United Order Celebration
Tampa, FL
March 21-23, 2025
Join us on this special weekend as we celebrate the legendary United Order of 1874.
Friday, March 21
Kick off the weekend with a Brotherhood event. Details and logistics for this event will be available soon.
Saturday, March 22
We are hosting a cocktail reception that will include heavy hors d’oeuvres. There will be a history presentation, archival display, commemorative program, and remarks by the Grand Alpha. Each guest will receive a special gift as well as a limited edition Bicentennial lapel pin.
Stay tuned for event details and registration.
For those traveling to Tampa for this historic event, a hotel room block will be available. Additional details surrounding location and costs will be forthcoming.
Union of the Northern and Southern Orders - 1874
Chi Phi Fraternity
In the early winter of 1865-66, Thomas Bell, Upsilon 1868, learned of the existence of another order in the South using the name Chi Phi when a chance meeting occurred with John R. D. Shepard, a member of the Alpha Chapter at UNC. The two met in New York City’s Union Station upon spotting each other’s similar badges. A union was discussed but the time was not ripe. The Southern Order insisted on the recognition of the Alpha as the parent chapter and also the use of their badge so the subject was dropped. In 1868, after the formation of the Northern Order, Sutphen reopened the subject with the Delta Chapter at Virginia, but the proposal was not welcomed due to the post-war reconstruction climate. Negotiations for a union were stalled until the Northern Order placed chapters at Wofford (Sigma) and Washington and Lee (Nu) in 1871-72. Frank Logan from Nu offered a resolution at the Convention of 1872 to appoint a committee to meet with a committee from the Southern Order, but these committees failed to act. A new committee was authorized consisting of Haskins, Bland, and Bishop from the South, and Sutphen, Hendryx, and Tiffany from the Northern Order, and in Washington, D.C. on May 2, 1873, terms were agreed upon for a union.
A special convention was called for in October 1873 to complete the union but Southern delegates did not appear. In February 1874, the Grand Chapter of the Southern Order appointed Haskins, Watkins, and Brent to a committee with full powers to finalize the union. This committee met with Sutphen and Tiffany at the Willard Hotel, in Washington, D.C., on March 27, 1874, to consummate the union and declare the order united. The Convention in Washington, D.C. on July 23, 1874 representing both Orders ratified this action.
July 23, 1874 representing both Orders ratified this action.
After the union, the lettering of the chapters was modified, each order taking a letter in alternation, the convention became the supreme body, and the Grand Officers in executive charge ad interim. The new body became the Chi Phi Fraternity, from the Southern Order, and the structure, organization, and Ritual were taken from the Northern Order. The symbols of the Southern Order (clasped hands, crossed swords, stars) were to be engraved on the badge which was to be jeweled to denote the colors of scarlet and blue. However, the convention of 1875 removed the swords and hands, and in 1884 the stars were dropped.
Under the articles of union the following chapters formed the Chi Phi Fraternity: Chi Phi Chapter (Alumni of the Northern Order); Alpha, Virginia (formerly Delta); Beta, Muhlenberg; Gamma, Emory (formerly Kappa); Delta, Rutgers; Epsilon, Hampden-Sydney; Zeta, Franklin and Marshall; Eta, Georgia; Theta, Edinburgh; Iota, Mercer; Kappa, Brown; Lambda, Oglethorpe; Mu, Trinity; Nu, Washington and Lee; Xi, Cornell; Omicron, St. Johns; Pi, Kentucky Military Institute; Rho, Lafayette; Sigma, Wofford; Tau, MIT; Upsilon, Hobart; Phi, Amherst; Chi, Ohio Wesleyan; Psi, Lehigh; Omega, Dickinson.
The constitution was further developed and marked a definite division of general laws and chapter privileges. The badge guard of the Southern Order was changed so as to indicate the initial letter of the chapter name. A Grand Lodge (now called Grand Council) was developed and this was the first evidence of alumni representation in the management of the Fraternity. The Grand Lecture became the official interpretation of the unwritten law.
Post-war reconstruction was defined by regional differences. The Union of the Northern and Southern Orders of Chi Phi that occurred in 1874 illustrated the strength of the common ideals that drew the two separate Orders of Chi Phi together. The Chi Phi Fraternity was among the first to put aside political differences and extend the hand of brotherhood after the war.