Samuel Whitaker
Pennypacker was described as "the perfect Victorian," and "the ideal first
governor of the twentieth century." Pennypacker was born in Phoenixville, Chester
County, on April 9, 1843. He descended from Hendrick Pannybakker (Dutch for "maker of
titles"), an émigré from Holland and a surveyor for William Penn. His grandfather,
Mathias Pennypacker, a member of the General Assembly and president of the Philadelphia
and Reading Railroad, helped write the state Constitution of 1837. His mother, Anna Marie
Whitaker, came from a family that owned a local ironworks. His father, Isaac Pennypacker,
was the first burgess (similar to mayor) of Phoenixville and held a professorship at the
Philadelphia Medical College. Young Pennypacker, after attending Northwest Grammar School,
Philadelphia, was given a scholarship at Saunders Institute, West Philadelphia, but before
completing his studies, his father died of typhoid fever. The young scholar returned to
live with his mother and maternal grandfather, Joseph Whitaker, and completed his
education at nearby Grovemont Seminary.
He prepared for Yale University, but his grandfather refused to provide tuition money,
believing instead that Pennypacker should first prove himself in the work force. In the
fall of 1862 and that winter, he taught in a one-room schoolhouse in nearby Mont Clare,
Montgomery County. Pennypacker, at five-foot, ten inches tall, weighing a lean 127 pounds,
was frustrated by his inability to "establish and enforce discipline" among a
disorderly group of students.
When General Robert E. Lee invaded Pennsylvania in 1863, Pennypacker enlisted in Company F
of Pottstown, 26th Pennsylvania Emergency Regiment. Despite being mustered for only six
weeks and receiving just two days of training, they were among the first forces to engage
the rebels at Gettysburg. Although 127 men of the 26th were wounded or captured,
Pennypacker avoided catastrophe at the hands of seasoned Georgia soldiers when Union
regulars relieved the 26th. Convinced that his grandson had proven himself, Whitaker
arranged for Pennypacker to study law at the University of Pennsylvania and an
apprenticeship in the office of Peter McCall. In 1865 he earned his bachelor of laws
degree and established his own law practice by 1866. In the same year he was elected
president of the Bancroft Literary Union and in 1868 was chosen president of the Law
Academy of Philadelphia. On October 20, 1870, he married his childhood sweetheart,
Virginia Earl Broomall, daughter of Nathan B. Broomall. The Pennypackers had three
daughters and one son. By the end of the decade he received a doctor of laws from Franklin
and Marshall College.
Pennypacker's foray into public service began about 1886 when he was appointed to the
Philadelphia Board of Education. He was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of the
United States in 1887 and in 1889 Governor Beaver appointed him judge of the Court of
Common Pleas of Philadelphia. He became president judge in 1897 and was reelected in 1899.
He became president of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 1900, during which time
Pennypacker did his most prolific writing on topics such as early local and state history,
English common law, the Supreme Court, genealogy, and several biographies. He also amassed
more than ten thousand volumes in his personal library and self-mastered Latin, French,
Greek, Italian, and Dutch. His polished intellect, public experience, and the fact that
his cousin was U. S. Senator Matthew Quay, made him one of the most powerful Republicans
in Pennsylvania.
In 1902, Pennypacker defeated John P. Elkin, the Republican state attorney general, for
the gubernatorial nomination. The Quay and Boies Penrose political machine were accused of
buying votes from Elkin supporters, which they denied. In the general election, Robert
Pattison, the only Democrat to serve as governor between the Civil War and 1935, sought a
third non-successive term after serving 1883-1887 and 1891-1895. However, the momentum was
on Pennypacker's side. He picked up the endorsements of veterans, agricultural interests,
popular former governor and Civil War hero James Beaver, and President Theodore Roosevelt,
who publicly proclaimed that Pennypacker's defeat would be a "national
calamity." Pennypacker easily defeated Pattison by more than 142,000 votes.
Pennypacker downplayed the Quay influence and demonstrated that he was no pawn of
Philadelphia's Republicans. While he promised in his inaugural address on January 20,
1903, to limit the amount of legislation passed, his record shows significant legislation
that made major changes in Pennsylvania society and state government. The industrial
revolution created new problems for society. Child labor, strikes and violent riots,
workers' rights, government corruption, over-exploitation of natural resources, food
safety, and the need for better roadways for commerce kept the governor busy.
The Child Labor Act of 1905, while it did not completely abolish child labor, set the
minimum age for factory and mine work at fourteen and prohibited most night work. That
year, more than 6,300 underage children were dismissed out of 120,000 youths in the labor
force. Among adult laborers, violent labor confrontations plagued mills and mines and
overwhelmed local authorities. Company owners hired what was referred to as the Coal and
Iron Police to protect company interests. Although the state authorized these private
police, many of those hired were nothing more than street thugs who used violence and
blackmail to force laborers into compliance with company policies. Governor Pennypacker,
who regarded the Coal and Iron Police as unconstitutional, was determined to restore law
and order by more legitimate means. He directed John C. Groome to create the Pennsylvania
State Police, the first statewide police force in America, modeled after the Royal Irish
Constabulary (the Texas Rangers were created prior, but initially as a militia). The State
Police, however, quickly earned a reputation of efficiency, integrity, honor, and respect,
including public acclamations by President Roosevelt.
