When was the first fraternity

In , Sigma Phi became the first fraternity to establish a second chapter, which it placed at Hamilton College in Clinton, N. In , the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity was founded at the same college.

Delta Kappa Epsilon was founded at Yale in by 15 members of the class of All 15 had expected to become members of one of the then junior societies of Phi Upsilon and Alpha Delta Phi. When some of them were not invited to join, they decided that together they would found a new society.

The 13th chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon was established at Miami in An schism in this young chapter led to the founding of Sigma Chi on June 28 of the same year. The three parent chapters were dormant during the inactivity of Miami University from until , and there were other short periods of dormancy in the cases of Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Chi.

In all three organizations, the number of charter grants has exceeded , and today the Miami Triad fraternities are international in every sense of the word.

The first fraternity to be started in the South, the W. This group later united with Delta Tau Delta. Heath decided to take matters into his own hands and, along with some friends, created the first collegiate Greek-letter society, Phi Beta Kappa.

As a Greek scholar, Heath began a tradition of naming college organizations after the initials of their secret Greek motto. These days, Phi Beta Kappa is an academic honor society, that admits both men and women.

John Heath may have given us the origin of Greek-letter organizations, but the model of modern social fraternities can be traced back to Schenectady, New York at Union College where Kappa Alpha Society was founded in In at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, the first secret society for women was founded. Frank Smalley, a professor at the University. So it is important to note that Greek Organizations truly have become more than just an extracurricular activity, but a way of life.

Greek Organizations have fought for their continued existence throughout all kinds of hardships. Although chapter and member numbers may have fluctuated over time, The Greeks have survived every major period of chaos it has encountered and other tragedies including The Revolutionary War, The Civil War, World War I and II, the Great Depression, The Vietnam War, and the turmoil and upheaval of the 's and 70's, just to name a few.

In the past some Universities have tried to shut them down and some state governments have tried to disband them. Yet the fraternity survives. And it will continue to survive. Fraternities and sororities were established to further the social, scholastic and professional interests of its members. They are mainly associated with colleges and universities. Most fraternities and sororities adopt Greek letters to represent their organization, and as a result they are often referred to as Greek letter societies, or simply Greek organizations.

The word fraternity comes from the Latin word "frater" meaning brother. The word fraternity is often used to described not only organizations comprised of men, but also women. Originally, both groups were called fraternities because that was the only word that existed during the s to describe the type of organization they were.

This may be due to the fact that most of these organizations were originally started by men. This was by the suggestion of their advisor who was a Professor of Latin and thought the word suited them better. The word sorority comes from the Latin word "soror" meaning sister. However by this point, many women's organizations had already been officially and legally incorporated and could not change their name.

Today, many of the older "sororities" are referred to by that name, but may have the word fraternity in their official title.

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