National Office near First chapter?

[naraht]

Is your National Office in the general area of the college where your group was started? If not, are there are any particular reasons why not?

For Alpha Phi Omega, the answer is no. Our first chapter is Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, our National Offices for the last 70 years have been in the Kansas City area. The reason is that our Second National President was from Kansas City, stayed as National president for 15 years (extended by WWII) and took the Fraternity from being run out of someone's home to actually having a rented office with employees.

[KSUViolet06]

I know that our HQ is in Woodstock, VA and Longwood is in Farmville, VA. I have no clue if those 2 towns are close to each other.

Any VA GCers know?

[AOII Angel]

AOII was founded in NYC, but our IHQ is in Brentwood, TN. Our original office was in NYC in the home of one of our founders. I can't remember when or why we moved to TN, but I know that we stayed because a local alumna didn't want them to move from the Nashville area so she donated a sizable sum of money to build our new HQ in Brentwood. It's hard to say no to free money! I'll have to look in our history book to find out why we went to TN in the first place.

[agzg]

There are a lot of fraternity and sorority HQs in Indianapolis, Indiana, right?

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by alphagamzetagam

There are a lot of fraternity and sorority HQs in Indianapolis, Indiana, right?

That's where AOII wanted to relocate which prompted the bid donation to stay in TN! I wonder what attracted all those groups to Indianapolis in the first place?

[sceniczip]

Our first chapter was in Mississippi but our national office is in Columbus, OH but the oldest chapter still in existence is in Akron, OH so that's sort of close.

[agzg]

This is what's in the yellow pages for Indianapolis:

Alpha Chi Omega
Alpha Epsilon Pi
Alpha Gamma Delta
Alpha Sigma Alpha
Alpha Tau Omega
Alpha Xi Delta
Delta Sigma Phi
Delta Upsilon
Kappa Alpha Theta
Phi Epsilon Kappa
Phi Kappa Theta
Phi Sigma Kappa
Sigma Kappa
Theta Chi
Zeta Beta Tau
Zeta Tau Alpha

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

I know that our HQ is in Woodstock, VA and Longwood is in Farmville, VA. I have no clue if those 2 towns are close to each other.

Not particularly. Woodstook is in the northern bit of Virginia, while Farmville is probably 150+ miles south of Woodstock?

Ours isn't close. Our Alpha chapter was in Boston, but our HQ is in Evansville, Indiana.

Another similar thread: What determines the location of an organization's national office?

Originally Posted by alphagamzetagam

This is what's in the yellow pages for Indianapolis:

Isn't Lambda Chi also there?

[agzg]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Isn't Lambda Chi also there?

I have no idea - that was the yellow pages listing when I typed in "Fraternity and Sorority HQs in Indianapolis, Indiana"

(Unless that was an Earp reference...)

[DoctorD]

Originally Posted by alphagamzetagam

There are a lot of fraternity and sorority HQs in Indianapolis, Indiana, right?

oh yes. It is amazing to drive down Founders Road and see a number of them.

On Founders Road:
Alpha Gamma Delta
Alpha Xi Delta
Kappa Alpha Theta
Sigma Kappa
Zeta Tau Alpha
Delta Upsilon
Theta Chi



In Indianapolis:
Alpha Chi Omega
Alpha Sigma Alpha
Alpha Tau Omega
Delta Sigma Phi
Phi Epsilon Kappa
Phi Kappa Theta
Phi Sigma Kappa
Zeta Beta Tau


If I missed any, my apologies.

BTW - with google map, you can actually "drive" down Founders Road these days and see pictures of several of the HQs. Just move the little dude in the upper left corner on the directional arrow to the street, and the view changes to pictures.

[DoctorD]

and clearly we were researching at the same time.

Some incentives were offered, I understand, for so many to end up in Indianapolis.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by alphagamzetagam

I have no idea - that was the yellow pages listing when I typed in "Fraternity and Sorority HQs in Indianapolis, Indiana"

(Unless that was an Earp reference...)

LOL. no. Per their website, Lambda Chi is on Founders Road in Indy.

As for who has their HQ where they started, I know about these:

Sigma Nu and Kappa Alpha Order are in Lexington, VA
Kappa Sigma is in Charlottesville, VA
Sigma Phi Epsilon is in Richmond, VA
Beta Theta Pi, Phi Delta Theta, Phi Kappa Tau and Delta Zeta are all in Oxford, Ohio

[ISUKappa]

No. Founded in Monmouth, Illinois, about 30 minutes from the Iowa/Illinois border. Headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio.

From the Kappa website:

Kappa Kappa Gamma was the first of any women’s Greek letter organization to establish a central office and the first to purchase a permanent headquarters building. By vote of the 1922 General Convention, the offices of Grand Secretary, Grand Treasurer, business manager of The Key, Custodian of the Badge and Director of the Catalog were combined into a salaried position called Executive Secretary.

Della Lawrence Burt, Texas, was elected Grand Secretary in 1920 and was appointed Executive Secretary in 1922. The first central office was a room in Della’s home in Bryan, Texas, and moved with her family to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1926.When Della resigned in 1928, she began training her successor, Clara O. Pierce, Ohio State. Clara brought Kappa Kappa Gamma to its current home in The Discovery District in Columbus, Ohio, and moved all equipment and records into three rooms of the Ohio State Savings Building, where Fraternity business would be conducted for the next 23 years.

Property in Columbus’ business area was scarce and expensive, but in 1950, Clara recognized the potential of a large but dilapidated historic mansion that had become available at 530 East Town Street, within walking distance of downtown. At Clara’s suggestion, in 1951 the Finance Committee recommended buying the property, and the Fraternity made the purchase at a price of “$1 and other considerations.” The building has undergone several renovations – extensively after a fire in 1965 and most recently in 1994. The offices of Kappa Kappa Gamma (including the Heritage Museum) occupy nearly 14,000 square feet.

[Benzgirl]

Yes, there are special tax incentives for GLO headquarters in Indy. I don't know exactly what they are, but it is similar to insurance companies all flocking to Vermont for incorporation and many large corporations incorporated in Delaware.

I sure would like to know why KKG and DG both ended up in Columbus though. Ohio loves to tax everyone and everything.

[rufio]

Originally Posted by DoctorD

oh yes. It is amazing to drive down Founders Road and see a number of them.

On Founders Road:
Alpha Gamma Delta
Alpha Xi Delta
Kappa Alpha Theta
Sigma Kappa
Zeta Tau Alpha
Delta Upsilon
Theta Chi

i was just there for the first time last month.