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Eckley Brinton Coxe

Eckley Brinton Coxe (June 4, 1839 – May 13, 1895) was an American mining engineer, coal baron, inventor, industrialist, state senator, and philanthropist from Pennsylvania.[1] He was a co-founder of the Coxe Brothers and Company coal mining operation, which became one of the largest independent producers of anthracite coal in the United States.[2] Through his mining, railroad, manufacturing, and landholding interests, Coxe became one of the most influential coal operators in the Pennsylvania anthracite region during the late nineteenth century. As a leading anthracite coal operator, Coxe was a prominent opponent of organized labor and played a significant role in defeating union efforts during the prolonged anthracite strike of 1887–1888.[3]

Eckley Brinton Coxe
Member of the Pennsylvania Senate for the 21st district
In office
1881–1884
Preceded byElijah Catlin Wadhams
Succeeded byMorgan B. Williams
Personal details
Born(1839-06-04)June 4, 1839
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedMay 13, 1895(1895-05-13) (aged 55)
Drifton, Pennsylvania, U.S.
PartyDemocratic

Coxe was instrumental in the formation of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which began 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 was granted more than 100 patents related to mining and industrial technology.

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

Early life and education

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Coxe was born June 4, 1839, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Charles Sidney Coxe and Anna Maria Brinton. His great-great-grandfather was Daniel Coxe, his grandfather was Tench Coxe, a prominent political economist and landowner,[2] and his cousin was George B. McClellan.[4] Through inheritance and family ownership, the Coxe family retained extensive coal-bearing lands in northeastern Pennsylvania that later formed the basis of the Coxe coal enterprises.[2]

Coxe graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1858 with degrees in Chemistry and Physics. 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. The survey documented portions of the coal-bearing lands that would later become central to the family's mining operations.[5]

In 1860, he traveled to Europe and studied for two years at the École des Mines in Paris, France, and for one year at the Freiberg Mining Academy in Freiberg, Saxony. He spent an additional two years studying mines in England and continental Europe and returned to the United States in 1864. His extensive European mining education provided technical expertise that would later be applied to the development and management of the family's anthracite coal interests. [6]

Career

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Eckley'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[7] with nearly 4,000 employees, coal shipments in excess of 1.5 million tons[8] 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 Schuylkill Railroad.[10]

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.[11]

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.[12] In 1877, his mines were selected by the Columbia College School of Mines for their study program due to the quality of the mines.[11] 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.[12]

Coxe was a staunch opponent of organized labor and played a leading role in defeating two major unions during one of the longest strikes in the anthracite coal industry, from September 1887 to March 1888. The defeat of the strike weakened miners' ability to collectively bargain for higher wages, safer working conditions, and greater protections against the power of coal operators. Labor historians have cited the conflict as an example of the immense economic and political influence exercised by coal companies during the late nineteenth century, when workers and their families often faced significant hardship during labor disputes. Critics argue that Coxe's resistance to unionization helped preserve a system in which mine owners retained overwhelming control over employment, housing, and the daily lives of mining families throughout the region.[13]

He was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.[14] He was elected as a member in 1870 to the American Philosophical Society.[15] 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.[11]

Critics of the anthracite coal industry have pointed to the Coxe enterprises as an example of the enormous economic influence wielded by coal operators during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. The wealth accumulated through these enterprises stood in stark contrast to the conditions experienced by many miners and their families, whose labor generated the profits that fueled the expansion of the coal empire.[16]

Coxe was an inventor who was granted over 100 patents.[17] He developed a long steel tape for the measurement of land by surveyors[12] and the traveling grate, which he patented in 1893.[18]

He served as a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 21st district from 1881 to 1884.[11] He served as chairman of the Pennsylvania delegation to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1884.[2] Records in the Coxe Brothers collection indicate that after being elected in 1880, Coxe initially declined to take the oath of office because he stated he could not swear that all campaign funds had been spent in compliance with the requirements of Pennsylvania law at the time. He later addressed this publicly to his constituents.[19]

He died May 13, 1895, of pneumonia[14] and was interred at Saint James Episcopal Churchyard in Drifton, Pennsylvania.[11]

Legacy

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Eckley Miners' Village in Pennsylvania was named for him[20] in 1857 by his father.[21]

The Coxe Hall (1910) at Lehigh University, originally a mining laboratory, is named after him.[22]

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

Publications

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References

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  1. ↑ Eckley Miners' Village: Pennsylvania Trail of History Guide, 2003, pp. 23–24.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Eckley Coxe". www.engineering.lehigh.edu. Archived from the original on 4 August 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  3. ↑ Blatz, Perry K. (2003). Eckley Miners' Village Pennsylvania Trail of History Guide. Stackpole Books. p. 24. ISBN 9780811727419. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  4. ↑ 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.
  5. ↑ 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.
  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. ↑ "Eckley B. Coxe is Dead" (PDF). www.timesmachine.nytimes.com. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  8. ↑ Shea, Patrick Henry. "Weld Coxe Collection" (PDF). www.hsp.org. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 7 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. 1 2 3 4 5 "Eckley Brinton Coxe". www.library.pasen.gov. Library of the Senate of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  12. 1 2 3 "Eckley Brinton Coxe (Deceased)". www.aimehq.org. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  13. ↑ 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.
  14. 1 2 Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Volume 36. New York: American Society of Civil Engineers. 1897. p. 554. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  15. ↑ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2021-04-27.
  16. ↑ "Coxe Brothers Collection". www.si.edu. Smithsonian. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
  17. ↑ "Eckley B. Coxe Traveling-Grate Furnace". www.invent.org. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  18. ↑ Rogers, Dave (2011). Inventions and their inventors. M-Y Books Limited. p. 229. ISBN 9781906986582. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  19. ↑ Oswald, Alison. "Guide to the Coxe Brothers Collection" (PDF). sirismm.si.edu. Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  20. ↑ "2005 Mining History Association Field Trip". www.mininghistoryassociation.org. Mining History Association. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
  21. ↑ Veskovic, Dejan. "The Life and Times of Eckley Miners' Village". www.pabook.libraries.psu.edu. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  22. ↑ "Eckley Coxe". www.engineering.lehigh.edu. Archived from the original on 4 August 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
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