Monmouth, Illinois, is a very special place. The Monmouth Duo, Pi Beta Phi and Kappa Kappa Gamma, were founded there in 1867 and 1870, respectively. If you visit Monmouth, you will be able to get a glimpse of what life was like when the two organizations were founded.
The home of “Major” Jacob Holt at 402 E. First Avenue, is the founding site of Pi Beta Phi. Today Holt House is open to the public. It is decorated as it might have been in 1867, when Libbie Brook (Gaddis) and Ada Bruen (Grier), two friends from nearby Henderson County, rented the front southwest bedroom from the Holt family. It was there in that room that the organization was founded on April 28, 1867.
A Monmouth Duo Dance Card Cover, 1961
Kappa Kappa Gamma was founded on October 13, 1870. The former home of Mary “Minnie” Stewart, the Stewart House, is also open for tours. She was the chapter’s first President and Kappa’s first Grand President. Kappa’s Constitution was written in the home and the charter was signed there as well. The chapter had many of its first meetings in the home.
What I find most amazing about both organizations is the they survived the dissolution of the chapters at Monmouth College. Both Kappa Kappa Gamma and Pi Beta Phi had to close their founding chapters in the early 1880s when the College yielded to pressure from the United Presbyterian Church to ban all the fraternities from campus. Both organizations expanded shortly after their formations and the younger chapters were able to keep the organizations viable and growing.
Evelyn Peters Kyle, a former Pi Beta Phi Grand Council member, graduated from Monmouth College in the 1930s. In 1993, she wrote about her alma mater, “Monmouth College, chartered in 1853, is six years older than the University of Illinois. Monmouth Academy was founded in November, 1853, by a group of influential local citizens; with $2,000 subscriptions from residents and $700 in borrowed gold, it opened its door in a dingy frame building with probably 20 students, though there is no definite record. On September 3, 1856, Monmouth Academy became Monmouth College in a rustic one room school building. By October of 1856, there were 50 students and a solid brick structure was ready for classes.”
Monmouth was a city in name only. In fact, it was very reminiscent of the Frontier. The streets were muddy lanes or dusty trails according to the season. Sidewalks were few, street lighting did not exist. Cows roamed over yards and prairie chickens flew around the town square. Dr. David Wallace from Boston became the College’s first president. In 1846, he graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, at the head of his class and was elected president of Muskingum College before he received his diploma. He had a strong desire to enter the ministry and after attending seminary in Oxford, he was ordained in 1851 and given a church in Fall River, Massachusetts.”
Just as funding is a problem for colleges today, so it was in the 1800s. “Money was a big problem at Monmouth College and there was a need for more space and a campus and buildings. Two friends of the college donated 10 acres and some funds to what was to become the center of today’s campus. The main building was completed in 1862 and college opened on September 2, 1862.”
Student life was quite different than it is today. “As the College was under the United Presbyterian Church it had strict rules against card playing, dancing, or any so-called frivolity; the students spent a good deal of time eating. According to the season, they had picnics, chafing dish parties, and lavish banquets at the slightest provocation. Oyster suppers were very popular and sleighing parties in the winter. In warm weather, there were boat trips on the Mississippi River from Oquawka, site of the first convention, up or down the river. There were several fancy tonsorial parlors which provided hot and cold baths of filtered rain water. There were student boarding clubs and several stores gave special discounts to students for groceries. But many of the students roomed and boarded with local families.”
In the years before intercollegiate sports, student activities were more cerebral. “Literary Societies provided cultural atmosphere. In 1857, the women organized the Amateur des Belles Lettres, later known as ABL, with the Latin motto translating to “Right and Forward.” Their main contribution of interest they promoted in debating and public speaking. These led to organization of contests between schools. All the cheers, songs, horseplay and razzle dazzle that became associated with football were present in these debates and oratorical contests. Banners of victory were brought home resulting in parades and yells not appreciated by the Monmouth Police Department.”
