KU News Release

LAWRENCE — To raise funds for scholarships and philanthropic projects, the University Women’s Club and the greek community at the University of Kansas are uniting to offer tours of historic campus fraternity and sorority houses.

Tours of 11 greek houses will be offered from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21. Tickets are being sold at HyVee, 4000 W. Sixth St., and by chapter members. They also will be available for purchase Nov. 14 at the Kansas Union.

The homes featured on the tour are regarded as some of the most beautiful greek houses in the nation. This is the first opportunity in recent history that the public has been invited to get an “inside look” at these historic gems.

The University Women’s Club is a 110-year-old organization with a rich history of service to many community and university projects. The group has given scholarships annually to KU women since 1915, the longest continuous awards program at the university.

KU has 43 greek chapters. The first chapters were established at KU more than 135 years ago. The chapters are involved in campus and community projects, and each sponsors one or more philanthropic funds.

For ticket information and maps, e-mail TourdeGreek09@aol.com or visit the University Women's Club Web site.

The tour will include

— Alpha Delta Pi sorority, 1600 Oxford Road, established its Tau chapter in 1912 at KU. The chapter’s current house was built in 1953.
— Beta Theta Pi fraternity, 1425 Tennessee St., established its Alpha Nu chapter in 1873 at KU, making it the oldest campus fraternity. Since 1913, the chapter has resided in the former home of John Palmer Usher, who served as President Lincoln’s secretary of interior. The mansion was built in 1873 and placed on the National Historic Register in 1976.
— Delta Chi fraternity, 1245 W. Campus Road, established a chapter at KU in 1923. The chapter house was built in 1929 and has undergone several renovations. The large stone chimney at one end of the living room is part of original 1929 construction.
— Delta Delta Delta sorority, 1630 Oxford Road, founded its Theta Omega chapter in 1945 at KU.
— Delta Gamma sorority, 1015 Emery Road, chartered its Beta chapter in 1941 at KU. The chapter’s pillared colonial mansion originally housed a men’s fraternity. It was built next door to the historic governor’s mansion that houses KU’s Sigma Nu chapter.
— Kappa Alpha Theta sorority’s Kappa chapter, 1433 Tennessee St., resides in a 72-year-old Georgian colonial-style house constructed to house about 30 members. The house has been enlarged over the years to house 96 members and a house mother. The sorority’s first chapter house was constructed in 1912 at 1116 Indiana St.
— Pi Beta Phi sorority, 1612 W. 15th St., established its Alpha chapter in 1873, making it the first sorority at KU. In 1906, it became the first chapter to have a house constructed on campus at 1245 Oread Ave., an area now occupied by the Mississippi Street parking garage. By 1914, the chapter had outgrown its first house and moved to 1246 Mississippi St. The chapter moved into its current house in 1962.
— Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, 1301 W. Campus Road, chartered its Alpha chapter in 1903 at KU. In 1917, it became the first fraternity with its own house on campus. The chapter house remains on the same site but was replaced and doubled in size in 1969.
— Sigma Chi fraternity, 1439 Tennessee St., formed a KU chapter 125 years ago and constructed its house in 1930.
— Sigma Kappa sorority, 1325 W. Campus Road, established its Xi chapter in 1913 at KU. Since the mid-1950s, the chapter has been in the former residence of Fred Ellsworth, who led KU’s alumni association from 1924 to 1963. The chapter was originally located at 1247 Ohio but in 1924 became the first sorority at KU to build a new house at 1645 Edgehill, now home to Sigma Delta Tau sorority.
— Sigma Nu fraternity, 1501 Sigma Nu Place, established its Nu chapter in 1884 at KU. Since the 1930s, the chapter home has been a mansion that once belonged to Walter Stubbs, who served as Kansas governor from 1909 to 1913. Some in the fraternity think the house is haunted by the ghost of a former servant and alleged mistress of Stubbs who hanged herself in the house in 1911.