelfire.com/mn/thursdaynighthikes/summiteast1.html
The Ordway family were members of the Minikahda Country Club, the Somerset Club, 
and the White Bear Yacht Club in 1934. The Ordway family summered in White Bear 
Lake, Minnesota, in 1934.
built St Paul Hotel
partner, Crane and Ordway 

 From http://cache.zoominfo.com/cachedpage/?
archive_id=0&page_id=209567174&page_url=%2f%2fwww.pioneerplanet.com%2fnews
%2fmtc_docs
%2f128130.htm&page_last_updated=9%2f11%2f2001+12%3a19%3a07+PM&firstName=L
ucius&lastName=Ordway

DETAILS
Size: With 25,000 square feet of space, 260 Summit Ave. may be the largest single-
family residence in St. Paul. 
Features: A second-floor ballroom with baronial fireplace and pipe organ, and a 
basement swimming pool. 

Cost: $1.7 million.

"I love history," Richard Nicholson says of the connections he and his family have to 
260 Summit Ave.

Richard and Nancy Nicholson hope to move into 260 Summit Ave. by Oct. 15. But 
renovation of the Louis W. Hill house -- originally built for the second son of railroad 
baron James J. Hill -- will continue for about a year. Richard Nicholson is the great-
grandson of Lucius Pond Ordway, an early investor in 3M.

Old St. Paul family 
reclaims old house 
BY THERESA MONSOUR 
Pioneer Press 
Duck under the sheets of plastic hanging from the front doorway. Dodge the 
electricians and painters and carpenters. Ignore the banging and scraping and clouds 
of dust hanging in the air. Walk up the staircase and step into the ballroom. Stand in 
the middle and listen. You can hear them laughing, champagne glasses clinking. They 
are dressed in fancy party clothes or elaborate costumes. If their faces aren't familiar, 
their names should be. Hill. Ordway. Fitzgerald. 

The cream of St. Paul society danced on this wood floor in the early 1900s, and they 
will dance on it again. 

The home at 260 Summit Ave., built for the second son of railroad tycoon James J. 
Hill, has been sold to descendants of another famous empire builder. Local historians 
are practically doing pirouettes. Says Eileen McCormack, one of the guardians of the 
James J. Hill papers at the Hill Library: "We couldn't in our wildest imaginations have 
picked a better person to buy that house." 

That person is Richard Nicholson, great-grandson of Lucius Pond Ordway, one of the 
early investors of 3M, a partner in the wholesale plumbing company of Crane and 
Ordway, and the man instrumental in the building of the St. Paul Hotel. 

Nicholson's lineage isn't the only trait making him a perfect fit for the house. 

"I love history," he says. 

The house offers plenty of it. It was originally the residence of Louis W. Hill, who lived 
there with his wife, Maud, and their children. The back section was built between 
1902 and 1904. In 1912, the front section was added, containing, among other 
features, an entrance hall, a second-floor ballroom with baronial fireplace and pipe 
organ, and a basement swimming pool. 

The Hills hosted St. Paul Winter Carnival events and entertained Queen Marie of 
Romania. F. Scott Fitzgerald supposedly based his short story, "The Camel's Back,'' 
on one of the Hills' famous costume parties. When Louis Hill died in 1948, his services 
were held at the home. 

Since Nicholson bought the house this summer -- for $1.7 million -- he's been digging 
around documents and diaries at the James J. Hill Library searching for connections 
between the Hills and the Ordways. 

As it turns out, his great-grandparents, Lucius and Jessie Ordway, were good friends 
of Louis and Maud Hill. The two couples vacationed together at Glacier National Park. 
They belonged to the same clubs. They danced together on that ballroom floor at 260 
Summit Ave. 

Nicholson and his wife, Nancy, are restoring the ballroom and the rest of the house, 
making the mansion a single-family home again. When they are finished, it may be the 
largest single-family residence in the city, with 25,000 square feet of space. 

They plan to have parties. Lots and lots of parties. 

"How many women actually own a ballroom?" says Nancy Nicholson. 

They plan to host events for their favorite charities and organizations. Ramsey County 
Historical Society. Minnesota Historical Society. Friends of the St. Paul Public Library. 
Dodge Nature Center. Rotary Club of St. Paul. Park Square Theatre. Ordway Center 
for the Performing Arts. The list goes on and on. 

"We've been given a gift," she says of their acquisition of the historic home. "We 
intend to share it." 

Nancy Nicholson says she will maintain the home's historic feel but will add her own 
touches. "I like color," she says. "I like elegance." 

By Oct. 15, they hope to move in with their two younger children, ages 14 and 17. A 
third child is 22. 

Floors are being refinished, woodwork is being stripped of layers of paint, new carpet 
is being installed. It will take 106 rolls of wallpaper to decorate the foyer alone. Even 
the basement swimming pool is being fixed and lined with ceramic tiles; it was covered 
over by previous occupants. All the work won't be finished for about a year. 

In the 15 years following Louis Hill's death, some Catholic publications had offices and 
other operations at the home. 

Then the Daughters of the Heart of Mary, a Catholic order, ran a religious retreat 
house there. In 1997, they sold the home to Deva House, an organization that 
planned to open a hospice for terminally ill children. Expenses proved overwhelming 
for the well-meaning group, however, and a "For Sale'' sign was planted in the front 
yard of 260 Summit Ave. 

The house sold once, but the deal fell through. Then the Nicholsons spotted it on the 
market; they'd been looking for a house on the bluff. With Richard's love of history 
and Nancy's love of entertaining, it was a match. 

The Nicholsons don't plan to open the house for public tours, but the parties for 
nonprofits and other events should give plenty of people an opportunity to eye the 
historic home. 

"It's very exciting," Nancy Nicholson says, "to give this place back to St. Paul." 

Theresa Monsour can be reached at tmonsour@ pioneerpress.com or (651) 228-5457. 


Parents
ORDWAY Aaron Lucius (11 Dec 1821 - 1903)
HANSON Frances Ellen (16 Sep 1830 - 1873)

Siblings
ORDWAY Stephen (8 Jun 1860 - )
ORDWAY Lucius Pond (21 Jan 1862 - 1948)

Marriage To GILMAN Jessie Cornwell (1865 - 28 May 1944)
    m. 30 May 1885 St. Paul, Minn.

Notes


Children by GILMAN Jessie Cornwell 1865 - 28 May 1944
ORDWAY John Gilman (20 Jan 1886 - )
ORDWAY Samuel Gilman (2 Jan 1887 - )
ORDWAY Lucius Pond (1890 - )
ORDWAY Katharine (3 Apr 1899 - 1979)
ORDWAY Richard (1903 - )

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