Packer Mansion, Jim Thorpe, Carbon County

Before we get into the meat of today's post, I wanted to share a link that was sent to me by Karen Galle, from the PHMC office. She enjoyed my description of the Richard Moore marker dedication and wanted to make sure I knew (and could tell all of you) that there's a calendar on the PHMC website, detailing upcoming dedication ceremonies. If you'd be interested in attending the unveiling of a new marker near you, be sure to take a look and mark your own calendar! Thanks, Karen!

I live very close to the point where the borders of Lehigh, Northampton, and Carbon Counties all meet. Jim Thorpe is not too far from me, and I'm rather fond of the quaint little community. We used to drive through it periodically when I was a child, on the way to visit relatives in the nearby town of Nesquehoning, and the view of Jim Thorpe as we would enter it from its southern end has always been arresting to me. Of particular interest to my childhood fancies was the enormous green house with the red roofs, nestled into the distant hills. What was this fairy tale come to life? Who lived there?

The marker is not located at the mansion itself,
but instead is actually situated in the small park
in front of the Jim Thorpe train station, opposite
the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company

Well, his name was Asa Packer, and the house was built for him.

Asa Packer was born in Mystic, Connecticut in 1805, and as a young man lived in New York and Pennsylvania. He had considerable carpentry skills, enabling him to find steady work pretty much anywhere he went, and in 1833 he and his wife Sarah (Blakslee) settled in what was then called Mauch Chunk. He owned a canal boat, which he used to ferry coal to Philadelphia, and soon created his own boatmaking firm called A. & R. W. Packer, which received a lucrative contract from the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company to make canal boats and locks for them.

Convenient as the water transport was, Packer was convinced that the railroad was where they needed to put their focus. He tried to persuade the LC&N to invest in their own steam railway, but for whatever reason, they deemed it to not be feasible. Packer continued making his boats and locks, but he also continued to investigate the railroad option, and in 1851 he became the major stockholder in what would eventually be renamed the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company. As soon as he could, he began doing what he couldn't convince the LC&N to do, and began establishing railway lines throughout the Lehigh Valley. Needless to say, he became very wealthy and also very influential.

In addition to his business ventures, Packer was involved in politics, serving in both the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and the United States House of Representatives. He was also a Carbon County judge, and lost his bid for governor of Pennsylvania by one of the narrowest margins in history. A religious man, he was a member of what is today St. Mark's and St. John's Episcopal Church (then just St. Mark's), and the church benefited greatly from his generosity; he also served there as a vestry man. Several of the buildings in downtown Jim Thorpe, known as "Stone Row," were built by Packer as homes for his employees, although today most of them form the popular shopping district.

Despite his successes in business, it could be said that Packer's biggest impact on the Lehigh Valley was the founding and chartering of Lehigh University. Located on a scenic mountain in Bethlehem, it's considered an extremely well-situated school, and was regarded as such even while it was being built. Its proximity to the Moravian community was regarded as an asset; the first meeting of its Board of Trustees was held in the historic Sun Inn. What I find sort of amusing is that the university sits on the north side of what is known as South Mountain, and the Packer house sits on the side of a hill facing south - meaning that the university and its founder's home basically face each other, although at such a distance that one can't be seen from the other.

Packer died in 1879, leaving a legacy which is perhaps unique in the Valley. He and wife Sarah had seven children - Lucy, Catherine, Mary, Malvina, Robert, Gertrude, and Harry. All of them except eldest daughter Lucy are buried in Mauch Chunk Cemetery in Jim Thorpe, most in a large family plot. (Lucy is interred with her husband in Bethlehem's Nisky Hill Cemetery, not too far from her father's university.)

The view as you approach the mansion from
the stairs behind the courthouse

But it's the house which has the marker, rather than Packer himself, so let's talk about that. It was built in 1860 on a street known as Packer Hill Way, and designed by Philadelphia architect Samuel Sloan, although it's generally supposed that since Packer himself was a carpenter, he probably had something to say about the way the house looked. It's considered one of the finest surviving examples of an Italianate Victorian house. It consists of seventeen rooms and is three stories high, with a two-story veranda and an octagonal cupola on the roof. It was strategically positioned so that the Packers could basically view Asa's entire kingdom - one of the informative signs outside the house includes an illustration of the significant buildings which could be viewed from the front porch, including the courthouse (he was a judge), the LC&N company building (he made their boats), the train station (he owned the railroad), Stone Row, and the church where the family worshiped. The view is a little different today, but honestly not very.

