HISTORY

National History

In 1905, ten undergraduates at Middlebury College, in Middlebury, Vermont, realized that the social organizations available there were lacking in the strong ties between members that were the basis for the earliest fraternities. These ten fellows, all members of the Commons Club, a loose-knit social organization at Middlebury, met at 14 Old Painter Hall and decided to create a new fraternity dedicated to the ideals of truth, justice and virtue. Our founders wanted to develop an atmosphere that was nurturing of excellent moral character, dignity, gentlemanly conduct, and leadership as well as academic success and the strong ties of brotherhood that brought them together. The result was Kappa Delta Rho.

Local History

At Williamsport Dickinson Seminary (then a preparatory school, now Lycoming College) in Williamsport, PA., the Alpha Chapter of Theta Pi Pi was organized. In the original Theta Pi Pi Constitution 593 brothers inscribed their names. Originally largely a literary society, Theta Pi Pi soon developed into a social union, devoted to stimulating among its members the highest possible levels of achievement in all their endeavors.  By 1920, chapters had been established at Bucknell Academy, Kiski Preparatory School and East Liberty and Shadyside Academics.

     A library of nearly two hundred books was established at Alpha Chapter; many of these volumes are today retained in the John W. Long Memorial Library at Lycoming College.  Charter members of the founding of the fraternity were Robert J. Allen, Thompson M. Hoover, John H. Kinsloe, George J. Koons, Ellis F. Olmstead, Charles B. Piper, E. Foster Piper, J. T. Runyon, Ernest Truax and James Wolf.  Inactive only during World War II, Theta Pi Pi at Lycoming owes much to the Rev. Harry C. Stenger, alumni secretary, who kept the chapter alive during the war and was the great help in its re-activation in 1946.

With the growth of the seminary into a junior college and, in 1948, into a four-year college, Alpha Chapter of Theta Pi Pi began to think of national affiliation.  In the summer of 1951, C. Scott Wilhelm and Paul Sabin made a contact with Kappa Delta Rho and on September 3, 1951, Theta Pi Pi became KDR’s Psi Colony.  For a year and a half the Colony worked to prove itself to the National, and on May 30, 1953, under the untiring sponsorship of  Iota Chapter, the Colony was chartered as Psi Chapter of Kappa Delta Rho.

     In the time since Psi was chartered, the chapter members have been unusually active in leadership of the Student Government, the religious activities, and the Interfraternity Council at Lycoming.  Living in a section of one of the college dormitories until 1955, the Chapter in the Fall of that year moved into a college owned house which the group can call its fraternity home.  Although still new as KDR to Lycoming and Williamsport, Psi looks forward to assuming a very active role in its local and national responsibilities.