Carl Eckert was born in Stuttgart, Germany.  At age 21 in 1866 he emigrated to America, landing first in Scranton, Pennsylvania.  A year later he took opportunity at the city Rolling Mills in Allentown.  In around 1870 he left that job to set up a general store on Ridge Avenue in that city, a business he ran successfully for about twelve years.

In 1882 Eckert took his earnings and purchased the Germania Hotel, and after a few years he became financially involved in Edward Benz's Monocacy Brewery in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  By 1883 Benz dropped out of the brewery leaving Eckert as sole proprietor.  Eckert ran the brewery for about four years then sold a controling share to Jacob Widman. 

Eckert, keen to get back into the hospitality business, purchased the New York Hotel, which was located at the Monocacy Bridge.  Over the next several years Eckert with an unnamed partner scouted out sites for other breweries, but apparently none ever came to be.

Eckert operated the hotel right up until the day of his death, which came in ther form of a suicide at his dinner table, on November 21st, 1905.  He was 60 years of age.

Edward Benz was born in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.  He emigrated to America in 1868, at age 22, and settled in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  In 1870 he married Katherine Kohlmeier in a union that would produce four children.  In 1880 Benz partnered with Francis Fennel to found a brewery just south of town.  Within a few years  Charles Ekhardt (also spelled Eckert) replaced Mr. Fennel as partner.  In 1888, after a career of 18 years Edward Benz  sold his stake to Jacob Widman and purchased a hotel on Wyandotte Street.  After that he became employed by Lehigh University, a position he held until the day he died at age 46, on March 26th, 1914.