Lehigh History Chronology
History of Lehigh University 1864-1993 HISTORY OF LEHIGH UNIVERSITY 1864-1993 1864 The honorable Asa Packer of Mauch Chunk called on Rt. Rev. William B. Stevens, D.D., Bishop of Pennsylvania, at his home in Philadelphia and, unsolicited, told the Bishop he desired to give $500,000.00 for the purpose of founding an educational institution in the Lehigh Valley, and asked the Bishop's help in devising a plan to carry out his purpose. 1865 Mr. Packer appointed a provisional board of trustees consisting of himself, Robert H. Sayre, Robert A. Packer, and Bishop Stevens as chairman. On July 27, 1865, while Mr. Packer himself was abroad, the remaining group met in the Old Sun Inn in Bethlehem and began to make plans. After considering various other sites, Mr. Packer selected and gave a plot of fifty-six acres in the then South Bethlehem as a location for the proposed institution. On November 4, 1865, Henry Coppee, M.A., University of Georgia, 1848, was elected first president. President Coppee had been a student at Yale for two years and had graduated from West Point in 1845. He had also served as an officer and assistant professor at West Point, and as professor of English literature at the University of Pennsylvania. 1866 On the ninth day of February, 1866, the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the honorable A. G. Curtin, Page 1 of 169 History of Lehigh University 1864-1993 signed an act of assembly "TO ERECT AND ESTABLISH, AT, OR NEAR, THE BOROUGH OF SOUTH BETHLEHEM, IN NORTHAMPTON COUNTY, A POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE, FOR THE EDUCATION OF YOUTH, OF THE NAME, STYLE, AND TITLE OF THE LEHIGH UNIVERSITY." The first trustees of the university were: William B.
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