Daily Illini, April 26, 1914

In honor of Founder's Day 2012, here is the oldest published notice of our fraternity. 

In 1964's Jubilee issue of The Archi, Leo Bauer recounts that when leaving the Hotel Sherman on Easter Sunday April 12, 1914, he and Chandler Cohagen pledged not to divulge the results of their negotiations until the next regular meeting of their respective chapters. That meeting would not be held immediately. At Illinois, classes would not resume until Tuesday afternoon (4/14). Arcus probably met next later that week (perhaps old minutes could be uncovered). Imagine trying not to spill that exciting news to the brothers you see in the house and studio for better part of a week!

It would not be until two weeks later until the Daily Illini bore the first published announcement of the new fraternity on April 26, 1914.

The unfamiliar chapter name was misprinted as "Anthemia," much to the amusement of the primary author of this blog, who has used the term as an email and Twitter handle for years.

Near the top of the list of faculty names is, Professor Loring H. Provine, who was acting head of the Architecture Department at the time. Provine would serve as department head until 1948.

The complete issue of the Daily Illini is available in the university libary's online archives. It's an interesting artifact of college life in 1914. Just looking at the top of page 1, we see one institution starting while another takes a final bow, worries about possible war with Mexico, and a discobolus named "Butt."

May 15, 1924, Volume 5, Number 8 - Additional

For Memorial Day, The Archi published the names of all deceased members of Alpha Rho Chi. With only 13 names, it is also a reminder of how young the fraternity was at this time.

Prof. Louis Holmes Boynton of Iktinos was the most recent entry on this list. His obituary appears on page 6. Initiated in 1914, it's apparent he didn't consider his membership as merely "honorary."

Since no photo of Boynton appears in The Archi, here's one taken from the Michiganensian yearbook of 1916 (click to enlarge). The caption attests to his connection with students across the department.

March 15, 1924, Volume 5, Number 6 - Additional

Here's a postscript on the March 15 issue. Iktinos starts its report on page 3 with the following.

Friday night, Feb. 29, Iktinos held the annual spring initiation, at which time six new men were taken into membership. They are Brothers Russell Radford, Edward Hull, Roy Fleming, Walter Thompson, Theodore Wright and C. Taylor Miller.

I found them in costume on Flickr with a few friends!

Titled "APX Pledges 1923-24," three brothers were tagged for identification. Edward Hull is on the lower left. Roy Fleming is 3rd in the back row wearing stripes; 6th from left is Russ Radford.

Photo source:

flickr.com/photos/31303631@N00/ CC BY-NC 2.0

April 15, 1924, Volume 5, Number 7 - additional

Laura invited me to be a contributor to this blog, and I'm happy to join the party. (And not just mutter comments to a fern in the corner.) Since this is my second time through, I'll follow our hostess' lead as we waltz through history and let her set the pace. SPOILERS: coat of arms changed, second war in Europe, APX brother dives under North Pole, man walks on moon, chapters at 30+ schools.

In the chapter reports, Iktinos reports:

Our annual Greenwich Village Party was held on March 21-22, as planned. It was the best ever. The decorations were more informal than usual and the spirit of the evening reflected this informality.

This above party photo from Ann Arbor was taken in 1923 or 1924, so it may depict this very party. I'm not sure of the origins of the "Greenwich Village" name, but other issues mention the bohemian bent and artistic character of this tradition. The outrageous makeup on the participants is only rivaled by the extensive decorations that span the entire main floor of the house. Click on the picture for a larger view and marvel at the murals and other decorations.

(File the mural on the left under "(in)sensitive topics." Party over.)

Photo source:

flickr.com/photos/31303631@N00/ CC BY-NC 2.0

April 15, 1924, Volume 5, Number 7

Smith Memorial Hall

So Long Brother Ricker
The bulk of this issue focuses on the passing of Brother and Master Architect Dr. Nathan Clifford Ricker. Great detail is given to his personal biography, as well as professional biography. To be honest, I have read a lot about the man over the years, but I would venture to say that this may be the most heavily detailed account of his life that I have ever read.
Brother Ricker died at age 81, after being stricken by a "sudden attack of apoplexy," which is an old timey broad term that generally means that someone went unconsious and died shortly soonafter. Later, on page 5, it is noted that he, more specifically, suffered a stroke.
There is an account of his memorial serivce, which was held at the Smith Memorial Hall on the University of Illinois Campus. The service was lead by the local Masonic Lodge. In addition, an honor guard from the Knight Templars was also present for the festivities. In tribute to his service to the University of Illinois, Dean K. C. Babcock had many kind words about Brother Ricker's professional life.
Letters of condolence were sent to the Archi by founding brother Leo M. Bauer, and former Grand Council Member Arthur E. Benson.

Welcome Polyklitos!
The final column of page 8 heralds the arrival of another new chapter. The ninth new chapter, to be named Polyklitus is forming at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. We have Iktinos Brother Alfred E. Naser to thank for assisting in forming this chapter.

