Oldest fraternity

[UNFSigmaChi]

Its the Union Triad and Miami Triad that are the oldest. Miami Triad consists of Beta Theta Pi, Sigma Chi, Phi Delta Theta.
Union Triad consists of Kappa Alpha, Sigma Phi and Delta Phi...i could be wrong on delta phi but i think im right.

[BrianMUDU]

Being a MU student, I'm familiar with the Miami Triad. Beta was 1839, Phi Delta in 1849, and Sigma Chi in 1855.

Delta Upsilon, the sixth oldest fraternity, was founded in 1834 at Williams College.

Our manual, The Cornerstone, has a chronological listing of general college fraternities. The first listed is Kappa Alpha Society, Nov 26 1825. Then Sigma Phi, Delta Phi, Alpha Delta Phi, Psi Upsilon, Delta Upsilon, Beta Theta Pi, Chi Psi, Delta Kappa Epsilon, Alpha Sigma Phi, Delta Psi, Zeta Psi, Theta Delta Chi, Phi Gamma Delta, Phi Delta Theta, Phi Kappa Sigma, Phi Kappa Psi, Chi Phi, Sigma Chi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Theta Chi, Delta Tau Delta in 1858, and so on...

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Brian Sejas
VP-Public Relations
The Miami Chapter of Delta Upsilon
http://www.mudeltau.org

[CamiloDU]

Originally Posted by BrianMUDU

Being a MU student, I'm familiar with the Miami Triad. Beta was 1839, Phi Delta in 1849, and Sigma Chi in 1855.

Delta Upsilon, the sixth oldest fraternity, was founded in 1834 at Williams College.

Our manual, The Cornerstone, has a chronological listing of general college fraternities. The first listed is Kappa Alpha Society, Nov 26 1825. Then Sigma Phi, Delta Phi, Alpha Delta Phi, Psi Upsilon, Delta Upsilon, Beta Theta Pi, Chi Psi, Delta Kappa Epsilon, Alpha Sigma Phi, Delta Psi, Zeta Psi, Theta Delta Chi, Phi Gamma Delta, Phi Delta Theta, Phi Kappa Sigma, Phi Kappa Psi, Chi Phi, Sigma Chi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Theta Chi, Delta Tau Delta in 1858, and so on...

------------------
Brian Sejas
VP-Public Relations
The Miami Chapter of Delta Upsilon
http://www.mudeltau.org

Cool! saved me the trouble of getting my Cornerstone.

[ZZ-kai-]

Actually, his answer was wrong - Phi Delt is 1848.

Originally Posted by CamiloDU

Cool! saved me the trouble of getting my Cornerstone.

[KSig RC]

Originally posted by UNFSigmaChi:
Its the Union Triad and Miami Triad that are the oldest. Miami Triad consists of Beta Theta Pi, Sigma Chi, Phi Delta Theta.
Union Triad consists of Kappa Alpha, Sigma Phi and Delta Phi...i could be wrong on delta phi but i think im right.

you're right on delta phi - but it's the KA Society, not the Order usually referred to as KA nowadays - also, Kappa Sigma does date historically to 1400, but the american founding was in 1869, placing it with the other "2nd wave" fraternities around this time, later than the others.

[matthewg]

Originally posted by KSig RC:
- also, Kappa Sigma does date historically to 1400, but the american founding was in 1869, placing it with the other "2nd wave" fraternities around this time, later than the others.

I have heard this story with the origin of KS in the 1400 quite a few times now - but hey, just because you carry a possibly similar name doesn't really mean that that is the founding time of the fraternity (which you don't claim). You would need continuous documents to prove the direct line of connection.... should be kind of hard.
All the European fraternities see their roots in fraternity-like structures (called "bursarii") at Bologna, Prague and Paris universities but none claims to be a direct successor of them, which would be pretty bold.

I would just like to add something here for everybody interested in general fraternity history 101
- I recieved a nice e-mail clarifying things quite a bit and to share it with you:
Kappa Sigma is, if I got that right, sort of an American revival of a secret medieval society in Bologna with the same name and more (I wasn't told what, of course).

[This message has been edited by matthewg (edited March 14, 2001).]

[MrJello]

Just to let you know, I am a member of Phi Delta Theta... we were founded in 1848, not 1849 as previously stated.

[BrianMUDU]

Oops, my bad MrJello, that was my typo.

[KSig RC]

Originally posted by matthewg:
I have heard this story with the origin of KS in the 1400 quite a few times now - but hey, just because you carry a possibly similar name doesn't really mean that that is the founding time of the fraternity (which you don't claim). You would need continuous documents to prove the direct line of connection.... should be kind of hard.
All the European fraternities see their roots in fraternity-like structures (called "bursarii") at Bologna, Prague and Paris universities but none claims to be a direct successor of them, which would be pretty bold.

[This message has been edited by matthewg (edited March 12, 2001).]

Matthew - i emailed you -

Otherwise, basically the historical founding of kappa sigma can be linked very convincingly to an organization founded in 1400 - not the current founding, of course, but the historical - for those that care . . .

Rob

[matthewg]

Originally posted by KSig RC:
Matthew - i emailed you -

Otherwise, basically the historical founding of kappa sigma can be linked very convincingly to an organization founded in 1400 - not the current founding, of course, but the historical - for those that care . . .

Rob

Rob, I just edited my mail - I hope that is ok with you and thanks again!!

[Zeta Psi UConn]

Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America, Inc. was founded on June 1, 1847 at NYU