Overview The Chi Phi Fraternity, as it exists today, is the outgrowth of three older organizations, each of which bore the name of Chi Phi. These organizations were the Chi Phi Society, founded at the College of New Jersey (Princeton); the Chi Phi Fraternity, established at the University of North Carolina; and the Secret Order of Chi Phi, founded at Hobart College.
1824 Princeton Order The first of these older organizations, the Chi Phi Society, which is known in the history of the Fraternity as the Princeton Order of Chi Phi, was established at the College of New Jersey, later Princeton University, on December 24, 1824, by Robert Baird, then a tutor in the college and later a prominent Presbyterian clergyman. Also involved in the formation of this secret Chi Phi Society were a number of faculty members of both college and seminary as well as undergraduates of both institutions. This society ceased to be active in 1825. 1858 Southern Order The second of these older organizations, called the Chi Phi Fraternity and now known in our history as the Southern Order of Chi Phi, was founded at the University of North Carolina on August 21, 1858, by Thomas Capehart, Augustus Flythe, John C. Tucker, William H. Green, Fletcher T. Seymour, and James J. Cherry. All students at the university, they organized this club to perpetuate their friendship and named it Chi Phi Fraternity. They wished to expand, so Chapters were rapidly organized at Centenary, Davidson, Virginia, Nashville, and Cumberland. However, the American Civil War (1861-65) meant the end of all but the parent Chapter. Soon after the war, new Chapters sprang up at Hampden- Sydney, Georgia, Edinburgh (Scotland), Mercer, Emory, Oglethorpe, Trinity, Kentucky Military Institute, and St. John’s. The extinct Chapters at Virginia and Davidson were reorganized. Following the war, however, the University of North Carolina itself was closed, necessitating the transfer of the “Alpha” Chapter title to the Virginia Chapter. While this Chi Phi organization had a constitution and held conventions, the primary authority rested with the “Alpha” Chapter. 1860 Secret Order The Secret Order of Chi Phi, which is now known in the history of the Fraternity as the Hobart Order of Chi Phi, was formed at Hobart College on November 14,1860, by Amos Brunson and Alexander J. Beach, who were both students at the college. Because they were dissatisfied with the fraternities existing at Hobart, they associated themselves with John W. Jones, George G. Hopkins, Edward S. Lawson, Samuel W. Tuttle, David S. Hall, David P. Jackson, William H. Shepard, Harvey N. Loomis, William Sutphen and Frank B. Wilson to found the Upsilon Chapter of the Secret Order of Chi Phi. From Hobart, Charters were soon issued to new Chapters at Kenyon, Princeton, and Rutgers. Source - chiphi.dynamic.omegafi.com
