Greeks came to Irvington in 1875. No, not those from the classical lands of Socrates and Plato, but the collegiate Greek lettered secret societies of North Western Christian University (Butler University) when that school relocated to Irvington from its near northside Indianapolis campus. The oldest of these societies was Gamma Γ Chapter of Phi Delta Theta ΦΔΘ fraternity which was established in 1859. Two other Greek societies, Rho Ρ Chapter of Sigma Chi ΣΧ which was chartered in 1865, and Gamma Γ Chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta ΚΑΘ, a sorority which was organized the year before the university’s move, joined the Phi Delts in Irvington.
American collegiate Greek lettered associations began during the American Revolution when five students at the College of William and Mary formed Phi Beta Kappa ΦΒΚ in secret to debate the issue of independence. Out of necessity to protect its members in those turbulent times, the society developed an oath of secrecy, a badge or key, mottos in Greek, an initiation, and a handshake. It is believed that Greek was selected because it was a more prestigious language than Latin. In most instances, some knowledge of Latin was a requirement for admission to a university whereas one had to go to university to learn Greek. Society chapters were given a Greek letter as they were formed beginning with alpha Α.
For nearly fifty years the Phi Delts were without a permanent home. The fraternity met in the homes of its brethren and in university classrooms engaging in the social activities of the age and from time to time indulging in an oyster supper. Finally, after years of meeting from place to place, the Phi Delts built their own chapter house in 1908 on the northwest corner of East Washington St and Emerson Av. In 1915 the bungalow style house, with a distinctive limestone cross embedded in the chimney, was moved across the creek to the northwest corner of East Washington St and Pleasant Run Pkwy.
In the early 1890s, the Sigma Chi began meeting in rooms on the third floor of Moore’s Hall, a modern brick and stone structure at 130 S. Audubon Rd. The space included the full front of the building and a special property room. In 1899 the Phi Delts sought to rent the rooms by offering the landlord more money. When the landlord tossed the Sig furnishings out, put a new lock on the door, and turned the room over to the Phis, the Sigs vigorously rebuffed the effort by taking the door off the hinges, throwing out the Phi furniture, replacing it with their own, posting a guard, and filing a lawsuit in Marion County Superior Court. Judge James M. Leathers, a Butler alumni and Sigma Chi brother, granted an injunction allowing the Sigs to continue to use their rooms in Moore’s Hall.
The Sigma Chi quarters in Moore’s Hall were unpretentious. A small fireplace provided heat with coal scavenged along the adjacent railroad tracks. A cubicle known as the Moorish Room, its ceiling and walls draped to simulate an Oriental tent and illuminated by a 25-watt blue lamp, provided a space for sorority girls to “powder their nose” when attending dances. On meeting nights, a guard was posted at the door to alert if the landlord was coming to collect overdue rent so the treasurer could hide behind the piano. In 1921 Indianapolis Sig alumni secured “an indefinite optional lease” on brother Arthur Johnson’s family home, 209 S. Downey Av, for a chapter house that could accommodate fifteen men in five rooms upstairs. There were several rooms for study and a “large reception hall and living room across the front and lounging room, and a dining room back.”
When the sorority Kappa Alpha Theta chapter was chartered, Catherine Merrill, Demia Butler professor of English literature, was the only female faculty member and advisor to women students. Although she disapproved of secret societies, such opposition was overcome and the chapter flourished until the mid-eighties when it dissolved. In 1906 Gamma Chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta was re-chartered and the Thetas became an influential sorority on the Irvington campus. For several years a log cabin on a wooded lot at 327 N. Irvington Av served as the sorority’s chapter house. After leaving the “Theta Cabin,” the sorority eventually built a chapter house at 215 S. Butler Av.
Despite its small enrollment, Butler attracted additional Greek lettered societies before the turn of the century. A fledgling chapter of Beta Theta Pi ΒΘΠ fraternity appeared on the Irvington campus for a couple of years around 1880 and Beta Β Chapter of Kappa Sigma ΚΣ fraternity was chartered in 1891. Delta Δ Chapter of Theta Nu Epsilon ΘNE fraternity came on campus in 1903, its members taking oaths of allegiance to the “ritual of the skull and cross bones.” Within three years of the Thetas coming to Irvington, the sorority was joined by Mu Μ Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma ΚΚΓ. A third sorority came upon Butler’s social scene in 1897 when Gamma Γ Chapter of Pi Beta Phi ΠΒΦ was chartered.
Butler men and women were given two more Greek lettered society options in the mid-teens when Alpha Alpha Zeta AAZ Chapter of Lambda Chi Alpha ΛΧΑ fraternity and Delta Lambda ΔΛ Chapter of Delta Delta Delta ΔΔΔ sorority were chartered. However, by the beginning of the twenties the surge in enrollment at Butler exceeded the capacity of these five established fraternities and four sororities to accommodate all the incoming freshmen who wanted to join.
Several Greek letter organizations were formed on the Irvington campus to accept students who could not join one of Butler’s nationally chartered fraternities or sororities. These organizations petitioned various national Greek letter societies and before Butler moved to the Fairview campus three new fraternity chapters – Epsilon Nu EN Chapter of Sigma Nu ΣΝ; Epsilon E Chapter of Delta Alpha Pi ΑΔΠ; Omicron O Chapter of Kappa Delta Rho ΚΔΡ – and seven new sorority chapters – Alpha Delta AΔ Chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha ΖΤΑ; Epsilon E Chapter of Alpha Delta Theta ΑΔΘ; Alpha Nu AN Chapter of Delta Zeta ΔΖ; Alpha Chi AX Chapter of Alpha Chi Omega ΑΧΩ; Alpha Phi AΦ Chapter of Alpha Delta Pi ΑΔΠ; Alpha Tau AT Chapter of Delta Gamma ΔΓ; Beta Theta ΒΘ Chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi AOΠ – had been installed.
One group of Butler students who were left out of Greek life because of segregated policies at the time was the small number of African Americans. Two fraternities in Indianapolis admitting black Butler men were Nu N Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi ΚΑΨ and Iota Lambda IΛ Chapter of Alpha Pi Alpha ΑΠA. In 1920 Kappa Κ Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha ΑΚA was established for black Butler women and in 1922 seven African American women founded Alpha A Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho ΣΓΡ on the Butler campus. Next month the “the Pretty Poodles of the Blue and Gold” will celebrate the sorority’s centennial on Butler’s Fairview campus and on the former Irvington campus.
