Editing Asa Packer

{{short description|American politician}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = 
| name                = Asa Packer
| native_name         = 
| native_name_lang    = 
| honorific-suffix    = 
| image               = AsaPacker.png
| smallimage          = <!--If this is specified, "image" should not be.-->
| alt                 = 
| caption             = 19th century portrait of Packer
| order               = 
| office              = 
| term_start          = 
| term_end            = 
| state1              = [[Pennsylvania]]
| district1           = 13th
| term_start1         = March 4, 1853
| term_end1           = March 3, 1857
| preceded1           = [[James Gamble (congressman)|James Gamble]]
| succeeded1          = [[William Harrison Dimmick|William H. Dimmick]]
| order2              = 4th & 6th
| office2             = President of [[Lehigh Valley Railroad]]
| term_start2         = 1868
| term_end2           = 1879
| predecessor2        = William M. Longstreth
| successor3          = Charles Hartshorne
| order3              = 
| office3             = 
| term_start3         = 1862
| term_end3           = 1864
| predecessor3        = J. Gillingham Fell
| successor2          = William M. Longstreth
| order5              = <!--Can be repeated up to eight times by changing the number-->
| office4             = Associate Judge of [[Carbon County, Pennsylvania|Carbon County]]
| term_start4         = 1843
| term_end4           = 1844
| office6             = Member of [[Pennsylvania House of Representatives]]
| term_start6         = 1842
| term_end6           = 1843
| birth_name          = 
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1805|12|29}}
| birth_place         = [[Mystic, Connecticut]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1879|5|17|1805|12|29}}
| death_place         = [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], U.S.
| resting_place       = 
| party               = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| occupation          = Businessman, railroad executive, politician
| spouse              = Sarah Minerva Blakslee
| parents = Elisha Packer<br>Desire Packer Packer
| signature           = Signature of Asa Packer (1805–1879).png
}}
'''Asa Packer''' (December 29, 1805{{snd}}May 17, 1879) was an American businessman who pioneered railroad construction, was active in [[Pennsylvania]] politics, and founded [[Lehigh University]] in [[Bethlehem, Pennsylvania]]. He was a [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] and religious man who reflected the image of the typical Connecticut Yankee. He served two terms in the [[United States House of Representatives]] from 1853 to 1857.

==Early life==
Packer was born in [[Mystic, Connecticut]] in 1805 and moved to [[Pennsylvania]], where he became a carpenter's apprentice to his cousin Edward Packer in [[Brooklyn Township, Pennsylvania]]. He also worked seasonally as a carpenter in [[New York City]] and later in [[Springville Township, Pennsylvania]], where he met his wife Sarah Minerva Blakslee.

==Early career==
[[File:Linderman Library 1896.jpg|thumb|[[Lehigh University]]'s first library, constructed at the cost of $100,000 by Packer as a memorial to his daughter, Lucy Packer Linderman]]
[[File:Packer Memorial Church 1896.jpg|thumb|[[Packer Memorial Church]] at [[Lehigh University]], erected by Mary Packer Cummings in memory of her family]]
[[File:Asa Packer statue at Lehigh University.jpg|thumb|Asa Packer statue at Lehigh University]]
Packer and his wife settled on a farm. In the winter months, he went to [[Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania]] on the [[Susquehanna River]] and used his skill in carpentry to build and repair canal boats. This continued for 11 years.{{sfn|Yates|1983|p=9}} In 1833, Packer settled in Mauch Chunk in present-day [[Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania]], where he became the owner of a canal boat, which transported [[anthracite]] coal from Pennsylvania's [[Coal Region]] to [[Philadelphia]]. He then established A. & R. W. Packer, a firm that built canal boats and locks for the [[Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Packer, Asa|volume=20|pages=441–442}}</ref>

