On this day, February 9, in 1866, George Ade was born in Kentland, Indiana. When he graduated from high school, his father realized that George, one of his seven children, would not make a good farmer. George was encouraged to apply for one of the scholarships Newton County was offering to its residents in order to increase attendance at the state colleges. That year, Ade’s application was the only one from his county. Ade was one of the 30 members of Purdue’s freshman class. He soon joined the Delta Delta chapter of Sigma Chi.
Sigma Chis George Ade (left) and John T. McCutcheon, circa 1894-1895
Another Purdue student, John T. McCutcheon, a talented cartoonist, became a Sigma Chi, too. The friendship of Ade and McCutcheon lasted their entire lives and their careers were intertwined.
Ade’s academic career had its ups and downs and he later quipped that he was “at the top of my class … alphabetically.” Ade graduated in 1887. Three years later, he was hired by the Chicago Morning News (it became the Chicago Record) where McCutcheon was working as a cartoonist. In July 1890, a freight steamer exploded in the Chicago River. Ade, the only reporter in the newsroom at the time, was sent to write about it. It was one of his big breaks.
The November 1892 Sigma Chi Quarterly included news about Ade’s career. Ade “was sent to New Orleans to portray the recent pugilistic contest (the 1892 Sullivan-Corbett fight) for the paper with which he is connected, the Chicago News Record. He also traveled through Indiana and wrote for the Record on the political outlook under the title Ariel. His latest mission was a political one to New York. Mr. Ade has been rapidly advanced since he entered Chicago journalism about two years ago the inevitable result of his faithful development of an inborn talent for bright clever original writing. Sigma Chi boasts some of the most brilliant men in American newspaper life and George Ade is one of them.”
Ade’s stories about the 1893 Columbian Exposition lead to his writing a column, Stories of the Streets and of the Town, which gave a humorous glimpse of Chicago life. In addition to the column, he began writing books and plays and by the end of the century, he was a well-known humorist. In 1899, he left the Chicago paper and began syndicating his Fables in Slang column to papers across the country. He began writing for Broadway and his hits, in quick succession, included The Sultan of Sulu, Peggy from Paris, The County Chairman, The Sho-Gun, and The College Widow. Ade was the first playwright to have three plays running simultaneously on Broadway. He also wrote the scripts for silent films. Ade’s writing made him a rich man.
Ade was a devoted member of Sigma Chi. In 1909, he served as the 14th Grand Counsul, Sigma Chi’s top officer. Twenty years later, he wrote The Sigma Chi Creed, “I believe in fairness, decency and good manners. I will endeavor to retain the spirit of youth. I will try to make my college, the Sigma Chi Fraternity, and my own chapter more honored by all men and women and more beloved and honestly respected by our own brothers. I say these words in all sincerity; That Sigma Chi has given me favor and distinction; that the bond of our fellowship is reciprocal, that I will endeavor to so build myself and so conduct myself that I will ever be a credit to our Fraternity.”
Ade was a dedicated Purdue alumnus and a proud Sigma Chi. His estate, Hazelden, in Brook, Indiana, was the site of many Sigma Chi picnics and social events. In 1935, Ade, along with John McCutcheon, were among the first to be named Significant Sigs.
In 1912, he led the fundraising campaign to build a chapter house for his chapter. It was the first fraternity house at Purdue. At the time, it slept 18 men. Over the years, renovations expanded its capacity to about 70. In 2007, the chapter house, which overlooks the Wabash River, underwent a $7,000,000+ renovation.
At the 1912 groundbreaking for the Purdue chapter house. George Ade wields the shovel.
Ade served as a Trustee of Purdue University from 1909-16. He along with David Ross, helped fund the construction of Ross-Ade Stadium. He was an active member of Purdue’s Alumni Association. Ade died on May 16, 1944.
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Over the weekend, two GLOs, alpha Kappa Delta Phi and Iota Nu Delta, celebrated birthdays. alpha Kappa Delta Phi (αΚΔΦ) is an Asian American interest sorority founded on February 7, 1990 at the University of California – Berkeley. Iota Nu Delta (ΙΝΔ), a South Asian interest fraternity, was founded on February 7, 1994 at SUNY – Binghamton (now Binghamton University).
© 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/
