This is the only known picture of our founders, William Henry Letterman and Charles Page Thomas Moore, taken together. Phi Kappa Psi was founded on their ideals of serving society and a brotherhood. Over 140 years ago, in the college town of Canonsburg, PA, these two founded Phi Kappa Psi while caring for their fellow brethren that were stricken with Typhoid Fever. Through this care, they realized the joy of helping and serving others and founded the fraternity of Phi Kappa Psi that is still based on these morals today. On February 19th, 1852, these men brought together their brethren to found Phi Kappa Psi, and the first chapter was located at Jefferson College, PA.
Phi Kappa Psi teaches her brothers the need and value of education, however unless it is accompanied by the love and service towards mankind, she preaches that a man will become too likely to shrink from the human race, thereby wasting his talents.
Phi Kappa Psi also realizes that a life of servitude alone is a dreary one, a man must actually feel a great love for serving humankind, and embrace his work for those less fortunate.
Pennsylvania Alpha was no sooner established than Charles P.T. Moore left his college in search of other schools in which to spread the principles of Phi Kappa Psi. He first went to Union College, New York, then famous place where fraternities flourished. Finding the field already croweded, he abandoned the idea of establishing a Chapter. From Union he went to the University of Virginia, where conditions where more to his liking, and there established the second Chapter of the Fraternity in 1853. Pennsylvania Alpha, being the original Chapter, claimed to have the final decision in all matters pertaining to the Fraternity although the presence of Charles Moore at Virginia gave that Chapter considerable confidence in maintaining a position equal to the parent Chapter.
At this time, a man by the name of Thomas Campbell was the most active man in Phi Kappa Psi. Born in India, he brough a certain Eastern mysticism to the Fraternity, and changed it forever.
The first Grand Arch council of the Fraternity was held in 1855 in Charlottesville, VA. It was evident here that delegates from Virginia Alpha were the most influential members of the group. The second Grand Arch Council was held in Canonsburg, PA in 1856. Here Virginia Alpha was formally elected as head of the Fraternity, succeeding Pennsylvania Alpha. Virginia Alpha continued as Grand Chapter until the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, when it, together with the other southern Chapters, suspended operations.
At the outbreak of the War between the States during the Civil War, Phi Kappa Psi had a membership of approximately 600, 452 of whom enlisted, and by the end of the war, with a membership meantime of nearly 800, 552 had been in service. 254 served in the Union and 298 served in the Confederate Army. Of this total, 292 became commissioned officers, including three Major Generals, seven Brigadier Generals, ten Colonels and sixteen Lieutenant Colonels. More than 100 of these brave lads joined the eternal ranks of the dead in this war. The late C.F. "Dab" Williams donated to the Fraternity an unidentified, antique, hand-made Phi Kappa Psi badge found on the Hagerstown pike near Gettysburg, Pa., the day after the decisive Civil War battle ended at that place.
After the war ended, there became calls for a change in Fraternity government. At the Grand Arch Council of 1885, there was sufficient strength for the supporters of this change to carry it out. At this Council a special committee was appointed to draft an entirely new system, providing for a strong, centralized Executive Council, the officers of which should be graduates, with undergraduates elected to serve as the heads of each District of the Fraternity. The next year a special Grand Arch council was called in Indianapolis to report upon the new government and its efficiency. The report showed favorably on the new government, and with the exception of a few minor amendments, it is still in place today.
William Wilson was yet another Brother Phi Kappa Psi owes much gratitude to. He was one of the major contributors to the changing of Phi Psi's laws up until his death in 1925.
This is the first ever Phi Kappa Psi house erected in its name, and it still stands today at Gettysburg College. Due to its age however, it is only now used for Chapter meetings and initiations. Today, Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity claims almost 90 Chapters, more than 75,000 initiates, and more than 70 Alumni Associations and Clubs.
