The University of Illinois was founded in 1867, but it took more than 25 years for the first sorority to appear on campus. On November 15, 1894, Andrew Sloan Draper became the University’s fourth president. His predecessors had been opposed to Greek letter organizations (GLOs), but he was more favorable to them.
By 1894, there were chapters of women’s fraternal organizations at several Illinois colleges including Knox College, Lombard College, Northwestern University, and Illinois Wesleyan University. Additionally the state universities in the neighboring states of Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana had burgeoning sorority systems. When the academic year opened in the fall of 1894, there were 80 females enrolled at the University of Illinois. Some of the women likely knew of women’s fraternities on Midwestern campuses. Two local women’s groups were formed. Although neither had a formal name, it was understood that each group sought charter from a national women’s fraternity.
One of the groups became a chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta and the other became a Pi Beta Phi chapter. The race to become the first national women’s fraternity chapter at the University of Illinois is a most interesting tale.
On June 8, 1875, the Illinois Alpha chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta was founded at Illinois Wesleyan College in Bloomington. The effort to establish the chapter was led by the Indiana University chapter. When Theta renamed chapters in 1881, it became the Delta chapter as it was then the fourth oldest chapter in existence. Although the chapter was almost 20 years old, the number of women enrolling at Illinois Wesleyan had decreased. The number of women initiated into the IWC Kappa Alpha Theta chapter was 127, about six women a year. In 1895, the chapter was in a precarious position due to lack of members.
Four of the female students at the University of Illinois – Marion Wright, Bertha Pillsbury, and sisters Isabel and Mary Noble – met with a Kappa Kappa Gamma alumna in the summer of 1895. The Kappa alumna suggested the group petition her organization for a charter. The alumna had a new baby and did not follow through on her the suggestion, according to a memory from one of the four.
Katherine Merrill, a member of the Illinois English department, was a Kappa Alpha Theta alumna from the University of Kansas chapter. Faculty spouse Elizabeth Lowell Hammond was an alumna of the Theta chapter at Syracuse University. Mary Ross Potter, an Illinois Wesleyan Theta who was a member of the faculty at IWC, corresponded with President Draper’s secretary. Potter and Sheila Means, a member of the IWC chapter traveled from Bloomington and met with Merrill, Hammond and the women who were seeking a charter. They had a tea with the women who were hoping to become members of a national organization.
The following morning, the IWC Thetas invited the Illinois women to accept their chapter’s charter. The action would need to be approved by the Theta convention body which was meeting October 1-3, 1895.
Meanwhile, Jessie Davidson [Gerber], an initiate of the Knox College chapter of Pi Beta Phi, was taking classes at the University. One of the women in her Knox College class, Grace Lass [Sisson], was Pi Beta Phi’s Grand President. Before she headed to Urbana-Champaign, Davidson and her Pi Phi friends talked about the possibility of a chapter at Illinois. On September 14, 1895, Davidson wrote Lass about the possibility of establishing a chapter. Correspondence ensued.
The Illinois Wesleyan delegate to the Kappa Alpha Theta convention in Syracuse, NY, made the case for transferring the charter to the women at the University of Illinois. It was approved by the convention body.
On October 7, 1895, Davidson wrote her friend, the Pi Phi Grand President, “When I wrote to you about the prospect of a chapter of Pi Beta Phi here I never dreamed that I would ever try to get a chapter here….About ten girls have been spoken to. They are very nice girls and I know that you would like them. Grace, could you come down here?” The group made a formal petition for the Grand Council.
Davidson wrote Lass again, “Do you think it possible for us to have our charter, if we can have it, by the 25th of this month? There is a dance, a fine affair, that night and they (the Thetas) want to come out in their colors, and then we want you here too.” She added that an escort was lined up to take Lass to the dance. Davidson offered her a place to stay during her visit.
Apparently, the petition was successful and arrangements were made for Lass to install the chapter. Due to Lass’ schedule, the installation took place on October 26, 1895. Nellie Lapham Swigart, an alumna of the Lombard College chapter, opened her home for the festivities.
The charter members were Amelia “Meme” Darling Alpiner [Stern], Edith Marie Weaver [Gilhulely], Blanche C. Lindsay [Wood], Martha Vivian Monier [Morrissey], Laura E. Busey [Fulton], Nellie Besore [Sears], Edith M. Yoemans, Anne B. Montgomery [Bahnsen] and Lelia White.
A banquet followed. Later that night, at about midnight, the chapter had a Cookie Shine, a Pi Phi tradition, in Davidson’s room.
The transfer of the Theta charter was approved at the Convention in early October. The date of the charter transfer was October 24, 1895. However, the group of women were not initiated into Kappa Alpha Theta until November 9, 1895. Thetas came from Bloomington, Chicago and the Northwestern and DePauw chapters for the installation festivities.
In addition to the original four who met with the Illinois Wesleyan Thetas, there were nine other charter members. They were Mary Greene, Ida Conn, Mabel Zilly, Marion Thompson, Georgia Bennett, Reba Wharton, Blanche Herrick, Louise Jones and Ruth Raymond.
To read more about the histories of these two chapters as well as some of the others at University of Illinois, visit the Society for the Preservation of Greek Housing website.
