In a town where grit meets good ideas, even an empty building can spark conversation and a story.
For more than a century, the Ordway Pharmacy stood at the heart of Main Street, serving prescriptions, ice cream sodas, and small-town conversation. Generations of families passed through its doors, making it a cornerstone of daily life for the residents of Crowley County. The building has stood empty since 2020, when the pharmacy moved across the street, but this building’s history and community spirit remain very much alive.
Ordway is not waiting for help to arrive. It is making things happen. In a remarkable model for rural revitalization, the Town of Ordway leases its owned Main Street buildings at low rates to new businesses. Entrepreneurs get three years to create and operate a business out of the building. If they succeed, the town signs the property over. It is an innovative, home-grown solution that keeps Ordway’s Main Street vibrant, historic, and community-owned.
The old pharmacy at 231 Main Street is next in line for a new life. Once stabilized, the plan is to turn it into Ordway’s first laundromat since 2004, complete with a snack counter and arcade, a creative nod to its soda fountain past. The transformation will preserve one of the county’s most recognizable landmarks while filling a critical local need.
This project also marks a milestone. Ordway Pharmacy is Crowley County’s first-ever nomination to Colorado’s Most Endangered Places. Decades of use have taken their toll on the building. Its roof is failing and its brick walls are crumbling, but the town’s determination to save it reflects the same tenacity that built Ordway.
Listing the former Ordway Pharmacy will bring attention, resources, and technical expertise to stabilize and restore the building. Better yet, it will spotlight the ingenuity of small-town preservation. CPI is proud to partner with the Town of Ordway, Crowley County, the Jackson Family, and the Crowley County Preservation Board to raise awareness of this extraordinary local effort and support their vision to preserve Main Street’s past while creating a stronger, more connected community.