Frederick K. Ordway ("Alaska's Flying Photographer") and Laura P. Ordway settled in Juneau around 1926. Frederick worked as an electrician for Alaska Light and Power Co. for less than a year before opening Ordway's Photo Service (or Photo Shop) on Front Street. Laura was a photographer and writer employed by Alaska Line Steamship Co. The Ordways traveled throughout Alaska in the 1930s photographing Alaskan subjects. Laura also worked as a free-lance writer/photographer for Popular Science, Alaskan Travel Magazine, and other magazines and advertising companies. In 1934, Fred moved his expanding business, Ordway's Uptown Photo Shop, into the Shattuck Building.

Frederick Ordway died from injuries he received when his rented, cabin monoplane crashed south of Oregon City, Oregon, Feb. 17, 1938. He was photographing at the time. He was approximately 35 years old. According to the Daily Alaskan Empire, his ashes were scattered over Mendenhall Valley by pilot, Joe Crosson. [From: M.F. Dee Promotions and The Daily Alaskan, Feb. 18, 1938, Anchorage Times, 2/17/1938.]