The Chi Phi Society
It was on December 24, 1824, that the first Chi Phi Society was born at Princeton University, then known as the College of New Jersey. This date marks the formation of the first Greek social fraternity, making Chi Phi the oldest social fraternity in existence today. This was started by Robert Baird and is now referred to as the Princeton Order of Chi Phi. This society continued until 1825 when this branch ceased to be active. Thirty years later, John MacLean Jr. found information outlining the original Princeton Order amongst the papers of his uncle, the President of Princeton University. With this he was able to recreate the Chi Phi that ceased to be, and in the fall of 1854 a Chi Phi was reborn at Franklin and Marshall College.
The Chi Phi Fraternity
On August 21, 1858, at the University of North Carolina, an interesting turn of events occurred as another Chi Phi came into existence. This happened independently of the first and was organized by six students to perpetuate their friendship. They called it the Chi Phi Fraternity. This is now known as the Southern Order of Chi Phi. This expanded quickly, but with the American Civil War came an end to all but the parent chapter.
The Secret Order of Chi Phi
Almost two years later in Hobart College, yet another Chi Phi came into existence. On November 14, 1860, two college students, dissatisfied with the fraternities that existed at their college, decided to form their own. And thus formed what is now known as the Secret Order of Chi Phi.
The Chi Phi Fraternity – Today
They all continued on, not knowing of each other’s existence for five years. But fate would lead them all together. In 1865 the Secret Order of Chi Phi and the Chi Phi Society at Franklin and Marshall College learned of each other. Two years later, the two societies formally united, creating the Northern Order of Chi Phi.
Also in 1865, the Hobart alumni learned of the existence of a Chi Phi Fraternity in the South. Negotiations started but languished in the post-Civil war era until 1872, when they were restarted. Then in Washington D.C. on March 27, 1874, the two organizations combined. The unified organization inherited their new name, the Chi Phi Fraternity, from the south, and kept the traditions and rituals of the north.
