Does your house have a history?

[STL Kappa]

After a little investigating I was amazed to learn about the history of the chapter houses on my campus. Some changed hands (and then changed back), others were built specifically for the chapter they house, some were once plantation houses, others are supposedly haunted. So what's YOUR house's history?

(I hope others are somewhat interested in this as well, otherwise I've started a pointless thread, haven't I?! )

[DeltAlum]

The chapter house where I pledged -- which has since been torn down, was at one time the president of the university's home -- thus the old address, 32 President Street.

There is one sorority house on campus (can't remember which) that was a stop on the Underground Railroad in the 1800's.

(Yes, the university was there then, it was chartered in 1786 and opened in 1804) Of course the house in question was not a sorority house then probably.

[Little E]

My alma mater's had lots of history. Our first house was a Phi Psi house back in the late 1800s. Our current house was Pi Phi from the 1920s.
Kappa Alpha Theta now the campus bar
Tri-Delt is now the Career service office- Their crest is still above the door
KD is now the daycare and their letters are sill on the house and the wrought iron balcony railing.
Sig Chi and TKE are still in their original houses.
Phi Psi had an interesting history, after using the house that eventually became AST they moved to a gorgeous house toward the stadium. Sadly it burned down and still had their crest window in it. (Always wondered why that wasn't removed when they vacated) Then they moved to greek row, across from Beta, then theymoved to the old SAE house, and last year they moved off greek row to also a former SAE house.
DG's house (which was built by the local they absorbed) is now the house for the local which came after they pulled the charter.
Kinda fun- At homecoming we open our house for both our alumnae and the Pi Phi alumnae so they can see what became of their old house. One of them even sent us presents afterwards cause she was so charmed

eta- The greeks (except for TKE's current structre) were all built by the individual orgs and sold to the college for $1. There was something gotten in return, not clear on that though. So the college owns all of our houses and with the exception of AST the greek lease and do their own cleaning and furniture purchase. AST is like a special interest house and we get housekeeping.

[AlphaSigOU]

Here's a history of Alpha Sigma Phi's Alpha Alpha chapter houses since their founding (the chapter is currently inactive):

http://www.ou.edu/student/greek/alph...pterhouses.htm

[ISUKappa]

Here is the quick and dirty about various chapter houses at Iowa State. I would say there are more chapters who had their houses built for them (most are anywhere from 40-90 years old) than those who remodeled regular houses, but there are a few of those as well.

Kappa: The house was purchased from the Baptist church up the street in 1947 -- it used to be their Student Ministry -- and then an addition was built in 1982. For a while there was a rumor floating around it was once a funeral home, but we could never verify that. Supposedly, we are haunted by Annie, a michevious but harmless ghost. At one time in the late '40s, Kappa purchased the lot where TKE now is and even had house plans drawn up. We're all glad we stayed where we are, though, because not only are we the closest house to campus, we're also the closest to Campustown.

Phi Delta Theta: Their original house was on Welch Ave. across from Pi Kappa Phi. It was in disrepair and they moved into the former Alpha Phi house (which was a church before that) during my sophomore year.

Alpha Sigma Phi: Took over and extensively renovated the former Sigma Nu house. Previously they were located on Lynn Ave. in the former ZTA house (which is now apartments, I believe).

Acacia: They sold their house to a Bed and Breakfast operation when they left campus. They recolonized in 2000 and were able to purchase it back.

The former Phi Kappa Tau (located right between FarmHouse and Kappa Sigma in Greekland) house was bought out in the late '90s and turned into apartments.

I don't know if Sigma Pi has ever owned their own chapter house. They lived in Pi Kappa Alpha's old house while they were gone. When Pikes came back to campus, Sigma Pis moved into the Phi Kappa Psi house. When Phi Psi came back, I *think* Sigma Pi moved into Delta Sigma Phi's house (but I'm not positive). If/when Delta Sigs come back, Simga Pi will be out of a house again.

The old Alpha Xi Delta house is now a women's shelter.

When I was on Panhellenic Executive, I found an old Rush booklet from the mid '60s that contained a great hand-drawn map of all the Greek houses. It's so funny to look back and see what chapters used to be on campus and where they were located.