An ardent conservationist, Pennypacker appointed the first commissioner of forestry,
Joseph TrimbleRothrock. Half a million acres of land
were preserved, twelve thousand acres for game, tree nurseries were established, and the
first school for state foresters was opened at Mont Alto, Franklin County. In 1905
Pennypacker signed legislation authorizing the establishment of a State Museum to house
the accumulated artistic, historical, and natural treasures of the state. In addition, new
taxes were levied on out-of-state corporations who mined and exported Pennsylvania coal.
The tax revenue financed eight thousand miles of paved roads in the state and was viewed
as a national model. Pennypacker also advocated the enforcement of the 1895 Pure Food Law
that prohibited the adulteration of food products to conceal inferiority.
The governor also garnered the most intense acrimony from the Philadelphia press of any
governor in Pennsylvania's history. The Progressive Era gave birth to many journalists who
sought to expose corruption, for whom President Roosevelt coined the term
"muckrakers." Pennypacker immediately drew vicious attacks in the press with the
passage of the Salus-Grady Bill, or the Newspaper Libel Act of 1903 (repealed in 1907).
Pennypacker believed that liberty of the press was an anachronism and that, in general,
the urban press often sacrificed responsible journalism to libelous statements,
sensational headlines, vulgarities, and detailing horrible crimes for the purpose of
selling newspapers. His motive was to make the press more accountable for libel, but
newspaper owners saw it as curtailing liberty.
After the state capitol building burned down in 1897, the General Assembly, during the
administration of Governor Stone, appropriated four million dollars in funds to rebuild,
not including furnishings. On October 4, 1906, the new building, rivaling the nation's
capitol building, with a dome resembling St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, was
dedicated and described by Pennypacker as "the most elaborate and complicated
constructive work ever undertaken by the state." Pennypacker believed that a grand
and opulent public building would exalt Pennsylvania's status as the Keystone State.
The building was completed on time and within the budget. However, Democratic State
Treasurer William Berry discovered that, although $900,000 additional was appropriated for
furnishings, flooring and ceilings, oak wainscoting, and artwork, the actual additional
unappropriated cost was $7.7 million. There were overcharges for purchases using
questionable methods of computing costs, such as charging by the pound for chandeliers, or
charging for the "air space under furniture." After an investigation,
convictions on charges of conspiracy and false pretense were obtained against architect
Joseph Huston, lead contractor John Sanderson, former Auditor General William P. Snyder,
and former State Treasurer William L. Mathues. Governor Pennypacker was not indicted nor
did the public perceive the governor as being dishonest. Pennypacker also pointed out that
the Commonwealth did not raise taxes or go into debt and that other great buildings less
grand than the capitol took longer to build and were much more costly. The capitol today
remains an important architectural landmark of Pennsylvania, drawing admiring visitors
from around the world.
Following his term in office, Pennypacker opened a law office in Philadelphia and wrote
extensively, including his autobiography and his commentary on the Capitol Building
scandal. Samuel Pennypacker died on September 1, 1916, at his home in Schwenksville and is
buried in Morris Cemetery, Phoenixville, Chester County.
Samuel Whitaker
Pennypacker was described as "the perfect Victorian," and "the ideal first
governor of the twentieth century." Pennypacker was born in Phoenixville, Chester
County, on April 9, 1843. He descended from Hendrick Pannybakker (Dutch for "maker of
titles"), an émigré from Holland and a surveyor for William Penn. His grandfather,
Mathias Pennypacker, a member of the General Assembly and president of the Philadelphia
and Reading Railroad, helped write the state Constitution of 1837. His mother, Anna Marie
Whitaker, came from a family that owned a local ironworks. His father, Isaac Pennypacker,
was the first burgess (similar to mayor) of Phoenixville and held a professorship at the
Philadelphia Medical College. Young Pennypacker, after attending Northwest Grammar School,
Philadelphia, was given a scholarship at Saunders Institute, West Philadelphia, but before
completing his studies, his father died of typhoid fever. The young scholar returned to
live with his mother and maternal grandfather, Joseph Whitaker, and completed his
education at nearby Grovemont Seminary. 
Rothrock. Half a million acres of land
were preserved, twelve thousand acres for game, tree nurseries were established, and the
first school for state foresters was opened at Mont Alto, Franklin County. In 1905
Pennypacker signed legislation authorizing the establishment of a State Museum to house
the accumulated artistic, historical, and natural treasures of the state. In addition, new
taxes were levied on out-of-state corporations who mined and exported Pennsylvania coal.
The tax revenue financed eight thousand miles of paved roads in the state and was viewed
as a national model. Pennypacker also advocated the enforcement of the 1895 Pure Food Law
that prohibited the adulteration of food products to conceal inferiority.