The Orbison House at 301 Penn Street was built in 1815 by prominent attorney William Orbison. Orbison was born in Adams County in 1777 but settled in Huntingdon by 1801. In 1808 he married Eleanor Elliot, the daughter of Benjamin and Sarah (Ashman) Elliot. The Elliots and Ashmans were among the earliest residents of Huntingdon County. William and Eleanor had twelve children all of which married into prominent families. Sarah Harriet married her first cousin Dr. Benjamin McMurtrie; Caroline; Thomas Elliot; William Penn; Ellen Matilda married Dr. John Harris; Henrietta Ashman married Hugh McAllister; Martha Ann; Louisa Augusta; Edmund Burke; James Henry; Isabella Slemmons; and Charles Carrol.
William served as President of the Huntingdon Bank and in 1832 he laid out the town of Orbisonia in the southern part of Huntingdon County.
After William's death in 1857 his son William Penn (b. 1814) inherited the home at 301 Penn Street. William Penn Orbison married Lydia Rebecca Allison in 1841. Like his father, he was an attorney and served as President of the First National Bank of Huntingdon.