[SurfinDBeach]

Our house was built in 1902. There was a major rumor going around for a while that our house was originally an AIDS Hospice.

People do think the house is haunted, although I don't think the Hospice rumor is true. People hear and see weird things all the time at our house, and it doesn't surprise me.

Although the hospice thing may not be true, there was another story about a girl that died in the house. I have been in the same dark room with a lot of bros when two of them saw the same thing...

Anyway the house has the old style kind of creepy feeling to it - gives it character.

Like I posted in another thread, the Greeks used to have an unofficial Row on Ocean Blvd. in the 50's. They all had beautiful big houses or mansions right on the beach.

Since then, different things have happened, and everyone has relocated (some fraternities are no longer there) except for Delta Zeta, who still has their house a block from the water with a nice view.

Most of the old mansions are still there - and they very much look like fraternity styled structures (with the oillars and such). The old TKE mansion is still there, and we drool everytime we pass by it today on Ocean Blvd.

[lifesaver]

Originally posted by SurfinDBeach
Our house was built in 1902. There was a major rumor going around for a while that our house was originally an AIDS Hospice.

People do think the house is haunted, although I don't think the Hospice rumor is true. People hear and see weird things all the time at our house, and it doesn't surprise me.

I'm really confused by this.

If the virus known as AIDS didnt surface in the US till 1982, how could people think your house, built in 1902 was originally an AIDS hospice?

The only way thats possible is if it was built in 1902 and sat dornant for 80 years waiting to be used as a hospice for a disease that didint exist yet.

And colleges keep admitting these students?

[STL Kappa]

Well since I started this thread I guess it's my turn to post...

Kappa: The first permanent Kappa house was built in 1913 to house 25 women, and the chapter outgrew it by 1926. Several chapters have used the house since and it is home to Delta Sigma Phi today. Kappa bought the lots across the street and built a new house in 1929, a new wing was added to that house in the late 1960s, and it still houses Kappa today. (Both the current and former Kappa house are supposedly haunted.)

Lambda Chi Alpha: Lived in a house that originally belonged to Phi Mu. Lambda Chi Alpha eventually left and the house was supposed to become a home for outpatients of our local veterans hospital. In 2000 it was sold to a veterans' affairs clinic and tenants moved in. But in 2001 Phi Mu returned and moved back into the house. Lambda Chi Alpha also returned and moved into the former Sigma Chi house. (I believe Brad Pitt was a Sigma Chi but I'm not sure if he ever lived in that house!)

Phi Kappa Psi: Built a house in 1916 which they eventually sold to TKE, who sold it to Sigma Pi... and Sigma Pi currently lives there. The current Phi Psi house is a 116 old plantation house that was bought in 1954 and expanded (I think) in 1957.

Alpha Gamma Rho: Had six different homes until finding a permanent residence in 1955. By 1998, alumni became concerned about the house and decided renovating it was not feasible so the house was torn down and a new $2.4 million house ( ) was built in 2001 which currently houses Ag Rho.

Sigma Phi Epsilon: Built their house in 1927 and expanded in 1976. They claim it is " the oldest house built specifically for a fraternity west of the Mississippi River."

Sigma Alpha Epsilon: (This story's my favorite!) During the Civil War, a plantation house near campus was used as a morgue for soldiers. That house was eventually torn down and the SAE house was built on it's foundation. There are constantly stories about ghosts haunting the house, supposedly an entire pledge class quit without explanation after spending the night in a certain room. (Read about it here: http://www.missouri.edu/captions/hauntedh.htm) Whether the stories are true or not, who knows, but every year SAE's philanthropy is a haunted house around Halloween and everybody always loves it!

Pi Kappa Phi: Bought their house from ZBT in 1993, but the house was foreclosed on and Pi Kappa Phi members moved out. (The chapter left as well.) The house stood vacant until it was damaged by a fire, determined to be arson, in 1998. There were two caretakers, hired by the bank to watch over the vacant house and one of them, the last person known to be in the house before the fire, unfortunately committed suicide. It's a bizarre story. The house has since been renovated and is now apartments. (Kind of unusual to see an apartment complex in the middle of Greektown.)

