Happy Founders’ Day, Kappa Kappa Gamma. This past Wednesday, I visited Stewart House in Monmouth, Illinois, the former home of Kappa Founder, Mary Moore “Minnie” Stewart. It is always a treat to visit Stewart House. The home and gardens are wonderful and with just the blink of an eye one is transported back to 1870 and the exciting events that took place that year.
Stewart House, October 2013 (Photo by Amanda Pilger)
Kappa Kappa Gamma’s founders are Mary Moore “Minnie” Stewart, Anna Elizabeth Willits, Susan Burley Walker, Hanna Jeanette “Jennie” Boyd, Mary Louise “Lou” Bennett, and Martha Louisa “Lou” Stevenson. Some of the founders recalled that the organization was founded in March, 1870, but that the appearance was delayed until fall, because the badges had been difficult to procure. Willet’s mother was the one who came up with the idea of using a key as the badge. The first badges were made by the Bennett’s family jeweler who was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In order to have the badges made, 12 had to be ordered at a price of $5 each. The Kappa Kappa Gamma’s first public appearance at chapel took place on October 13, 1870 and since the 1876 Convention, October 13 has been celebrated as Founders’ Day (Burton-Roth & Whiting-Westermann, 1932).
The Monmouth College Courier noted the fraternity’s debut in an October 1870 issue, “They wear a little golden key, sometimes on their foreheads, sometimes on their little blue or red jackets. . . . It has three letters on it, KKG. . . We have been able to count only six of them” (“Kappa Kappa Gamma,” 1870, p. 4).
At a June 1874 meeting, the Senate of Monmouth College, under pressure from some sections of the United Presbyterian Church, passed the following resolution, “It shall be unlawful for any student of the college hereafter to become a member of any secret college fraternity or to connect with any chapter of any such fraternity, and also for an active member of such fraternity to be admitted as a student in the college” (Donaldson, 1967, p. 71).
At first the resolution had little impact, but pressure from devout United Presbyterians grew. Some refused to donate money to the financially struggling institution. In early 1878, the Kappa Kappa Gamma chapter bowed to pressure and disbanded (Spring, 1936).
What is amazing to me is that both Kappa Kappa Gamma and Pi Beta Phi, founded at Monmouth in 1867, were able to withstand the demise of their Alpha chapter.
A local sorority, Kappa Alpha Sigma, became the Alpha Deuteron Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma on October 13, 1934, returning the fraternity to its founding home at Monmouth College.
Stewart House, October 2013 (Photo by Amanda Pilger)
© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2013. All Rights Reserved.
Thank you for posting Fran! Kappas are busy sending Happy Founders Day messages to one another as I type!