Your tired feet should thank Jesse W. Reno of the Class of 1883.

Reno invented the “inclined elevator,” the predecessor to today’s escalators.

Reno received the first patent for his plans to build the electric-powered moving stairway in 1882. He presented it during a two-week stay in September 1896 at Coney Island’s Old Iron Pier. Reno eventually sold his patents to the Otis Elevator Company and together they produced the first commercial escalator, which won first prize at the Exposition Universelle of 1900 in Paris. Some of Reno’s inclined elevators were still in operation in the Boston subway system as recently as 1994.

While at Lehigh, Reno was in the Engineering Society, a member of Chi Phi (Psi Chapter), president of that fraternity's Lawn Tennis Club, Class Historian, and editor for the Epitome in 1882. He also sang second tenor in the University Choir and played for the University baseball team.