Chapter History

The history of our chapter dates back to the fall term of 1922 at Tri-State college when a group of young men came together to form the “Four-Eleven Gang.” The name “Four-Eleven” was taken from the address, 411 West Park Street, where most of the members resided. In 1925, they opened the first Fraternity house at Tri-State college. On November 9th, 1927 they changed their name from the “Four-Eleven Gang” to the Greek lettered Fraternity Lambda Phi Epsilon.

Due to their growth in numbers, the members of Lambda Phi Epsilon were looking to expand. To accomplish this feat, they joined a regional Fraternity, and in 1929 they became the Delta Chapter of the Beta Phi Theta Fraternity. Beta Phi Theta was founded by a group of Student Army Training corps at the Milwaukee Normal School in 1917. Throughout its existence, Beta Phi Theta had a total of seven chapters across the Midwest. By 1954, the Alpha and Delta chapters were the only surviving groups still in existence. By 1956, the Delta Chapter was the sole chapter of Beta Phi Theta. The original charter of Beta Phi Theta remains here to this day.

In the late 60’s, Tri-State college enforced the rule that all Fraternities must be a member of a national fraternity. As the sole surviving chapter of Beta Phi Theta, the members began looking for a new Fraternity to join. On March 21st, 1967 we became a colony of Delta Chi. On April 21st, the remaining active members of Beta Phi Theta were initiated into Delta Chi. On May 24th 1969, we officially became the Tri-State Chapter of the Delta Chi Fraternity.