Our History

As an organization, Theta Chi is actually 12 years older than the University of California - Berkeley.

We were founded as the Theta Chi Society on April 10, 1856, at Norwich University, by two military cadets: Frederick Norton Freeman and Arthur Chase. The two met in Freeman’s room of the University’s Old South Barracks, and after taking oaths and declaring each other “true and accepted members” of the Society, Chase was elected President and Freeman was elected Secretary. The next evening, they initiated two more cadets: Edward Bancroft Williston and Lorenzo Potter.

In its first decade, the Fraternity faced a number of challenges. First, because Norwich was a military school, the University lost a large number of cadets to the Civil War between 1861 and 1865. Second, a massive fire erupted on the Norwich campus in the spring of 1866, destroying the Old South Barracks and many of the Fraternity’s historical records that had been kept inside. The University relocated to Northfield, Vermont, shortly thereafter.

After the fire in 1866 there was doubt for a while as to whether or not the University would continue
to operate. Between the aftermath of the war, the fire, and the general uncertainty regarding the
University’s future, enrollment at Norwich dropped dramatically. Norwich opened its doors that fall
with only 19 students. Despite the low enrollment numbers, however, Theta Chi and another fraternity,
Alpha Sigma Pi, flourished.

In 1881, the student body of Norwich comprised 12 students, and Theta Chi found itself with only
one active member, James M. Holland. Holland, with the help of local alumni, managed to keep the
Fraternity afloat by recruiting two new initiates, Phil S. Randall and Henry B. Hersey. Holland is
generally credited with saving Theta Chi from an otherwise likely extinction.

Mu Chapter

Our chapter was the first chapter established west of the Mississippi River. As noted in Theta Chi’s magazine, The Rattle, then National Secretary E. Wesson Clark [Alpha/Norwich 1892] delivered a toast to the alumni and members assembled at Mu Chapter’s Installation Banquet on November 6, 1913:

"The East may be East, and the West may be West,
And Perhaps the twain will not meet
Till earth and sky stand presently
At God's great judgment seat;
But there is a bond which unites both here;
And tonight the current runs high
Pulsing a throb from East to West,
This toast --- 'to Theta Chi.'"

Is there any other chapter history available to insert here?