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Adam Orris House

The Adam Orris House is a Second Empire Victorian Mansion located in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. The original site for the Adam Orris House was occupied by a private school. The school was originally opened by Mr. F. L Gillilen; in 1853 Rev. Joseph A. Loose enlarged the school and renamed it The Cumberland Valley Institute. Both boys and girls attended the Cumberland Valley Institute until the Irving Female College opened in 1857 and the Cumberland Valley Institute became a boys’ school. The Cumberland Valley Institute closed due to financial reasons and the land was sold to Adam Orris in 1886. Orris was the business partner of Austin G. Eberly in the Wheel Works Manufacturing Company. Orris and Eberly began construction of mirror image mansions in 1887; the homes were completed in 1891.

The Orris family lived in their home until 1919, when financial difficulties forced Adam Orris to sell the property. On February 5, 1919 the home was sold to the Christian Home for $7,500. Renamed the Methodist Home for Children, the property was home to “orphaned and deprived children” until 1926, when the current location of the Methodist Home for Children on Simpson Ferry Road, Mechanicsburg opened.

S. Harper Myers purchased the property on April 4, 1927 as a family home. In March of 1936, S. Harper Myers died and the mansion was sold to Dr. Francis L.C. and Elizabeth Heikes for $1.00 and other valuable considerations. The Heikes maintained their private residence on the second and third floors; the first floor was converted into Dr. Heikes’ medical clinic.

Dr. Heikes died in May of 1962 and the mansion was sold to E. Clyde Orris, the grandson of Adam Orris as a private residence. In 1981 the property was purchased by William and Carolyn Kerr, who undertook the extensive restoration of the property and worked to have the Adam Orris House listed on the National Register of Historic places in time for its centennial in 1987. Today, the Adam Orris House is the Orris House Inn, a luxury bed & breakfast inn and event venue.