Asa Packer (December 29, 1805May 17, 1879) was an American businessman who pioneered railroad construction, was active in Pennsylvania politics, and founded Lehigh University. He was a conservative and religious man who reflected the image of the typical Connecticut Yankee. He served two terms in the United States House of Representatives (1853–1857). Early life Packer was born in Mystic, Connecticut in 1805. He moved to Pennsylvania, where he became a carpenter's apprentice to his cousin Edward Packer at Brooklyn Township, Pennsylvania, which is located on the Pennsylvania-New York border. He also worked seasonally as a carpenter in New York City and later in Springville Township, Pennsylvania to the south of Brooklyn Township; he met his wife Sarah Minerva Blakslee there. Yates writes of his early life: "Asa and Sarah settled on a farm, and in the winter he went to Tunkhannock on the Susquehanna and used his skill in carpentry to build and repair canal boats." This continued for 11 years. In 1833, Packer settled at Mauch Chunk (today's Jim Thorpe), where he became the owner of a canal boat carrying coal to Philadelphia. He then established the firm of A. & R. W. Packer, which built canal boats and locks for the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company. Business activities Packer urged the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company to adopt a steam railway as a coal carrier, but the project was not then considered feasible. In 1851, he became the major stockholder of the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill & Susquehanna Railroad Company, which became the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company in January 1853, and they built a railway line from Mauch Chunk to Easton between November 1852 and September 1855. Construction commenced on the Mauch Chunk-Easton line just as Packer's five year charter was to expire. He built railways connecting the main line with coal mines in Luzerne and Schuylkill counties, and he planned and built the extension of the line into the Susquehanna Valley and thence into New York state to connect at Waverly with the Erie Railroad. 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 1842–1843, he was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. In 1843–1844, he was county judge of Carbon County under Governor David R. Porter. He served two terms as a Democratic member of the U.S. House