Happy 167th to Phi Kappa Psi! It was founded on February 19, 1852 in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, at Jefferson College (now Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania). Phi Kappa Psi’s founders are William Henry Letterman and Charles Page Thomas Moore.
At Washington and Jefferson College
A few years ago, I wrote a history of the Illinois Delta Chapter of Phi Kappa Psi at the University of Illinois. In reading through the early Shield of Phi Kappa Psi issues, I discovered that there was once a chapter at Monmouth College, where Pi Beta Phi and Kappa Kappa Gamma were founded. It was the Illinois Gamma Chapter of Phi Kappa Psi.
According to the 1902 History of Phi Kappa Psi, Illinois Gamma was founded in April of 1871, not 1870 as had been noted in previous records. According to the history:
It was the outgrowth of a revolt of certain members of Delta Tau Delta and Phi Gamma Delta, who withdrew from these fraternities with the expectation of securing a charter from one of the leading eastern fraternities. Being disappointed in this hope, the band of petitioners investigated the merits of other fraternities represented in the West, and after this scrutiny petitioned Phi Kappa Psi for a charter. The petition was granted, and W.P. Kane was sent by the petitioners to Cornell College, Iowa, to be initiated into the chapter of Phi Kappa Psi there.
The new chapter began its career under most favorable auspices. The faculty was not hostile and the members were congenial, so that the true value of fraternity experiences was felt from the first. The members took practically all the college honors in sight, and nothing seemed to stand in the way of a most vigorous life.
In the 1870s, the administration, under pressure from the church authorities who helped fund the institution, turned against the organizations. They issued a ban. The chapters continued to operate sub-rosa for a number of years, but ultimately, all activity died out.
At the 1888 Grand Arch Council, the charter of “the only remaining sub-rosa chapter at Monmouth College”, was revoked. The chapter has been dormant ever since.
The first member in the list of initiates, J.A. Grier, was James Alexander Grier, who would go on to marry Ada Bruen, a founder of Pi Beta Phi. He served in the U.S. Army from 1861-65 before enrolling at Monmouth College. He became a Presbyterian minister and spent his career in his native Pennsylvania. One of the Grier’s sons, Rev. James Harper Grier, D.D., served as the fifth President of Monmouth College, from 1936-52. Neither of his parents lived to see him installed as President.
*Pi Beta Phi was founded in 1867 as I.C. Sorosis, Pi Beta Phi was its secret Greek motto. In 1888, the name change was made official by convention vote, although many chapter already were using the Greek letters. In the clipping I.C. is named alongside Kappa Kappa Gamma and not among the literary societies.
