Phi Gamma Delta – Kappa Rho Chapter History
It all started with Abe Lincoln in 1862 – signing a land grant bill. In 1887 the Rhode Island General Assembly accepted the grant. With the involvement of some Washington County men (one being a Phi Gam from Denison College – Arthur Peckham) these individuals convinced the General Assembly to purchase the 140-acre Watson farm for the college location.
The first meeting of the Board of Managers for the new school was July 30, 1888 in a corn crib in back of the Watson homestead when a key to the Watson house could not be located. Interesting fact is that this corn crib was located on the property of our current chapter. Our historical ties with the Watson house are very interesting. Tunnel in all.
The first buildings on campus to be built were the Taft laboratory, South Hall, and Davis Hall to name a few.
On May 19, 1892 the Rhode Island College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts was created.
The students celebrated this by firing a cannon. It withstood the firing at noon and midnight, but at sunrise the cannon blast; busted its throat. This historic cannon has a name, its name is “Ben Butler” and is located in the south west corner of the quad. Historians say that the cannon will fire again once a virgin graduates from URI.
In 1895 the Watson house became the first dormitory for women.
1908 the president of the college, at that time; was a strong believer of the Fraternity System he helped to start Rho Iota Kappa (Chi Phi), then Sigma Delta – (Theta Chi) and in 1910 after they got the bugs out and knew what they were doing they started the best group Beta Phi (Phi Gamma Delta). 1909 the state changed our college name to Rhode Island State College.
From 1910 to 1913 the first home of our fraternity was the Watson house, the oldest college building on campus.
1913 the college granted permission to the fraternity to own houses. Beta Phi was the first to buy and own and a chapter house, Graduates might remember this building as the Sigma Nu house, it now has been knocked down to make room for the URI foundation.
Then came World War I, Beta Phi took pride in having 56 men take an active part in the struggle, unfortunately we lost 4 good men in that war.
I give a lot of tribute to our alumni group and undergraduates leaders in the early 1930’s. Beta Phi Brothers were the first fraternity to build a fraternity house. They built our current chapter house on Alumni Ave, in 1932 we moved in to this chapter house. It was a model fraternity house before its time, and a quick 13 years later, we were the first fraternity to burn their mortgage.
In 1967 the back side of the house was added to give our chapter the largest and most impressive fraternity house on the URI campus.
During World War II our chapter house was used as the Student Union, and once again Beta Phi sent men to serve in active duty. Of whom 5 made the supreme sacrifice.
The mid to late 1940’s, around WWII, was a hard time for fraternity a lot of groups went under. It was a hard time for Beta Phi and everyone else.
Because of the hard times; the Beta Phi Graduates and Undergrads saw the benefits of being affiliated with a national fraternity and choose Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity.
On Dec 9,1950 the 81st chapter of Phi Gamma Delta was chartered. Many of the Beta Phi graduate brothers came back to be initiated into Phi Gamma Delta. 1951 College name was changed to University of Rhode Island
We had brothers serve in Vietnam and the Middle East. I’d like to get a list of these members. We lost Kenneth “Brad” Goff Jr. MIA in Vietnam.
The URI campus went through a lot of changes during the 1960’s – 70’s. Chapter sizes were all over the place. When the fraternity needed new members Kappa Rho seemed to step to the plate and recruit young men with our values.
Kappa Rho was lucky to have had the beloved Mrs. Dorothy Noble for over 30 years as our House Mother. Our second Mom was a special lady to her Fiji’s boys.
Our Chapter shined in Community Service / Charity fund raising events: Run to Brown (Cystic Fibrosis Foundation), Jump Rope for Heart, Project Sunrise, Pumpkin Carving for Seniors Citizens, Habitat for humanity, Toys for Tots, Thanksgiving Food drives, Handi -Van, Blood drives, Alumni Phone-a-thon, raising money for Watson House, Fiji Freeze, etc….
In 2000 we celebrated our 50th anniversary of being a Phi Gamma Delta chapter with a large celebration.
We lost our charter in 2001. The House Corporation regrouped and rented the chapter to female boarders. With the help of the International Fraternity, we re-colonized in the fall of 2004. It was good to have a group back on campus. We re-chartered 3/2/2007 at the Whispering Pines Conference Center. Many of our graduate Brothers came back for this celebration.
At our 2010 Pig Dinner the Kappa Rho brothers celebrated our 100 years of being a fraternity at URI.
A lot of prominent and successful Fiji’s can attribute their success from the time spent at Kappa Rho and the bonds with their Phi Gam Brothers. These men developed with the values and leadership of the fraternity to become very successful leaders of our society.
