Henry Clay Trexler (April 17, 1854 – November 17, 1933) was an American industrialist, businessman, and major philanthropist who contributed to the economic development of Allentown, Pennsylvania and the surrounding Lehigh Valley in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He bequeathed the majority of his estate to create the Harry C. Trexler Trust, which has since dispensed more than $150 million in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.
Early life and education
Trexler was born in Easton, Pennsylvania to Edwin (1826-1900) and Matilda (Sauerbeck) Trexler (1827-1914). In the 1860 U.S. Census, Trexler's full name appears as Henry C. Trexler. But in the 1870 census, his name appears as Harry, the name he would use for the rest of his life.
Trexler was the eldest of four brothers. His siblings were William Trexler (1856-1862), who died in childhood, Edwin Trexler (1858-1939), and Frank Trexler (1861-1947). In 1885, Trexler married Mary M. Mosser. They were married for 48 years until Trexler's death on November 17, 1933, from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. Trexler's wife Mary died one year later. They had no children.
In the 1850s, Trexler's father Edwin moved the family to their ancestral farm near Emmaus, Pennsylvania, where Trexler's father joined his two brothers in starting a lumber business. While in Emmaus, Trexler developed his lifelong interest in agriculture, horsemanship, and nature. In 1866, at age 12, he won a third place honor "for the best corn fed hogs" at the Great Allentown Fair, one the nation's longest-running city fairs.
Trexler acquired his early education at Henninger's School House in Emmaus and later at Allentown High School. During the 1869–1870 school year, Trexler attended the one-year preparatory school Tremont Seminary in Norristown, a non-sectarian private school. The curriculum consisted of "Spelling, Reading, Writing, English Composition, English Grammar, Elocution, Rhetoric, Logic… Arithmetic, Bookkeeping, and Practical Accountantship," according to its documents registered with the county's historical society. It was the capstone of his formal education, and it was probably at this time that Trexler developed a lifelong passion for books, book collecting, and reading on a daily basis.
In 1900, Trexler's father was killed when his horse and wagon were run over by a train in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, and Trexler and his siblings inherited a sizable fortune derived from his father's lumber business.
Business pursuits
Trexler Lumber Company
One of Trexler's major business ventures was Trexler Lumber Company, founded by Harry Trexler's father and two uncles in 1856. Eventually the uncles sold out of the company. By 1876, Harry Trexler was working in the firm. Following his father's retirement, Trexler assumed full control of the enterprise. Trexler Lumber was involved in logging, milling, and the retail sale of lumber products.
With headquarters in Allentown, the company maintained branch and sales offices in New York City, Norfolk, Virginia, Sumter, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Jacksonville, Florida. Its major distribution yards were in Newark, New Jersey, and Allentown. Over the duration of its existence, Trexler Lumber conducted lumber operations in Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Prentiss, Mississippi, and several other states. ne of their major logging sites was in Ricketts, Pennsylvania, where the company harvested 500 million board feet of lumber over 20 years, from 1890 to 1910.
In 1900, Trexler's father was killed in Emmaus, Pennsylvania when his horse and wagon were run over by a train, and Harry Trexler inherited his father's fortune.
Lehigh Portland Cement
Trexler served as the first chief executive officer of Lehigh Portland Cement, which was officially incorporated on November 26, 1897. The company was founded with eleven stockholders and 4,000 shares of stock; Trexler owned fifty percent of the stock. Lehigh Portland produced cement during an era of unprecedented economic growth in both Allentown, its surrounding Lehigh Valley region, and the nation. Producing cement for major dams, highways, bridges, and many prominent structures, Lehigh Portland became a major industrial corporation in the nation. By 1925, the company was operating approximately 20 cement plants in numerous states. In 1924, Lehigh Portland Cement set its historical production record, produced 16.5 million barrels of Lehigh Cement, the largest year's output ever produced at that time by any one cement manufacturer.