=== Railroad ===
Packer urged the [[Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company]] to adopt a steam railway as a coal carrier, but the project was not then considered feasible.{{sfn|Yates|1983|p=13}} In 1851, he became the major stockholder of the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill & Susquehanna Railroad Company, which became the [[Lehigh Valley Railroad]] in January 1853, and they built a railway line from Mauch Chunk to [[Easton, Pennsylvania|Easton]] between November 1852 and September 1855.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pagenweb.org/~luzerne/lvrr100.htm|title=Lehigh Valley Railroad}}</ref> Construction commenced on the Mauch Chunk-Easton line just as Packer's five year charter was to expire.{{sfn|Yates|1983|p=13}} He built railways connecting the main line with coal mines in [[Luzerne County, Pennsylvania|Luzerne]] and [[Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania|Schuylkill]] counties, and he planned and built the extension of the line into the [[Susquehanna Valley]] and thence into [[New York (state)|New York state]] to connect at [[Waverly, Tioga County, New York|Waverly]] with the [[Erie Railroad]].<ref name="EB1911"/> Among his clerks and associates during this period was future businessman and soldier [[George Washington Helme]].

==Politics==
Packer also took an active part in politics. In 1842 and 1843, he was a member of the [[Pennsylvania House of Representatives]]. In 1843 and 1844, he was county judge in [[Carbon County, Pennsylvania|Carbon County]] under Governor [[David R. Porter]]. 

=== Congress ===
He served two terms as a Democratic member of the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]] beginning in 1853.<ref name="EB1911"/> 

=== 1868 Democratic Convention ===
[[George Washington Woodward]] at the [[1868 Democratic National Convention]] entered Packer's name as a candidate for President as a [[Favorite son]] despite himself not being present or actively campaigning. Packer earned a nearly consistent 26 delegates through the 14th round of the ballot and due to him being little known outside of Pennsylvania, with the statement from one delegate; "Who in the hell is Packer?" being used as the headline for many New York journalists, who started to see Packer as an unoffensive moderate candidate that could increase the Democratic party's electability.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Whelan |first1=Frank |title=History's Headlines: Asa Packer, politician |url=https://www.wfmz.com/features/historys-headlines/historys-headlines-asa-packer-politician/article_b8769c99-20a1-5b9b-a72d-01bab8f7872a.html |website=[[WFMZ-TV]] |access-date=4 November 2023}}</ref> However, the convention instead went with [[Horatio Seymour]], for largely the same reason but also due to Seymour's name recognition. Interestingly, Woodward attempted to forge a Packer - Blair ticket, however, [[Francis Preston Blair Jr.]] was instead named Seymour's running-mate.<ref>{{cite web |title=President Packer? |url=https://scalar.lehigh.edu/asa-packer/president-packer |website=scalar.lehigh.edu |publisher=[[Lehigh University]] |access-date=4 November 2023}}</ref> Packer made an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic Party's Presidential nomination in 1868.  

=== Campaign for governor ===
He got the party's nod for the 1869 Pennsylvania Governor's race, but lost the campaign to [[John W. Geary]] by 4,596 votes, one of the closest statewide races in Pennsylvania history.

== Lehigh University==
{{Further|Lehigh University}}
Packer endeavored to found a university in the [[Lehigh Valley]], an industrial region located in eastern [[Pennsylvania]].{{sfn|Yates|1992|pp=27–28}} The university was located on [[South Mountain (Eastern Pennsylvania)|South Mountain]] in [[Bethlehem, Pennsylvania]], which then was a [[Moravian Church|Moravian]] religious community that later became the global manufacturing and corporate headquarters of [[Bethlehem Steel]], the second-largest steel manufacturing company in the world for most of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In 1865, Packer gave $500,000 and 60 acres (243,000 m²), later increased to 115 acres (465,000 m²), for the establishment of a technical trade school for engineers. In 1866, the year following the end of the [[American Civil War]], the school, named [[Lehigh University]], was chartered and began instruction.<ref name="EB1911"/> The first main building, Packer Hall, was completed in 1869.{{sfn|Yates|1983|p=17}} With Packer's generosity, Lehigh was able to offer education tuition free for its first 20 years from 1871–1891. Economic troubles in the 1890s forced the university to then reverse this policy.

