In 1863, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia assigned Rev. Mchael C. McEnroe to Holy Infancy Roman Catholic Church, a 2,650-member congregation primarily of Irish workers and other ethnic Catholics who lived in South Bethlehem.

Two years later in 1865, the Episcopal Nativity Cathedral was built with the support of William H. Sayre, his son, Robert and other residents in Fountain Hill. Many members of this congregation held supervisory positions at the Bethlehem Iron Company and the Lehigh Valley Railroad.

By the end of the Civil War in 1865, the country looked toward reconstruction and development. However, men in the growing Industrial era lacked an adequate education in the sciences. With the discovery and exploitation of vast natural resources, industrialist Eckley B. Coxe stated, "Not knowing exactly what you want to do, or the material you have to do it with, what is the best way of doing it?"

With that in mind, Asa Packer (1805-1879) carpenter, boat builder and President of the Lehigh Valley Railroad sought to provide "intellect and moral improvement" of men in the Lehigh Valley, but in particular, the education of young engineers.

In 1864, Packer approached the Episcopal Diocese of Philadelphia for guidance through Bishop William Bacon Stevens, for help to design and build a polytechnic institute in South Bethlehem. A year later, Packer discussed his plans with Robert H. Sayre to get the project under way. Packer appropriated the sum of $500,000 ($7.3 million in today's money), the largest donation of its kind to any educational institution at that time.

Before moving forward, Packer emphasized the name "Lehigh University" over "Packer College." The university's location drew speculation because Packer was known to "think aloud." One location was rumored to be in Mauch Chunk (now Jim Thorpe) . . . another was at the old Water Cure property on Fountain Hill (presently St. Luke's Hospital). Instead, Packer focused on the mile long land holdings he purchased in 1853, halfway up the northern slope of South Mountain. At the western end, Packer set aside fifty-seven acres of virgin forest for his university.

In 1865, while preparations were made to incorporate the Borough of South Bethlehem, a new boundary was drawn that separated Lower Saucon Township from South Bethlehem, delineated by an unnamed dirt road (now Packer Avenue).

Flanking the eastern boundary of the university, another dirt road, Locust St. (now Taylor) intersected Packer Ave. and continued southward up the mountain. The road ended at a complex of buildings a beer brewery, a two-story hotel with a beer garden and two barns. Built in 1860 by German immigrant George Rennig, "Die Alte Brauerie" or "the Lehigh Mountain Brewery" was South Bethlehem's first brewery and social destination.

Beginning in 1865, Rennig witnessed the fledgling university campus develop as Packer had chestnut and all other trees logged and milled for railroad ties.

Over the remaining decades until the end of the century, Lehigh Mountain Brewery played a role in the history of South Bethlehem and Lehigh University most obvious by the well-worn path male students made from the campus for refreshing brews, Schweitzer cheese and mustard. The brewery's two-story hotel eventually closed and was added to Lehigh's campus; in 1916, the name "Die Alte Brauerie" was changed to Price Hall and became student dormitories.

Three years earlier in 1862, the Moravians decided to purchase a nearby lot on which to build a church. Augustus Wolle, a prominent Moravian merchant in Bethlehem, negotiated with Asa Packer to purchase land on South Mountain along the dirt road, Packer Ave.

In 1863, the Moravian congregation thanked Packer "for donating three lots" on which was planned a three-story, 42 by 65 ft. brick structure. With the cornerstone laid, the first Moravian church in South Bethlehem was officially organized on Dec. 25, 1863. Interior work was completed and the church was consecrated in Nov. 1864.

Then in Sept., 1865, Lehigh University Trustees made a startling discovery the lots on which the Moravian church stood were actually on the proposed university campus.

To deal with this oversight, Packer instructed Robert H. Sayre to negotiate with Augustus Wolle to take back the property and purchase the church building. Wolle agreed to sell the church after the university promised a new lot on the corner of W. Packer Ave. and Elm (now Webster) St. so the Moravians could rebuild. On Sat., Sept. 1, 1866, Lehigh University formally opened the doors of the former church, designated as "Christmas Hall" in recognition of the Moravian church's organization on Christmas Day, 1863.

