Delta Tau Delta was founded to promote honesty and uphold moral principles in 1858 at Bethany College, Virginia (now West Virginia).
In those days, one of the most important events of the college experience at Bethany was an oratory contest. The eight Delt founders discovered that the event had been "rigged," and formed the fraternity to fight those who were "fixing" the contest, and to make the situation right.
The timing was difficult since the new organization almost died during the Civil War, and how it managed to survive is an interesting story.
That's a very simplistic answer. If you're interested in more details, visit the fraternity website at
www.delts.com and find the history of the fraternity.
The fraternity has existed continuously since then, and now has over 120 chapters in the United States and Canada. It's oldest continuous chapter is the Beta Chapter at Ohio University (My Alma Mater) in Athens, Ohio which has been a fully accredited chapter since June, 1862.
Fraternally,
DeltAlum
[This message has been edited by DeltAlum (edited October 14, 2000).]