OLDEST - Fraternity West of the Mississippi - Fulton, MO
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 38° 50.895 W 091° 57.244
15S E 590763 N 4300456
Historic Greek Chapter at Westminster College
Waymark Code: WMXY2Q
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 03/15/2018
Views: 3
County of marker: Callaway County
Location of marker: Westminster Ave. & W. 6th St., Westminster College, Fulton
Marker erected: April 25, 2015
Marker erected by: Alpha Delta Chapter of Beta Theta Pi
Marker Text:
ALPHA DELTA OF BETA THETA PI
HISTORIC GREEK CHAPTER
The Alpha Delta Chapter of Beta Theta Pi was chartered by its general fraternity on March 5, 1868.
Alpha Delta Chapter of Beta Theta Pi is the oldest chapter of any collegiate fraternity or sorority in continuous existence west of the Mississippi River.
Charles Henry Hardin, "of ever honored memory," one of the eight founders of Beta Theta Pi in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, lived in Fulton from 1843-1860. In 1858, he sponsored the petition for the charter of the Beta Theta Pi Chapter at Westminster College. Brother Hardin secured the approval of the general fraternity for a chapter at Westminster College in 1860, but the actual installation of the chapter was delayed until 1868 because of the local conditions surrounding the college during the Civil War and its aftermath.
Brother Hardin served as Governor of Missouri from 1875-1877. His gravesite is located in Jewell Cemetery in Columbia, Missouri.
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