The Delta Chi Fraternity, Inc. | History

On October 13,1890, "Founders Crandall, Potter, and Sweetland were placed on the Supreme Council and authorized to proceed with expansion plans." At that same meeting, Barnes was appointed to work "Buffalo Law School" for possible expansion due to his association with a student there. The lack of enrollment at the school and the fact that the Phi Delta Phi Chapter there was doing poorly, delayed expansion to that school until later. Building Delta Chi into a true national fraternity began during the spring of 1891.

On April 14, 1891, John Francis Tucker, of New York University, went to Ithaca and earned the confidence and regard of the Cornell Chapter. He was initiated into Delta Chi that night and was sent back to prepare his associates for induction.

Although Stillman remembers Tucker (who was a member of Delta Upsilon) coming to find out about Delta Chi, Wilkinson tells the story with more confidence:

"At first the chapter and the fraternity were the same thing, and there were not separate officers. But in the spring of 1891, in the month of May, I think, we received a visit from John Francis Tucker of New York. We put up a big bluff, and treated him with great formality and instructed him to return to the place whence he came, and make formal application in writing for a charter from our ancient and honorable body. As soon as he departed, there was a hurry call for a meeting to organize a body to which he could apply and it was then that the first general officers of the fraternity, as distinct from the chapter, were elected. I cannot remember for the life of me who they were, except that I was Treasurer."

Wilkinson's contention that the general fraternity wasn't formed until later seems, at least in part, to be verified by the minutes of the April 15, and May 23, 1891, meetings. At the April 15, 1891 meeting, the constitution and ritual were adopted as read, the committee on charters was appointed, and the men traditionally considered the first set of officers ("AA" Owen Lincoln Potter, "BB" John Mil ton Gorham, "CC" George A. Nall, and "DD" Albert T. Wilkinson) were elected. It is interesting to note, in light of Wilkinson's statement about "a hurry call for a meeting to organize a body to which he (Tucker) could apply" is the fact that this April 15 meeting occurred the night after Tucker's initiation. At tha may 23 meeting, the motto, grip, challenge, and the colors were adopted by the fraternity.

One solution to the confusion is the possibility that Delta Chi was originally founded as a national fraternity, but with the pressures of school work and the chapter at Cornell to keep them busy, the Founders allowed the national organization to take a back seat. When Tucker appeared the next spring, the national organization had to be reorganized in order to accommodate the applicant from N.Y.U.

As it turned out, Tucker played a significant role in the development of the Fraternity. In a letter to Johnson dated February 22, 1892, he stated:

The debt which Delta Chi owes Tucker would appear to be larger than previously recognized. In 1892 four more chapters were established, three of which exist today (the fourth -- Albany Law School -- had its charter transferred in 1901 to Union College; the Union Chapter existed until 1994). Twelve chapters were founded within the first decade and on February 13, 1897, Delta Chi became an international fraternity with the installation of the Osgoode Hall Chapter in Toronto, Canada. Delta Chi's first convention was held in 1894 at the Michigan Chapter. By the turn of the century, Delta Chi had grown to ten chapters. The initial years of the new century saw conservative growth and the 1902 Convention (where the White Carnation was selected as the fraternity's flower) authorized the Delta Chi Quarterly. The convention had misgivings. Everybody wanted it, some thought it was an unwarranted risk; no one had the slightest idea how to go about it. Harold White, Chicago-Kent '01 became the first editor and Edward Nettles, Chicago-Kent '00 was the first business manager. In an article in the May 1929 Quarterly, White had this to say:

"No doubt in our innocence, we felt the honor compensated for all the work. That's the marvel of being young and enthusiastic. There was no plan, no adequate appropriation for necessary expenses, no business or editorial policy .... There was not even a list of alumni members. We had to start from a point below zero and from the beginning the jobs of editor and business manager so interwove and over-lapped that it was difficult to say who did what. When it came to all the endless worries and sleepless nights that accompany the launching of a frail bark in unknown waters by two inexperienced mariners it was a joint enterprise and the punishment was inflicted equally."

April, 1903 saw the first issue of the Delta Chi Quarterly published for a fraternity of fourteen chapters and fewer than 3,000 alumni.