After the initial gift of one half million dollars, Packer continued to support the university and took an active role in its management.{{sfn|Yates|1992|pp=38–39, 41–42}} His will bequeathed $1,500,000 as an endowment for the university, $500,000 to the university library, and granted the university an interest of nearly one third in his estate upon its final distribution.<ref name="EB1911"/>

==Personal life==
Packer was married to Sarah Minerva Blakslee (1807–1882), daughter to Zophar and Clarinda Whitmer Blakslee. The Packers had seven children:
* Lucy Packer Linderman (1832–1873)
* Catherine Packer (1836–1837)
* Mary Hannah Packer Cummings (1839–1912)
* Malvina Fitzrandolph Packer (1841–1841)
* Robert Asa Packer (1842–1883)
* Gertrude Packer (1846–1848)
* Harry Eldred Packer (1850–1884)

==Death==
Packer died on May 17, 1879 in [[Philadelphia]], at age 73.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1879-05-21 |title=1879 Obit of Asa Packer |pages=3 |work=The Allentown Democrat |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-allentown-democrat-1879-obit-of-asa/13418488/ |access-date=2023-12-23}}</ref>

==Legacies==
[[File:Residence of Hon. Asa Packer, by M. A. Kleckner.png|thumb|Stereotype card of the [[Asa Packer Mansion]]]]
Packer's residence, [[Asa Packer Mansion]], became a museum, opened for tours in 1956, and was named a [[National Historic Landmark]] in 1985. Packer was a member of [[St. Mark's Episcopal Church (Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania)|St. Mark's Episcopal Church]] in [[Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania]] and contributed large amounts of money to this Gothic Revival Church. St. Mark's was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987. There is an elementary school in [[Bethlehem, Pennsylvania]] named after Packer.

[[Lehigh University]] continues to honor him with a large portrait by [[Charles A. Boutelle]] and an annual celebration of Founder's Day.{{sfn|Yates|1983|p=19}} A life-sized bronze by Karel Mikolas, donated by the Lehigh University Class of 2003 and dedicated in 2008, stands outside Lehigh University's Alumni Memorial Building.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Harbrecht |first1=Linda |title=Asa comes home |url=https://www2.lehigh.edu/news/asa-comes-home |access-date=16 November 2019 |agency=Lehigh News |date=11 January 2005}}</ref> [[Lehigh Valley Railroad]] named a passenger train after him, the ''Asa Packer'' which ran to and from [[New York City]] to [[Pittston, Pennsylvania]] until 1959.

==See also==
*[[List of railroad executives]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* {{cite book|last1=Yates|first1=W. Ross|title=Asa Packer: A Perspective|date=1983|publisher=Asa Packer Society|location=Bethlehem, PA|url=http://www.lehigh.edu/library/speccoll/asa_packer_books/yates_packer.pdf}}
* {{cite book |last=Yates |first=W. Ross |title=Lehigh University : a history of education in engineering, business, and the human condition  | publisher=Lehigh University Press | publication-place=Bethlehem Pa | year=1992 | isbn=978-0-934223-17-1}}
*[http://www.asapackermansion.com The Asa Packer Mansion Museum].
*[http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/paca-paganelli.html Asa Packer at The Political Graveyard]
{{CongBio|P000006}} Retrieved on 2009-03-24

==External links==
*[http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/remain/search.php?searchletters=Asa+Packer;0;0;0 Asa Packer letters and ephemera]. Available online through Lehigh University's [http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/remain/index.html I Remain: A Digital Archive of Letters, Manuscripts, and Ephemera].
*{{findagrave|7598536}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Hiester Clymer]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee for [[Governor of Pennsylvania]]|years=[[1869 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election|1869]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Charles R. Buckalew]]}}
{{s-par|us-hs}}
{{US House succession box
| state=Pennsylvania
| district=13
| before=[[James Gamble (congressman)|James Gamble]]
| after=[[William H. Dimmick]]
| years=1853–1857
}}
{{s-end}}
{{Lehigh University}}
{{United States presidential election, 1868}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Packer, Asa}}
[[Category:1805 births]]
[[Category:1879 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century American Episcopalians]]
[[Category:19th-century American railroad executives]]
[[Category:American Civil War industrialists]]
[[Category:Candidates in the 1868 United States presidential election]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Lehigh University people]]
[[Category:Lehigh Valley Railroad people]]
[[Category:People from Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:People from Mystic, Connecticut]]
[[Category:People from Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:University and college founders]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly]]