Chronology

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1. Antebellum and Civil War · 1800–1865

2. 1810s
3. 1812
   Founding or opening · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Upperclassmen shut out of the literary societies form the Kappa Alpha order

   When the Dialectic and Philanthropic societies stopped taking juniors and seniors to make room for new members, older students met in new secret clubs, the first being an order of Kappa Alpha.

4. 1850s
5. fall 1851
   Founding or opening · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Phi Gamma Delta's Epsilon chapter forms at the university

   Defying the trustees' ban on secret societies, the Epsilon chapter of Phi Gamma Delta organized in the fall of 1851, months after Delta Kappa Epsilon.

6. early 1852
   Founding or opening · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Beta Theta Pi charters its Eta chapter at the university

   The Eta chapter of Beta Theta Pi was chartered in early 1852, the third fraternity at Chapel Hill.

7. 1859
   Closing or ending · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Beta Theta Pi's Eta chapter goes inactive

   After a strong start the Eta chapter lapsed in 1859 as the Civil War approached.

8. Reconstruction and the New South · 1866–1899

9. 1870s
10. 1877
    Founding or opening · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Phi Kappa Sigma is rechartered at the reopened university

    Although the trustees still discouraged fraternities after 1875, Phi Kappa Sigma regained its charter in 1877 and met in secret, often off campus.

11. 1879
    Founding or opening · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Alpha Tau Omega charters a chapter at the university

    Alpha Tau Omega received a charter at Chapel Hill in 1879, while fraternities were still barred and met out of sight.

12. 1880s
13. 1881
    Founding or opening · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Kappa Alpha charters a chapter at the university

    Kappa Alpha was chartered at Chapel Hill in 1881, four years before the trustees lifted the ban on fraternities.

14. 1884
    Founding or opening · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Beta Theta Pi is reestablished at UNC and takes in the Mystical Seven chapter

    The Eta chapter was revived in 1884, absorbing the Star of the South chapter of the Mystical Seven, once the strongest fraternity in the South.

15. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

16. 1900s
17. 1900
    Statistic or record · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Fraternity members make up about 18 percent of UNC students

    In 1900 the university counted 93 fraternity men against 419 non-members, yet the fraternities ran much of student life, including the athletic association that published the Tar Heel.

18. 1901
    Publication, speech or performance · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill The Yackety Yack replaces the fraternity-sponsored Hellenian as UNC's yearbook

    The Hellenian, the yearbook put out by the fraternities, gave way in 1901 to the Yackety Yack.

19. 1904
    Founding or opening · Fraternity Row, northwest corner of the UNC campus, Chapel Hill Kappa Alpha opens its chapter house near the campus

    Chapters had begun leaving the dormitories in the 1890s, renting houses before they built them; Alpha Tau Omega had a chapter house by 1893. Kappa Alpha's house of 1904 began the row of fraternity houses near Franklin and Columbia streets that became Fraternity Row.

20. 1905
    Construction or physical change · Fraternity Row, UNC campus, Chapel Hill Beta Theta Pi builds a house on the original Fraternity Row

    The Eta chapter put up its first house at the edge of campus on Fraternity Row in 1905, which brought the chapter a run of growth until World War I.

21. 1920s
22. early 1920s
    Law, policy or court · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill UNC separates the student council presidency from the senior class presidency

    Other fraternities, angry that Beta Theta Pi held the top campus offices, won the creation of new posts, among them a student council president separate from the class president.

23. 1923
    Construction or physical change · Fraternity court, South Columbia Street, Chapel Hill Delta Kappa Epsilon completes the first of the large new fraternity houses

    In the move off the old campus row, DKE finished the first of the big Colonial Revival chapter houses in 1923; Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Sigma Chi soon followed, and the South Columbia Street court had five houses by 1926.

24. May 28, 1925
    Property or economic transaction · Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House, 114 South Columbia Street, Chapel Hill George Pickard's heirs sell their Columbia Street house and lot to Beta Theta Pi

    The fraternity paid $25,000 for the late George Pickard's house and large lot, a private parcel off the university courts that later let it build a bigger house with a deep lawn.

