Brotherhood
Local History
On October 12th, 1905, 9 WPI students formed Pi Omega Pi. It started as an atletic society and you had to earn a varsity letter before becoming a member.
The first meeting was on October 12th, 1905, in Newton Hall, 2 State Street. Pi Omega Pi also met at the Tech YMCA, Higgins Laboratories, and Bancroft Tower. Initiations were held at Newton Hall.
On October 3rd, 1907, Pi Omega Pi moved to a house on 62 Fruit Street. Eventually many more students wanted to join. Since the current system was too restrictive for this, the members of Pi Omega Pi decided to join a national fraternity.
They petitioned three national fraternities: Delta Kappa Epsilon, Alpha Delta Phi, Theta Chi. The petition to Theta Chi was sent in Febrary of 1909.
On March 11, 1909, Pi Omega Pi became Theta Chi Epsilon Chapter.
On March 20, 1909, the Theta Chi Induction Ceremony was held in the Day Building. On March 23, 1909, the first meeting of Theta Chi Epsilon Chapter was held at 19 Fruit Street.
In 1910, Theta Chi Epsilon Chapter bought it's first house at 1 Lancaster Ave. In 1917 they moved to 85 Salisbury Street. In 1964, the first renovations on the house took place. It was done to accomodate for the growing brotherhood, and it was rebuilt to it's present appearance. 1996 was the second house renovation.
The late 1960s to mid 1970s were hard times for Epsilon Chapter. Heavy drug use was prominent, and rush numbers were very low. To raise money to keep the house, non-brothers were allowed to live in the house, making Epsilon Chapter a boarding house.
In 1975 Eric Paulson and Paul Landino saved the house by turing around drug habits and increasing rush numbers over the following years.
Epsilon Chapter has had a national conference held here on February 19, 1922, and two regional conferences in 1979 and 1990. We recently had another regional conference November 7-8, 2003.
The Local Newspaper of Epsilon Chapter is The Echo. It is published 3 times a year and contains information about the house, active members, and alumni members.
