Dr. William Marion Lauffer M.D.

  General Notes:

History of "The Mansion House" courtesy of Daralyn Palosky Vaura, sic 1995:
The large gray house that eventually became known as the "Lauffer Mansion" once stood on the corner of Foster Avenue and the brick hill. The carriage house is still standing and occupied. The property was originally sold by Irwin Land Company in 1898 to A. N. Humphreys, the former manager of Westmoreland Coal Company. Humphreys, who had the house built, left it in his will to his wife and children. One of his children, Mrs. Mary M. Brendlinger, eventually sold the house to Dr. William Marion Lauffer and his wife Laura (Ayers) Lauffer in September 1911. The Lauffers moved into the mansion in 1912, where Dr. Lauffer set up an office in which to see his patients when he was not making house calls by horseback. The mansion also had a servant's quarters, electricity, plumbing, and each room had its own fireplace. During the winter months, laundry was done in the basement and then taken to the attic where it was hung to dry.
Laura Lauffer died in 1922, survived by her husband and six children. The Doctor continued his medical practice while serving two terms as director and president of the North Irwin School Board. After his death in 1942. his son Harmon acquired to house.

On a cold Sunday on the eighth of February in 1976, the then empty mansion was broken into by juveniles who went to the attic to smoke Pot. Papers caught on fire and the juveniles ran from the house. Firefighters battled the blaze which was isolated to the attic but the large amount of water pored into the house destroyed it.

William married Laura Ayers.