Lehigh University’s history is closely related to the rise and progress of America as an industrial power. The vision of our founder Asa Packer, an industrial pioneer, entrepreneur and philanthropist, set the foundation for generations of students to learn and live among the nation’s brightest scholars.

In 1865, Packer, president of Lehigh Valley Railroad, presented a $500,000 gift to build a university that would contribute to the “intellectual and moral improvement” of men in the Lehigh Valley. It was the largest donation of its kind to any educational institution in America at that time. The site that Packer chose for his university was a railroad junction across the Lehigh River from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a community founded in 1741 by Moravian missionaries. The site was selected in part because it was within walking distance for managers of the Lehigh Valley Railroad.