For the next two years, however, Lehigh shared the same building with the Moravian congregation who continued to hold services in the chapel on the first floor of Christmas Hall even while Lehigh students attended recitations on the second floor and occupied dormitories on the third floor.

Finally, on March 29, 1868, the "Moravian Church of South Bethlehem" was consecrated on their new lot and the university became sole owner of Christmas Hall.

Meanwhile, planners of the university campus found the eastern campus too small to have Packer Hall and the President's House built within the tight space. Sayre sought acreage to increase the west end of the campus, when Charles Brodhead agreed to donate seven additional acres, which brought the campus to present-day Brodhead Ave.

In 1866, Governor Curtin signed the charter for Lehigh University to exist as a polytechnic institute to grant "such degrees in liberal arts and sciences." That same year, a board of directors formed the New Street Bridge Company, which included President Charles N. Beckel, Robert H. Sayre, E.P. Wilbur, John J. Levers, Herman A. Doster and Robert A. Abbott. In 1869, the iron bridge, built by Beckel at a cost of $60,000 ($908,000 in today's money), originated from the base of New St. in Bethlehem, spanned over the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad (later Jersey Central), the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Canal, the Monocacy Creek, part of Sand Island, across the Lehigh River and the Lehigh Valley Railroad in South Bethlehem. Packer pushed for the bridge to lead New St. directly up to Packer Ave. at the gates of Lehigh University.

In 1867, Packer donated "a plot of two and a half acres, lying on the mountainside in the extreme southeast corner of his tract . . . to the Church of the Holy Infancy for a cemetery." The church consecrated the cemetery, followed by its first interment, James Griffin. The cemetery was named St. Michael's made famous during the Great Depression in the 1930s by photographer Walker Evans.

Asa Packer personally financed the building of Packer Hall in 1868. He rejected brick and insisted, "It will be built of stone." Philadelphia architect Edward T. Potter (1839-1904) built a temporary spur line from the Lehigh Valley Railroad in South Bethlehem and transported stone to the building site by rail.

The completed 3.5-story Packer Hall was designed as three interconnected buildings, each with a separate function. Below the bell tower on the west end was the president's office and the archive room; the central portion housed the chapel, a museum room and an engineering drafting room; the four-story east wing contained classrooms, offices and laboratories. That same year, Potter also designed the President's House of stone northwest of Packer Hall.

A gift of Robert H. Sayre in 1868, Sayre Observatory was equipped with an equatorial telescope and astronomical equipment.

Built in 1874, Saucon Hall housed various departments, dining facilities and dormitories, located opposite Christmas Hall on the university campus at W. Packer Ave. Fifty-two years later in 1926, a large tower connected both buildings the unified structure was named "Christmas-Saucon Hall."

Packer enlarged the campus in 1875 with an additional fifty-two acres. Two years later, he dedicated Linderman Library to the university in memory of his daughter Lucy Packer Linderman, the late wife of Garrett B. Linderman.

In addition to Linderman Library, Philadelphia architect Addison Hutton designed Coppee Hall, the university's first gymnasium, and the Chandler Chemistry Laboratory in 1883. Five years later, Hutton designed Packer Memorial Church, a gift of Mary Packer Cummings dedicated in memory of her father, Asa Packer in 1887.

By the end of the nineteenth century, the Physical and Electrical Laboratory (1892) was last to be erected on the university campus a total of eight buildings.

Over the past 150 years, the Lehigh University campus increased to 1,600 acres and includes: the original university "Asa Packer" Campus, now comprised of 360 acres; the former Homer Research Center on the 72-acre Mountaintop Campus, with an additional 670 acres of wooded land, both acquired from Bethlehem Steel Corp. in 1986; and in Saucon Valley, the 500-acre Murray H. Goodman Campus, which includes Goodman Stadium, athletic fields and facilities a gift from Lehigh alumnus, Murray H. Goodman during the 1960s.