Bird’s Eye View of the Lehigh Valley University in Allentown, PA – a very difficult shot taken just south of the Allentown International Airport. Air traffic was temporarily re-routed to the north while NEPA Aerial Photography circled the university.
Aerial photography can often be very difficult but we except each client’s project as a challenge and always do our very best to capture that perfect shot thru an open window of an aircraft.
Call today and let’s get started on your special project.
Professional Photographer – Randy Palmer 570.947.6417
Lehigh University’s history is closely related to the rise 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.
Packer and his associates designed the school to chiefly focus on mathematics and science education, but provide pupils with a sufficient knowledge of classics. He knew, as did many others, that a strong national economy depended on more than technical skills. It needed people broadly educated in the liberal arts and sciences — people who could combine practical skills with informed judgments and strong moral self-discipline. He kept this in mind when founding the university.
In Lehigh’s inaugural year, 39 men were admitted as students. Of the 39 students, one was a Civil War veteran from Lancaster, Pa.; 10 were from Bethlehem, Pa.; seven came from Mauch Chunk, Pa.; seven came from Tamaqua, Pa., and other places in the anthracite regions; three were from Philadelphia; one from Barbados; and the remaining 10 hailed from other places in the eastern states.
