Chapter History #007: Zeta

Just days after the close of the 1891 Convention, a handful of students at the Woman’s College of Baltimore met with the purpose of joining a national fraternity, adopting the temporary name “Delta Sigma Chi.” After surveying the field of women’s fraternities, two candidates were chosen, and one was Alpha Phi. The students consulted with Dr. Goucher, who supported their efforts wholeheartedly to bring the first women’s fraternity to the new campus, but he left the choice of which fraternity to join entirely up to them. 

In November 1891, two Alpha Phi sisters from the Beta chapter, Cora Allen and Blanche Caraway, traveled to Baltimore to meet with the Delta Sigma Chi members. After spending the day with Cora and Blanche, they made the unanimous decision to apply for a charter from Alpha Phi. Dr. Goucher threw his full support behind the new chapter, offering the college’s Music Annex for the installation and excusing the students from their regular study hall on the big night. 

On December 1, 1891, Cora, Blanche, and another Alpha Phi member, Louise Johnson (Alpha-Syracuse) arrived in Baltimore. Baltimore resident Grace Bramley (Alpha-Syracuse) met them at the station, and together they drove by carriage through the city streets on their way to perform the initiation and welcome their twelve new sisters. Afterwards, they dined at the Mount Vernon Hotel; the toasts and congratulations were full of spirit as the seventh chapter of Alpha Phi, Zeta, was born.