Eckley Brinton Coxe

Eckley Brinton Coxe (June 4, 1839 – May 13, 1895) was an American mining engineer, coal baron, state senator and philanthropist from Pennsylvania.[1] He was a co-founder of the Coxe Brothers and Company coal mining operation which became the largest individual producer of anthracite coal in the United States at the time.[2]

Eckley Brinton Coxe
Member of the Pennsylvania Senate for the 21st district
In office 1881–1884
Preceded by	Elijah Catlin Wadhams
Succeeded by	Morgan B. Williams
Personal details
Born	June 4, 1839 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died	May 13, 1895 (aged 55) Drifton, Pennsylvania
Political party	Democratic

He was instrumental in the formation of Lehigh University as a mining school in 1865 and founded the Institute of Miners and Mechanics in 1879. He served as president of the American Institute of Mining Engineers from 1878 to 1880 and of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers from 1893 to 1894.

He served as a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 21st district from 1881 to 1884.

Early life and education

Coxe was born June 4, 1839 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Charles Sidney Coxe (1791–1879) and Anna Maria Brinton (1801–1876). His great-great grandfather was Daniel Coxe, his grandfather was Tench Coxe[2] and his cousin was George B. McClellan.[3]

Coxe graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1858 with degrees in Chemistry and Physics.[2] He spent six months after graduation in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania conducting a topographical geology survey of his grandfather's 35,000 acre estate under the supervision of Benjamin Smith Lyman.[4]

In 1860 he traveled to Europe and studied for 2 years at the Ecole des mines in Paris, France and for 1 year at Freiberg Mining Academy in Freiberg, Saxony. He spent an additional 2 years studying the mines in England and continental Europe[5] and returned to the United States in 1864.[6]

He served during the U.S. Civil War on the staff of Major General George Meade.[7]

Career

Eckley Coxe's grandfather, Tench Coxe, had purchased 800,000 acres of land in Pennsylvania and urged his heirs to hold on to the land as he suspected coal would be found in the region. Tench's son, Charles, was able to retain ownership of 35,000 acres and left it to his sons including Eckley.[2]

Coal was found in the Coxe owned land and the Coxe Brothers and Company mining company was founded in 1865 with the first mine opened in Drifton, Pennsylvania. By the late 1800s, the company was the largest independent producer of anthracite coal[8] with nearly 4,000 employees, coal shipments in excess of 1.5 million tons[7] and land assets valued at $10 million.[2]

The Coxe Brothers & Company organization became the Cross Creek Coal Company led by Coxe,[9] and in 1890 Coxe organized and became president of the Delaware, Susquehanna and Schuykill Railroad.[10]

In 1869, Coxe married Sophia Georgina Fisher. Together they worked to improve the lives of miners by building a fully functional hospital at the mines to help miners injured on the job.[2]

He lectured frequently before scientific bodies. He published several technical papers on mining and translated the first volume of Julius Weisbach's "Mechanics of Engineering and Construction of Machines" from German to English in 1872.[5]

He was instrumental in the founding of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania as a mining school in 1865 and served on its board of trustees until his death.[11] In 1877, his mines were selected by the Columbia College School of Mines for their study program due to the quality of the mines.[5] He founded the Institute for Miners and Mechanics in 1879 in Freeland, Pennsylvania. The intent of the school was to teach math, science and English to the men working in the mines.[11]

He was strongly anti-union and defeated two powerful unions in one of the longest strikes in the coal industry from September 1887 to March 1888.[12]

He was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.[13] In 1880 Coxe was one of the original founders of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He served as the president of the American Institute of Mining Engineers from May 1878 to February 1880 and as vice president of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers from April 1880 to November 1881.[5]

Coxe was an inventor who was granted over 100 patents.[14] He developed a long steel tape for the measurement of land by surveyors[11] and the traveling grate, which he patented in 1893.[15]

He served as a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 21st district from 1881 to 1884.[5] He served as chairman of the Pennsylvania delegation to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1884.[2]

He died on May 13, 1895 of pneumonia[13] and was interred at Saint James Episcopal Churchyard in Drifton, Pennsylvania.[16]

Legacy

Eckley Miners' Village in Pennsylvania was named for him in 1857 by his father.[17]

The Coxe Hall (1910) at Lehigh University, originally a mining laboratory, is named after him.[18]

Coxe was admitted to the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006 for his work on the traveling-grate furnace.[2]

Publications

• Eckley B. Coxe. "A Furnace with Automatic Stoker, Travelling Grate and Variable Blast, Intended Especially for Burning Small Anthracite Coals." Transactions of the American Institute of Mining. 1895.
• "Mechanics of Engineering: Theoretical Mechanics, with an Introduction to the Calculus", D. Van Nostrand Company, New York, 1889.

References

1. Eckley Miners' Village: Pennsylvania Trail of History Guide, 2003. p. 23-24
2. "Eckley Coxe". www.engineering.lehigh.edu. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
3. Leclerq, Anne Sinkler Whaley (2006). Elizabeth Sinkler Coxe's Tales from the Grand Tour (1890-1910). Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-57003-633-0. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
4. Transactions of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers, Volume 25. New York City: American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers. 1896. p. 452. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
5. "Pennsylvania State Senate - Eckley Brinton Coxe Biography". www.legis.state.pa.us. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
6. Baltzell, E. Digby (2011). Philadelphia Gentlemen: The Making of a National Upper Class. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers. p. 120. ISBN 9781412830751. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
7. Shea, Patrick Henry. "Weld Coxe Collection" (PDF). www.hsp.org. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
8. "Eckley B. Coxe is Dead" (PDF). www.timesmachine.nytimes.com. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
9. Ingham, John N. (1983). Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders, Volume 1. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 207. ISBN 0-313-23907-X. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
10. The Bulletin of the American Iron and Steel Association, Volumes 29-30. Philadelphia: American Iron and Steel Association. 1895. p. 117. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
11. "Eckley Brinton Coxe (Deceased)". www.aimehq.org. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
12. Blatz, Perry (2003). Eckley Miners' Village: Pennsylvania Trail of History Guide. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books. p. 24. ISBN 0-8117-2741-6. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
13. Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Volume 36. New York: American Society of Civil Engineers. 1897. p. 554. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
14. "Eckley B. Coxe Traveling-Grate Furnace". www.invent.org. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
15. Rogers, Dave (2011). Inventions and their inventors. M-Y Books Limited. p. 229. ISBN 9781906986582. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
16. "Eckley Brinton Coxe". www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
17. Veskovic, Dejan. "The Life and Times of Eckley Miners' Village". www.pabook.libraries.psu.edu. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
18. "Eckley Coxe". www.engineering.lehigh.edu. Retrieved 6 April 2020.

External links

• Coxe, Eckley - Lehigh University