Col. Edward M. Young    

COLONEL EDWARD M. YOUNG, prominent man of affairs, was born in Allentown, September 24, 1866, the son of Colonel Edward B. and Mary A. (Kuhns) Young. Having acquired his early education in the public schools, he subsequently attended Muhlenberg College until he had completed one-half the work of the junior year. He then entered upon his business career in the store of M. S. Young & Co., in order to become practically familiar with mercantile methods, and more especially those which had to do with the hardware trade. This business with which his father was connected and in which the family has been interested for several generations is still being successfully conducted by Mr. Young and his partner, Wilson P. Ludwig. Mr. Young’s activities are also extended to other fields of endeavor. In November, 1897, he assisted in organizing the Lehigh Portland Cement Company, was for a period of years its secretary and treasurer, and. is now vice president of the corporation. The twelve plants of this company have an annual capacity of over twelve million barrels, and it is one of the largest concerns of its kind in the world.

For more than sixteen years Mr. Young has been president of the Allentown Steam Heating and Power Company. He is a director of the Lehigh Valley Transit Company; he took an active part in the reorganization of the old Lehigh Valley Traction Company, and was the first vice president of the new company. He has served as director of the Lehigh Valley Trust Company, was its vice president for about two years, and had filled the position of president for more than seven years.

During the six years, from 1894 to 1900, he served as a member of the board of control of education from the Second Ward. In 1896 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention, which nominated McKinley for President, and in 1908 he was again a delegate to the National Convention, which nominated Taft for President. He was also a delegate to subsequent National Republican Conventions He has been a member of the Republican State Committee for a dozen years, and of the Governor’s staff. Governor Tener appointed him a member of the commission charged with completing the building of the State Homeopathic Hospital for the Insane at Rittersville, and subsequently he was appointed a trustee of that institution. He is also a trustee of Muhlenberg College and of the Allentown College for Women.

He is a member of the Presbyterian Church; Union League, of Philadelphia; Livingston Club; Lehigh Country Club; the Elks, ‘and Jordan Lodge, F. and A.M.

January 27, 1891, Mr. Young married Kate R. daughter of Samuel B. and Caroline Anewalt, of Allentown.

Men of Allentown, Allentown, Pa. by Fred L. Shankweiler, 1917, page 24. View the image of this page on line, Free Trial  More Lehigh County History Books   Search Hundreds of 1880s-1890s Pennsylvania County History Books for biographies and historical information on your ancestors.  View the book page images on line and print them out for your genealogy file!  Free Access to the old history books - plus birth & death records, census images and ALL other records at ancestry.com