William Doud Packard

William Doud Packard was born the oldest of Warren and Mary Packard’s five children in Warren, Ohio on November 3, 1861. As a young man, William kept the books for the family hardware store, the Lakeview House hotel, and the saw mills. William worked with his brother, James on a variety of endeavors, including printing and selling ads for a newspaper they developed and sold. They also had a mail order bicycle business, where William ordered the bicycles and James put them together. They also worked together as bellhops at the Lakeview House hotel.

William went to Ohio State University to study business, but after one year realized the experience he gained working for his father put him beyond what the University could offer. William joined James in New York City in 1888 to work for Sawyer Mann, a company that specialized in the creation of light bulbs. In 1899, William returned to Warren to work with James, and in 1890 the brothers founded the Packard Electric Company, manufacturing incandescent carbon arc lamps. 

At a friend’s wedding, William met Annie Storer with whom he stayed in touch until visiting her in Boston, Massachusetts in early 1891. Eventually, they were married in Middleton, Connecticut in June 1891. On October 5, 1892, they welcomed their son, Warren, to their family. Annie passed at the young age of 28 in 1895 due to illness. 

Extensively involved in the Packard Electric Company, William traveled to places like Buffalo, New York, Chicago, Illinois, St. Louis, Missouri, and St. Catherine’s Ontario.  William started work on wiring while manufacturing lamps, and alongside James built a wiring plant next to the lamp factory, thus beginning the Packard Electric Company. 

He married Kathleen “Kitty” Bruder in 1906 and built a home on Mahoning Avenue in Youngstown, Ohio. In 1911, he made a purchase of 42 acres near his home and donated it to the city of Youngstown as a park. His brother-in-law, Carl Foster White was hired to design the shelter house and the caretaker’s cottage. Eleven years later, William and Kitty built a mansion across the street from their first home.

William began to lose his sight during the building of the mansion and was blind by the time they were able to move in, though they enjoyed three years together in their new home. William died on November 11, 1923, leaving a trust fund to facilitate the building of a music hall in the park after Kitty’s passing. Kitty died in 1940, but the music hall was not built until 1955 due to World War II and legal issues regarding specifications for the building. William also continued the philanthropic work inspired by his family, leaving a trust for the Salvation Army and the Boy Scouts that continues to provide funding to this day.