Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

In 1865 Judge Asa Packer (1805-1879) asked the Rt. Rev. William Bacon Stevens (1815-1887), the fourth Bishop of Pennsylvania, to help him plan a university. On Feb. 9, 1866, a charter was granted, and the school opened on Sept. 1, 1866, with 40 students. The first four presidents of Lehigh University were Episcopalians, one of whom was a priest. The Bishop of Pennsylvania, and later, after the division of the diocese, the Bishop of Bethlehem, served as presidents of the board of trustees until 1907.