Prohibition

I can't believe it took this long for it to occur to me that the past few issues of the Archi have been during the Prohibition era of our country! Prohibition took place from 1920-1933 in the United States. It makes sense that the fraternity would make no mention of alcohol, one way or the other, in its national publication. However, on page 2, Mnesicles brother George Dahl writes from London to say:

My best wishes to all our brothers of our dear old fraternity and may they all
prosper. I drink to their health (remember i am not in dry territory.)

Well, Brother Dahl, from this end of time and space, I drink a toast to you as well.

March 15, 1924, Volume 5, Number 6

10 years...
The Archi Staff are in a tizzy because in less than a month, the fraternity will be celebrating its 10th anniversary. Messages from such dignataries as Leo M. Bauer, Chandler C. Cohagen and Lorentz Schmidt send well wishes to the brotherhood in its current state, and waxes nostalgic for its infant days when we were a mere 2 interested parties. As of 1924, the fraternity has grown to 7 national chapters, and 1 soon to join the fray. I picture them each in a drafting smock late at night, carefully drafting these correspondence with fountain pens.

The Grand Council Directory
The bulk of this Archi consists of a directory of all members to-date. this is not the first of these directors to be published, but as someone who is painstakingly entering each name into a database, I can assure you that it's getting ever so long. I admit that it is pretty neat to look at the names and see their addresses. I find myself wondering if these places of residence are still there. So I took a random sample - 1 residence from each active chapter and entered it into google maps - here we go!

Anthemios - Adolf O. Budina: 618 10th St., Wilmette, IL ----BINGO!
Looks like it's still there. A house like this was likely built before 1924, and what a sweet little house it is too.

View Larger Map


Iktinos - Eugene D. Straight: 479 W. Willis Ave., Detroit, MI ----Hmmm..
For some reason google street view hasn't made it to Willis - and it's now being called Willis Street. It looks like the John C. Lodge freeway has been built on this site. Unfortunately, judging from the nearby interesection this is a blighted neighborhood.

Demetrios - Russell M. Krob: 1209 Hamlet Ave., Colmbus, OH ----DOH!
This is seriously the cutest neighborhood, with good old american four-square homes, built one after the other, except it appears that there's a vacant lot where brother Krob's used to be. You'll noticed that a house does comes up when you type in the 1209 but you can see the address number is not 1209. Well, at least you can get a sense of the neighborhood.

View Larger Map

Mnesicles - Howard F. Dunn: 1692 Princeton Ave., St. Paul, MN ----??
Darnit google! They haven't documented this neighborhood using streetview, but it appears that this house is still there. It appears to be a garden-style designed neighbohood, and he homes appear to be built in the late teens to early twenties. If it weren't for all the snow in the wintertime, I'd want to live in this neighborhood.

Kallikrates - W. Merle Brown: 810 Carter Road, Raleigh Court, Roanoake, VA ----So Close..
Once again, I am unable to find the exact house. I think that the homes of this area have been renumbered. I am able to verify the existance of a Carter Road, and this road is within a subdivision called Raleigh Court. According to Wikipedia, "the development of [Raleigh Court] reached its peak in the 1920's, so therefore the residences in this subdivision do fit into our time frame.

Andronicus - Paul E. Willhide: 1200 37th Pl., Los Angeles, CA ----SWEET!
The house appears to still be there. It's been severely remodeled, and currently houses a youth center, but the house is still there. The place is easily within walking distance from the USC Campus. No need to ride the red car.


View Larger Map

Paeonios - Lawrence Byers: 901 Carer Ave., Wichita, KS ---- Whew!
That took a bit of sleuthing - depending on what side of the street had the odd numbers, it was either this quaint little thing, or a PUD apartment complex (for shame). The house is located on a little peninsula of land surrounded by a river, and is not too far from a fantastic little place called the Castle Inn - it kind of makes me want to go to Kansas for the first time in my life.


View Larger Map

November 15, 1923, Vol. 5, No. 2 Part 1

Expansion: 1920's Style.

The early attempts at expansion for this fraternity seems to be dominated by brothers of a certain chapter becoming faculty at another university. The "new" chapters at USC, UVA & KSU were all initiated by faculty members who were brothers at other chapters.
At this stage in the project, less than 10 years since the foundation of the fraternity, we have faculty planted at North Dakota Agricultural College, North Carolina State College, Washington State College (that's right.. in Pullman), Harvard University, Iowa State University & New York University. However, most interesting of all are the brothers who are teaching at the University of Texas in Austin (Raymond Everett, Iktinos,), and Oklahoma A & M College (Joseph J. Patterson, Anthemios, '17).

We have the benefit of knowing that both of these chapters were established in 1925, and on page 3 of this issue, there's an indication that a chapter may be in the works at Texas. Knowing that Cass Gilbert was the master planner at this university and a Master Architect during this time period puts it all into deeper perspective.

For the Betterment...

A curious editorial on page 4 of this issue notes that many of our chapters have been planning events on the Sabbath. What's worse is, they're planning events on Saturday nights that go into the wee hours of the morning, therefore also violating the Sabbath. Tsk Tsk.
No disrespect from me, of course, for any brother or person who is observant of their particular sabbath. I would hate for anyone to sully the fair name of Alpha Rho Chi by holding events on the Sabbath. And Kudos to Mnesicles for instead holding their initiations and "oriental night" on one of the "other 6 days of the week."

oh sweet irony.