[SurfinDBeach]

Yeah, unforunately, that's what we heard when we pledges.

That rumor has since been shot down by the alumni board... lol...

Although they have said that a girl died in the house... Lo and behold, some of those "weird sightings" and sounds had something to do with a female in a white dress... Pretty creepy if you ask me.

[Betarulz!]

Originally, my chapter owned land just off the corner of 16th and R, with about a 58 foot frontage to 16th street. When the University decided that men's and women's dorms and sorority/fraternity houses had to be on the opposite sides of the street (men on one side, women on the other), we ended up getting a frontage of nearly 90 feet on R Street at the corner of 15th and R. Big difference, and I actually believe that we were forced to trade with Pi Beta Phi, but I'm not sure if they owned the land our house was on at the time. However, their house located on that smaller plot on R Street, so some how they ended up with that land.

The first portion of the chapter house was built in 1926, designed by a Beta architect, I believe from Indiana's chapter. So the house was built exclusively for the chapter. In 1962, an addition was built that moved the kitchen and dining room out of the basement, and added more rooms on the second floor. Originally the roof of the addition wasn't allowed to be converted into a deck, but sometime in the mid to late 70's that changed, and we now have the largest deck on campus.



The Sigma Nu house at Nebraska is supposedly haunted Link

Those are the only histories I know of.

[BSUPhiSig'92]

Years ago, when I was still studying architecture, I did a documentation on our chapter house, but some of the early history was incomplete because early records were lost in a fire. Our house was built on farmland in the 1870s, and was probably the original farmland on the property. The property along Riverside between New York and Wheeling all belonged to one family and was, over the years, gradually parcelled off. The families who subsequently lived there included the County's chief surveyor; the Goddard's who owned a grocery wholesaler, and the Hitchcock's (Mr. Hitchcock was the vice-president of Warner Gear (still existant) and was on the boards of several Muncie banks. He and his wife bought the house and lived there while they built the original Lambda Chi Alpha house (1927). Once that house was finished, their son and his family lived there. The son died young and unexpectedly, possibly in the house. By 1953 it was being used as a boarding house for Ball State students, and our chapter rented it in 1958 and bought it in 1961.

Our chapter dates back to 1926, and rented several houses (all since demolished during University expansion) before buying the house on Fraternity Row. An alum from the class of 1932 once told me a funny story about one of the old houses. The house set across the street from the one women's dormitory in those days, and some of the female residents went to Miss Grace DeHority, the Dean of Women, to complain because they could see the men undressing through the windows of the house across the street. Now, Miss DeHority was instrumental in the founding of our chapter, and was recognized (and initiated) as a member of our local fraternity, so Phi Sigs were "her boys". Miss DeHority went to the women's hall to check on their complaint. Upon looking out the window, Miss DeHority said that she couldn't see into the windows of the fraternity house at all. At that point, one of the girls exclaimed "But Miss DeHority, you're not standing on the chair!!!!"

That one always tickles me!

By the way, our house is haunted, but I've posted that story probably at least 2x.

[FAB*SpiceySpice]

Well I was going to come post about my house but STL Kappa beat me to it. I absolutely ADORE our house and I am so glad that we got it back when we recolonized. My best friend has an album w/pictures of our house when LXA was living there, it was sad to see how trashed the house had gotten but after lots of renovations the house is again beautiful. And even though I haven't lived there in over a year I still try to stop by as often as possible since they are always doing something new around there. Also, there was apparently a girl who committed suicide in the room that we've dubbed the "Farmhouse Suite" and everyone who has lived in that room swears that it's haunted. I wanted to live there but after hearing that (and the fact that it was the most wanted room in the house and only exec members usually got to live there) I didn't even bother to try.

I can't go to SAE's haunted house anymore after I almost had a heart attack there during my junior year when some guy came up from underneath a bunch of hay and random stuff and grabbed my ankles while I was walking through part of it.

I am trying to think of stories about other Mizzou greek houses but nothing is coming to mind at this exact moment...

[Tom Earp]

Originally posted by STL Kappa
Well since I started this thread I guess it's my turn to post...

