Phi Delta Theta History

The Founding of Phi Delta Theta

As Christmas approached in 1848, the atmosphere on the Miami University campus in Oxford, Ohio was gloomy and uncertain. This was the mood in which Robert Morrison suggested to a close friend and classmate, John McMillan Wilson, that they consider putting together a new collegiate brotherhood.

Morrison and Wilson, thinking in terms of providing a permanent base with growth potential, sought out underclassman that they believed would be dedicated to their cause. Thus, juniors John Wolfe Lindley and Robert Thompson Drake were approached, as were sophomores Ardivan Walker Rodgers and Andrew Watts Rogers, all of whom accepted the concept.

All six men were among the group of Miami students who did not attempt to go home to join their families for the Christmas holidays. Winter travel conditions were difficult and could often prove perilous.

The need for close companionship was evident when the six met the night of December 26, 1848 in Wilson’s second floor room in Old North Hall, directly above Morrison’s room. They firmed up their desire to establish a brotherhood.

They met two nights later in the same room to consider an appropriate motto and constitution. Morrison and Wilson put the consensus of these ideas into the terminology that became The Bond of the Phi Delta Theta. This is the same Bond that every initiate into the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity has since signed.

On December 30, the “Immortal Six” put their signatures to The Bond of the Phi Delta Theta in Wilson’s room. Their names remain a vital part of the rituals that continue today in every chapter room across the United States and Canada. The Bond has remained unchanged from that day to this. So far as it is known, it is the only document of any fraternity of such a character and it is easy to understand the veneration with which all members of Phi Delta Theta regard it.

Today

In over 169 years of its existence, Phi Delta Theta has expanded to over 250 campuses and initiated more than 265,000 men. Today, Phi Delta Theta currently has 190 chapters and colonies and approximately 178,000 living alumni and 100 alumni clubs in the United States and Canada.

The Fraternity operates from the General Headquarters building on South Campus Avenue, across from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

For more history, please visit the Fraternity’s scroll archive at www.phideltathetaarchive.com.