How We Got Started

Upsilon chapter started at the State College of Washington (Washington State University) in 1909. Seven co-eds on the campus organized a secret sorority, which they called Theta Kappa. It was the fifth such group, the others being Pi Delta Phi, 1906 (Kappa Alpha Theta, June 1913); Phi Alpha Epsilon, 1908 (Pi Beta Phi June 1912); Sigma Beta Pi 1908 (Delta Delta Delta, Dec. 1918); and Alpha Theta Sigma, 1908 (Alpha Chi Omega, 1915).

At first the Theta Kappas lived in rented houses near the campus. From 1912 to 1915 they lived on the south side of the campus, on the corner of Columbia Ave and Administration Road. This house was on the SE corner across the street from the commons building. It was the home of Ex-President E. O. Holland after he left the President’s residence in the early 1940’s and it has since been moved to the north side of the Colfax Highway, about halfway up the hill west of Pullman.

It was while they lived at this Columbia Street House that Theta Kappa’s fifteen members petitioned and where granted a charter from the national sorority, Alpha Delta Phi, and became the second national sorority at WSU. Those initiated October 5, 1912 into Upsilon Chapter were: Naomi Clark, Dorothy Collyer, Margaret Dickenson, Caroline Dressler, Bertha Engelland, Mabel Fancher, Elva Gray, Verna Hopkins, Elizabeth Jacobson, Beatrice Kitrell, Jess Rogers, Ruth Steere, Harriet Taylor, and Winifred Windus.

In 1915 a house was built for the sorority which by now was called Alpha Delta Pi because the national organization discovered it had the same name as a national fraternity. This new house for Upsilon Chapter was located on the SE Corner of Linden and B Street. It was probably college property because Duncan Dunn dormitory was built there in 1926 and the ADPi house was moved up the hill to the present site of Davis Hall.

While the house was being moved and made ready for use again the girls lived on the SW corner of Maple and Ash Street. This house was the former home of Ex-President E.A. Bryan. It has now been torn down and the area is the Catholic Church Parking lot. The chapter moved back to the Linden Street house during 1927. By 1928 their own new Spanish Stucco house was completed at 609 Linden and this has been their home ever since.

A New Addition

The Next Chapter in Upsilon’s housing was added in 1961, when a new addition or wing was built and the old part changed to make a modern and up-dated building. The 1928 house served thirty eight girls and with the 1961 addition, fifty six could be accommodated. The new wing provided a study hall, a snack kitchen, a better chapter room, several lounges, and a first floor kitchen and dining room.

In the 1990’s a second addition was completed adding more living space and unifying the architecture again while adding a more modern aesthetics.