25. September 1925
    Property or economic transaction · Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House, 114 South Columbia Street, Chapel Hill Beta Theta Pi sells its Fraternity Row house to Delta Sigma Pi and moves into the Pickard house

    The chapter sold its old house to Delta Sigma Pi and put twenty members in the Pickard house on Columbia Street while it planned a new building.

26. 1926
    Construction or physical change · Pi Kappa Alpha house, Chapel Hill Pi Kappa Alpha builds a $35,000 chapter house designed by Atwood and Nash

    Pi Kappa Alpha put up a new house in 1926 for about $35,000, one of the fraternity houses drawn by the university's architects Atwood and Nash.

27. 1927
    Construction or physical change · Phi Kappa Sigma house, Chapel Hill Phi Kappa Sigma builds a $45,000 chapter house

    Phi Kappa Sigma spent about $45,000 on a new house in 1927 during the fraternity building boom that also eased campus housing.

28. 1927
    Property or economic transaction · Patterson property, Cameron Avenue, Chapel Hill Zeta Psi, Kappa Alpha and Kappa Sigma jointly buy the Patterson property on Cameron Avenue

    The three fraternities bought the Patterson land together to lay out a second fraternity court; Kenneth Ellington later designed the Kappa Alpha and Kappa Sigma houses there with Arthur Nash's advice so they matched Zeta Psi.

29. fall 1928
    Appointment, election or service · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill The fraternity slate wins 28 of 30 elected campus offices

    In the fall 1928 elections the fraternity political machine carried twenty-eight of thirty posts, making its hand-picked "frame-up" slates impossible to deny; a backlash followed but the machine survived.

30. 1928
    Law, policy or court · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill UNC lets fraternities pledge freshmen in their first weeks

    Until 1928 students could not join a fraternity before their sophomore year; the new rule let houses pledge freshmen on arrival and strengthened the fraternity grip on campus elections.

31. September 28, 1929
    Statistic or record · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill The Daily Tar Heel counts 31 fraternities with over 900 members and $500,000 in property

    By the end of the 1920s about a quarter of UNC students belonged to one of thirty-one national fraternities, whose houses and land were valued at around half a million dollars.

32. 1930s
33. 1930
    Construction or physical change · Alpha Tau Omega house, East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill Alpha Tau Omega builds a Tudor Gothic house on East Franklin Street

    Architect Courtland Curtis designed Alpha Tau Omega's house on East Franklin Street in Tudor Gothic, one of the few big fraternity houses of the era not in the Colonial Revival mode.

34. 1930
    Construction or physical change · Kappa Sigma house, Cameron Avenue fraternity court, Chapel Hill Kappa Sigma builds a $35,000 house on the Cameron Avenue fraternity court

    Kappa Sigma's new house, designed by Kenneth Ellington to match its neighbors on the Cameron Avenue court, cost about $35,000.

35. 1940s
36. during World War II
    Construction or physical change · Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House, 114 South Columbia Street, Chapel Hill Beta Theta Pi and other fraternity houses quarter Navy trainees

    While the university served as a naval training center, many fraternity houses, the Beta house among them, were used to lodge midshipmen, which held back chapter growth until the war ended.

37. Civil rights era · 1945–1975

38. 1960s
39. 1962
    Construction or physical change · Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House, 114 South Columbia Street, Chapel Hill Beta Theta Pi builds a social hall annex and remodels its house

    In 1962 the chapter put up a frame social hall behind the house, enclosed the porte cochere, raised the south wing to match the north wing, and replaced the main stair.

40. Recent decades · 1976–2026

41. 1990s
42. 1996
    Law, policy or court · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill A chancellor's task force recommends sprinklers and alarms in every fraternity and sorority house

    After the Phi Gamma Delta fire, the Chancellor's Committee on Greek Affairs Fire Safety Task Force reported that all Greek houses should have sprinkler systems and alarms.

43. 1997
    Construction or physical change · Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House, 114 South Columbia Street, Chapel Hill Beta Theta Pi alumni begin renovating the chapter house

    Following an alumni capital campaign, work began in 1997 to bring the 1929 house up to code while keeping its plan and original materials; architect and Beta alumnus Arthur Cogswell Jr. led it, and the Betas were the first fraternity to add a sprinkler system after the 1996 fire.

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Compiled and maintained by the Friends of the Orange County Public Library from county records, the sources named on each card, and the index’s event pages. Last updated October 4, 2026.