The house is almost exactly as it was when the Packers lived there; the only significant change was the addition of electrical wiring in 1911. A few of the children continued to live in the house throughout their adult lives, and the last surviving daughter was Mary Packer Cummings, who died in 1912. She willed the house and its contents to the community, intending it to serve as a memorial to her father. The town, however, wasn't entirely sure what to do with the place, so for a long time they did nothing with it. Then, in 1954, the Jim Thorpe Lions Club had the bright idea to open it as a museum, and with the borough's permission this was done in 1956. Because it was closed up for so long, all of the interior design and furnishings are exactly as they were when the Packers lived in the house - as the website stresses, it is not a restoration. The Lions Club continues to oversee the museum today, offering guided tours year-round, and in 1985 it was named a National Historic Landmark.

The mansion's website has a full list of rules and advisories for those who would visit, so I won't go over the whole thing, but I will warn you that there are no public restrooms. There's also no parking, so don't plan on driving up to the house; instead, park down in the town and prepare to walk up the graded stairs behind the courthouse. The mansion can be toured from Memorial Day through Halloween, plus they have special Christmas-themed weekends in December (weather permitting). I have no pictures I can share of the inside, because photography is prohibited; but the gift shop in the basement can be visited even without taking the tour, and they sell a small booklet of photographs of the inside. One of the images is of the "Orchestrion," a Swiss music machine from 1905 which was prized by Mary Packer Cummings and which the tour guide can play for visitors. It's a lengthy tour and, depending on the day, there may be an even more lengthy wait for your tour to start - but it's worth it.

Visitors will, of course, notice the second mansion next door. This was the home of Asa Packer's youngest son, Harry Packer, and is today affectionately known as the "Murder Mansion." No, Harry wasn't murdered! The house was built for Harry in 1874 as a wedding present from his father. 

Edit 2/4/2024: Apparently, this isn't true! Vince Hydro, a fellow Pennsylvania historian on Facebook, alerted me to the fact that the Harry Packer mansion was not built for him as a wedding gift from Asa. He's done a great deal of research into the Packer family and explained that this is one of many pieces of local apocrypha, and was actually made up in the 1970s. Harry was allowed to live in the mansion, but it belonged to Asa Packer until Harry's sister Mary purchased it from the estate after their father's death; Harry never owned it at all. See Vince's book down in the sources section for other interesting facts about the Packers! Thanks, Vince!

In 1983, it was purchased and refurbished, and today serves as a bed and breakfast. It's called the Murder Mansion for two reasons - one, it served as partial inspiration for the Haunted Mansion attraction in the Disney parks, and two, they offer a murder mystery weekend package for guests. You check in for the weekend and get assigned a role in an interactive play. (You can also stay there without participating; the rates are different.)

So to conclude... if you should happen to drive into Jim Thorpe on route 209 heading north, and you see the stately mansions on a hill in the distance, consider stopping and seeing them up close.

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Sources and Further Reading:

Official website of the Asa Packer mansion

Official website of Jim Thorpe

Mauch Chunk Historical Society of Carbon County

Hydro, Vince. Asa Packer's People: The Story of the Packer Children: Lucy, Mary, Robert, and Harry - their Lives and Legacies. Vince Hydro Publications, 2020.

Crawford, Mindy Gulden. Historic Pennsylvania: A Tour of the State's Top 100 National Landmarks. Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc., 2019.

Drury, John H., Jr., and Joan Gilbert. Images of America: Jim Thorpe (Mauch Chunk). Arcadia Publishing, 2001.

Rabenold-Finsel, Rebecca M. Postcard History: Carbon County. Arcadia Publishing, 2004.

Asa Packer on FindAGrave.com

Packer Mansion marker at the Historical Marker Database

If you've enjoyed this, please leave a comment!

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Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.