It was an ordinary day. Carol and I were taking a ride through our old neighborhood known as Grandview Heights. We lived close to the center of the neighborhood on Janet Ave. until about 20 years ago when we moved to our current home about a mile away. After driving throughout the "Heights" we began heading back to our current house when we drove past a large home that sat at 221 Fordney Road. We both were amazed at the condition of the home today. At one time it was an 18th century brick farmhouse with beautiful landscaping and stately trees surrounding it. We all knew it as "The Fordney Mansion". Originally it was a huge property with acres of farmland surrounding it. It was owned at one time by Col. William Bush Fordney who "read law" with James Buchanan.
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| "Wheatland" was the home of President James Buchanan |
Yep...the same James Buchanan who became President of the United States. Col. Fordney originally lived on the corner of Duke and Orange Streets in the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, but bought the farm in 1867 to use as a country home.
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| An old black and white of the Fordney Mansion |
In 1890 he added what was called the "West Wing" to make the home an "elegant gentleman's country estate" for his son, Thomas Potter Fordney. The last Fordney to live in the home was Miss Alice Fordney who was the last of her immediate family who died in April of 1973 at the age of 85. The house is no longer in the Fordney family, as far as I can determine, but is still known as the "Fordney Mansion."
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| The name of Fordney Mansion is still on the house. |
As we passed the home while leaving Grandview Heights we were amazed at how overgrown the home has become. Trees and shrubs make it impossible to see the front door of the once beautiful mansion. If Col. Fordney were still alive today he would be outraged at his once beautiful "Fordney Mansion." As for the final Fordney to inhabit the house, Alice Potter Fordney was born on June 21, 1887 and was the daughter of Ida Cox and Thomas Potter Fordney. She at one time was a prominent antique dealer from the late 1920s to her retirement in 1965. She was known for her custom hooked rugs. Her maternal great-grandfather was John Michael who owned the historic Grape Hotel in downtown Lancaster for almost 35 years while her paternal great-grandfather, Col. William Bush Fordney, was a prominent lawyer in downtown Lancaster.
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| A pen and ink drawing of The Grape Hotel in Lancaster |
He served as the District Attorney from 1839-1845 and negotiated for the loan that enabled the city of Lancaster to build the "Lancaster Water Works" in the 1930s. Her maternal grandmother, Sarah Cox, was a philanthropist and helped manage the Home for Friendless Children in Lancaster while her sister Ellen Fordney Franklin was a "pioneer" in the women's knit suit industry. Miss Frodney opened her first shop in Philadelphia in 1929. Miss Alice never married, but kept in contact with her nieces and nephews. Many of these letters are part of a file on her at the Lancaster Historical Society. Well, I stopped back at the once great Fordney Mansion today to take a few photographs. I was very disappointed since I couldn't even see the front porch of the once beautiful house on Fordney Road. Tough to see how this place was at one time an "elegant gentleman's country estate." It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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Photo taken years ago showing the Fordney Mansion
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| Photo taken recently of the Fordney Mansion |
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