Delta Tau Delta and Phi Rho Literary Society records

The organization that became Delta Tau Delta was started by fourteen members of the classes of 1893 and 1894 as a non-secret literary society. It was founded in the fall of 1891 and was known as the Phi Rho Literary Society. Phi Rho initially called itself a non-fraternity society with the aim of constituting a brotherhood and cultivating the art of public speaking. The society acquired its first house in 1893 and officially adopted the name Phi Rho. Written records of Phi Rho begin in 1895 and at that point, the society was made up of twenty-five men from the classes of 1895 to 1898. The society was organized with a constitution and by-laws; it was a literary and debating club made up of non-fraternity men, and although it had some characteristics of a fraternity, such as colors (lavender and apple green), it was not yet a college fraternity. At the very beginning of the 20th century (1903), the Phi Rho Literary Society finally established itself as the Gamma Zeta chapter of the national fraternity of Delta Tau Delta, although very little changed. By 1905, the public speaking aspect of the society all but disappeared. The fraternity was located, at various times, in eight different houses all over the Wesleyan campus, with the last being 156 High Street (which as of 2008 houses Wes Wings). Between 1970 and 1978, the chapter was not affiliated with the national organization, but rejoined the national organization for its last few years in existence on the Wesleyan campus. The last active chapter of Delta Tau Delta left in 1989.