Kappa: The first permanent Kappa house was built in 1913 to house 25 women, and the chapter outgrew it by 1926. Several chapters have used the house since and it is home to Delta Sigma Phi today. Kappa bought the lots across the street and built a new house in 1929, a new wing was added to that house in the late 1960s, and it still houses Kappa today. (Both the current and former Kappa house are supposedly haunted.)

Lambda Chi Alpha: Lived in a house that originally belonged to Phi Mu. Lambda Chi Alpha eventually left and the house was supposed to become a home for outpatients of our local veterans hospital. In 2000 it was sold to a veterans' affairs clinic and tenants moved in. But in 2001 Phi Mu returned and moved back into the house. Lambda Chi Alpha also returned and moved into the former Sigma Chi house. (I believe Brad Pitt was a Sigma Chi but I'm not sure if he ever lived in that house!)

Phi Kappa Psi: Built a house in 1916 which they eventually sold to TKE, who sold it to Sigma Pi... and Sigma Pi currently lives there. The current Phi Psi house is a 116 old plantation house that was bought in 1954 and expanded (I think) in 1957.

Alpha Gamma Rho: Had six different homes until finding a permanent residence in 1955. By 1998, alumni became concerned about the house and decided renovating it was not feasible so the house was torn down and a new $2.4 million house ( ) was built in 2001 which currently houses Ag Rho.

Sigma Phi Epsilon: Built their house in 1927 and expanded in 1976. They claim it is " the oldest house built specifically for a fraternity west of the Mississippi River."

Sigma Alpha Epsilon: (This story's my favorite!) During the Civil War, a plantation house near campus was used as a morgue for soldiers. That house was eventually torn down and the SAE house was built on it's foundation. There are constantly stories about ghosts haunting the house, supposedly an entire pledge class quit without explanation after spending the night in a certain room. (Read about it here: http://www.missouri.edu/captions/hauntedh.htm) Whether the stories are true or not, who knows, but every year SAE's philanthropy is a haunted house around Halloween and everybody always loves it!

Pi Kappa Phi: Bought their house from ZBT in 1993, but the house was foreclosed on and Pi Kappa Phi members moved out. (The chapter left as well.) The house stood vacant until it was damaged by a fire, determined to be arson, in 1998. There were two caretakers, hired by the bank to watch over the vacant house and one of them, the last person known to be in the house before the fire, unfortunately committed suicide. It's a bizarre story. The house has since been renovated and is now apartments. (Kind of unusual to see an apartment complex in the middle of Greektown.)

WOW, I am not sure on the History of the LXA House that was sold when they got booterd off for Being Stupid, but I do know that We are Renting The Old SX House

Both are Nice Houses as was at the LXA House Years back.


Kuddos on an interesting update.!

U Mo. I think is one if not the Oldest Major State Un. West of the Miss. River!!!!

[adpiucf]

My chapter house was built in 1989 (the chapter was formally chartered in 1982 after 2 years as a local interest colony). For the most part at UCF, all the chapters reside in their original houses... our campus was established in the late 1960's so we don't have any famous tragedies or ghost stories on Greek Row!

Exceptions to the no-chapters-moving-from-house-to-house- rule: Alpha Chi Omega (closed) built a house that Delta Gamma purchased in the early 1980's and then sold to Alpha Xi Delta in 1999. DG is still on-campus, but does not have a chapter house.

Pike has left our campus, and a currently unhoused sorority will be purchasing their house.

I had heard a rumor that the SigEp house at UCF was once the TKE house (TKE is an un-housed fraternity), but I've never been able to confirm this.

[Tom Earp]

The 3 RD.Origninal LX Z Of LXAs House Was Built in 1895, the first House with Electricity in Pittsburg Ks.

It Was Demolished 2 Years ago as was wasted. Old and Tired.

Hell, 30 + years of Young Men Going through it.

Houses are Nice, take care of them! It HELPS!


What Amazes Me is When a GLO Chapter Loses Their Right To Be there then trash the hell out of it?

That House can be rented out, and when The Chapter is Re-Juvinated, they can come back.

So, These Maroons Fu+K it up when they leave? What does that prove?

So those that they rent to dont do the same thing! Swell, Just Swell!