In 1856, the first railroad bridge across the Mississippi was built. It connected the Rock Island Arsenal in northwestern Illinois to Davenport, Iowa. The Eads Bridge in St. Louis was completed in 1874. Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, was established in 1851.
Although the charter for the Beta Theta Pi chapter at Westminster College was issued in 1860, it was not installed until 1868. From 1861-65, there was a war going on in the country and that may have had something to do with the lapse of time.
The marker at the Alpha Delta chapter of Beta Theta Pi (photo courtesy of Beta Theta Pi)
The Alpha Delta chapter of Beta Theta Pi chapter at Westminster College recently dedicated a marker to acknowledge this historic event. It recognizes the chapter as the oldest of any college fraternity in continuous existence west of the Mississippi River. Congratulations Alpha Delta chapter of Beta Theta Pi!
The Alpha Delta chaper of Beta Theta Pi with the marker before it was installed (photo courtesy of Beta Theta Pi)
From my favorite twitter posts….
(And congratulations to Kappa Alpha Theta for a clever and successful campaign to raise $25,000 in celebration of the organization’s 25th anniversary of a partnership with CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), a wonderful program which serves the most vulnerable of children.
“Before I even knew what the word sorority meant, Theta loved me.” —Wesley Ware, @BelmontTheta. http://ow.ly/MzhqC #Theta25CASA
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5/5/1961 The first American in space is cheered on by his father, Alan Shepard Sr. (Dartmouth 1913). #PhiGam #NASA
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Past International President Peg Crawford, alumna of Iota Chapter/U of Illinois, was recently inducted into the..http://fb.me/6sm4sUdek
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Veterans Affairs CA @VeteransENG
Unveiling #JohnMcCrae statue tmrw to honour #InFlandersFields poem written 100 yrs ago during 2nd Battle of Ypres http://ow.ly/MqEbi
McCrae was a Zeta Psi
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fsupanhellenic headed to Nicaragua this morning to break ground on CofS school number 3! #BeingHerHero https://instagram.com/p/2LajooAaLk/
© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2015. All Rights Reserved. If you enjoyed this post, please sign up for updates. Also follow me on twitter @GLOHistory and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/glohistory/
