In a plainly furnished back room of Union College (in the building then known as West College, a simple stone structure occupying the center of a square fronting Union Street, Schenectady, just south of the Central Railroad bridge over the Erie Canal) a party of six men met one May evening, and having quietly among themselves discussed friendship as a power, formed our fraternity, the ties of which now extend throughout all countries and climates

Theta Delta Chi, founded in 1847, is the eleventh oldest of college fraternities. The Founders decided early that the scope of the society should be greater than Union College, and they undertook expansion almost at once. In January, 1849, two of the Founders, Green and Akin, together with the first initiate, Francis E. Martindale, organized the Beta Charge (later to be called Beta Proteron) at the Ballston Law School in Ballston, New York. The venture aborted two years later when the school itself moved to another location. No attempt was made to pursue it, and the initiated members were placed upon the Alpha rolls. The Fraternity had better luck in the next decade. Gamma at the University of Vermont (1852), Delta at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1853), Epsilon at William and Mary (1853), and Zeta at Brown (1853) were quickly established. Eta followed at Bowdoin in 1854, and in the first move westward, Theta was chartered at Kenyon College in Gabier, Ohio that same year. Three charges appeared in 1856: Iota at Harvard, Kappa at Tufts, and Mu at the University of North Carolina. Iota endured one year and went under because the Harvard faculty, in a state of alarm, prohibited fraternities. Iota was revived in 1885 and lasted until 1916. Kappa enjoys the honor of being the oldest living charge in continuous existence. Three charges were chartered in 1857: Nu at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Xi at Hobart College in Geneva, New York, and Omicron at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. The last charge to be established before the outbreak of the War between the States was Pi at Washington and Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania in 1858, unless we count the mysterious Rho Charge at the University of South Carolina. It may have been organized in 1859, but any records, if they ever existed, must have perished during the War.

Theta Delta Chi has been a pioneer in many fields. It was the first of all college societies to publish a fraternity magazine, The Shield. It was the first to adopt colors (blue, black, and white), and was the first to design and fly a characteristic flag. It was the first to adopt a precious stone (ruby) as well as the first to adopt a patron among the deities of mythology (Minerva, the Goddess of Wisdom, who has since been adopted as the patron goddess of all fraternities). Theta Delta Chi was the first fraternity to adopt the use of a pledge pin, and it was also the first to form an endowment fund. Firsts of Theta Delta Chi : Flag, Colors, Magazine, Patron Goddess, Precious Stone, Fraternity Flower, Pledge Pin, Endowment Fund.

For more information about the history of Theta Delta Chi and much more click HERE