The National Panhellenic Conference, the umbrella organization for 26 women’s fraternities/sororities, was founded 111 years ago on May 24, 1902. Alpha Phi’s delegate, Minnie Ruth Terry, made the arrangements for the meeting. She “found a most appropriate place for our meeting — a safety deposit vault; and before long we were admitted through heavy iron gratings to a long passage way, which led at last to a director’s room, closed by a massive wooden door which seemed amply able to keep the biggest secrets from escaping to the outer world. We all sat down at the big table, and for the first few minutes there seemed to be a be a vague feeling of insecurity — of suspense.”
In researching the history of the Illinois State Chapter of P.E.O., a Philanthropic, Educational Organization, I discovered an interesting coincidence. Chapter A, Illinois, the first* P.E.O. chapter in the state was founded in 1892. At first, the chapter met in member’s homes, but because Chapter A’s members lived all over the city, traveling to and from a meeting, as well as the time spent at the meeting, could take the better part of a day. Instead of meeting in homes, the decision was made to meet at a central place, at first that place was the Columbus School of Oratory, but the room rental was $1.75 per meeting. The site was changed to the Columbus Safety Vaults, where the only cost for the use of the room was the yearly $5 safe deposit box rental. The room could seat 40 comfortably.
The building was located at 31 North State Street. I’ve seen it referenced as the Columbus Safe Deposit Vaults and the Columbus Safety Vaults. A 1910 ad in the Chicago Business Directory touted its advantages. The ad read, “Why have your safe deposit box in an inconvenient location when the Columbus Safe Deposit Vaults are in the heart of the shopping district State and Washington Streets. Safes from $3.00 to $40.00 per annum open from 8 30 am to 6 30 pm. Security, Convenience, Elegance.” A 1922 ad gave a phone number for the business, Dearborn-4314.
There are still many unanswered questions about that first NPC meeting in Chicago, and this newly found information adds another bit of intrigue. Oh how I wish we had a picture of the room itself and a receipt from the box rental!
*In the 1870 and 1880s, there were several short-lived P.E.O. chapters in Illinois, but Chapter A is considered the first of the nine chapters that formed the Illinois State Chapter of P.E.O. in 1903. To read more about the history of the Illinois State Chapter of P.E.O. visit http://wp.me/P20I1i-Qf .
© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2013. All rights reserved.
