Delphic Fraternity

Gamma Phi - Adelphian - Delphic 

Further research into the formation of the Delphic Society at the University of Rochester confirms that the literary society was founded by some students who previously attended Colgate University and where members of the Adelphian Society. 

According to Colgate at 200, a website dedicted to the bicentennial anniversary of Colgate University, Gamma Phi is noted as being the university's first literary society, which helped pave the way to fraternity and sorority life on the campus located in Hamilton, New York. Gamma Phi Society was founded sometime around 1833 and was incorporated into Adelphian Society when it was founded in 1840. 

The University of Rochster confirms that members of the Adelphian Society at Colgate helped form the Delphic Society at Rochester in 1850. 

Therefore, for the historical record, the Gamma Phi Society at Colgate University founded around 1833 led to the Adelphian Society founded at Colgate in 1840, whose members help form the Delphic Society at the University of Rochester in 1850. The Delphic Society at Rochester is the predecessor organization to the Delphic Society founded in 1871 in Geneseo, New York, that today is known as the Delphic Fraternity. 

Sources: 

http://https://200.colgate.edu/looking-back/moments/early-student-organizations

http://https://rbscp.lib.rochester.edu/interpres/view-issue?y=1901&v=44&p=78

The History of the Delphic Fraternity

Founded in 1871 | Re-Established in 1987 | Dates Back to 1847

The Delphic Fraternity was founded on October 13, 1871; the original formation being the Delphic Society at the Geneseo Normal School, today SUNY Geneseo. During the early 1900s, Delphic became a regional fraternity with seven chapters in New York and one in Pennsylvania.

By the late 1930s, only the Zeta chapter at New Paltz remained officially active. Later in the 1950s the New Paltz chapter was briefly part of the national organization of Sigma Tau Gamma. In 1962, the Delphic Fraternity at New Paltz was incorporated. By 1987, the Delphic Fraternity at New Paltz was re-established as Delphic of Gamma Sigma Tau, becoming the first truly multicultural fraternity founded on the East Coast of the USA.

Since 1987, the Delphic Fraternity has grown to three undergraduate chapters, two alumni chapters, and two professional graduate chapters representing New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, DC. 

Although founded in 1871, the Delphic Fraternity has historical ties to several college literary societies. The Delphic Society at Geneseo (which later became the Delphic Fraternity) was based upon the Delphic Society at the University of Rochester which was founded on November, 2, 1850 and existed until December 1866. 

The Epsilon Chapter of the Delphic Fraternity at the Cortland Normal School (today SUNY Cortland) traces its local origin to the Young Men's Debating Club founded in 1847. 

The Delphic Fraternity was originally founded in 1871 but its history dates back to 1847 making it one of the oldest existing social fraternities in the United States. If we used 1847 as an organizational founding date, the fraternity would be the 16th oldest in the US, according to Wikipedia's list of social fraternities.

We, as an organization, have known of the existence of the Delphic Society at Rochester since the mid 1990s. I, as historian, have looked into the history of the Delphic Society at Rochester and at the time did not see a clear connection between the Delphic Society at Rochester and the one from Geneseo, our alpha chapter. However, recent historical findings have now led us to finally illustrate a link between the two college literary societies, based at locations physically separated by only 30 miles.

The connection came to light with the confirmation of Mr. William J. Milne as a founding member of the Delphic Society at Geneseo in 1871. Professor Milne came from the Brockport Normal School along with students who transferred to Geneseo to become part of the first graduating class. Milne was previously involved with a literary society at Brockport. Milne first experienced literary society debates and exercises while he was a student at the University of Rochester. At Rochester, Milne participated in the last public debate sponsored by the Delphic Society in December 1866. He graduated from the University of Rochester in 1868. Milne was then a member of the teaching faculty at Brockport for a few years before being appointed the first principal of the Geneseo Normal School. The school opened its doors to students in September 1871.

On October 13, 1871, Principal Milne, along with former students from Brockport and new students at Geneseo, founded the Delphic Society at Geneseo. The seminal concept for the Delphic Society at Geneseo was the Delphic Society at Rochester, which was founded on November 2, 1850. This new finding very much supports to the point of confirmation something we have hypothesized about for quite some time. We had a good idea the origins of the literary society predated Geneseo in 1871, but we did not know the exact location of or the time frame for the organizational ancestor of the fraternity.

The Delphic Fraternity was founded in 1871 when the Delphic Society at Geneseo was formed. The literary society at Geneseo however stemmed from a predecessor organization at the University of Rochester founded in 1850.

The Delphic Fraternity was founded in 1871 in Geneseo, NY. It can now trace its origin back to the Delphic Society founded in 1850 in Rochester, NY.

The Delphic Fraternity, 1871. The Delphic Society, 1850.

Delphic of Gamma Sigma Tau Fraternity is proud to announce the official formation of the NYC Professional Graduate Chapter. The new graduate chapter has initiated three new members and looks forward to future events in the NYC area. The organization would like to also welcome two undergraduate associate chapters: the SUNY Delhi Associate Chapter and the Lincoln University Associate Chapter. Our members in Delhi, NY and Oxford, PA are excited to re-establish active undergraduate chapters of our fraternity in the states of New York and Pennsylvania. The future of the Delphic Fraternity is looking bright. Del - phi!

Here are founding Delphic Brothers that make up the NYC Graduate Chapter and the Associate Chapters at SUNY Delphi and Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. (Photo from a joint crossing event in New Paltz, NY, February 2016.)

Here's a close-up shot of a photo taken by Delphic Brother Komain and Little Sister Christina at the SUNY New Paltz Alunni House. Next time you find yourself on campus visit the Alumni House to get a real close-up look at the historic art work.

 The template to the Delphic Fraternity History Homepage has been redesigned. We don't change our template very often, generally trying to stick with a theme that expresses age and history. We would love to hear what you think of the redesign and what you would like to see on the website in the future. Feel free to share your thought by repsonding to the blog post. 

We hope you like the changes. The revamp comes about two weeks after the organization became 142 year old.

Happy 142nd Year Anniversary to the Delphic Fraternity! 

We have added another Notable Delphic Alumni to the Delphic Fraternity Wikipedia Page, thanks for the incredible research conducted by our Brother Eric Guzman. Dr. R. Paul Higgins, Sr. was a prominent physican and higher education officer from Cortland, NY. He was a member of the Young Men's Debating Club, which later became the Epsilon chapter of the Delphic Fraternity. Higgins Hall on the campus of SUNY Cortland is named after Dr. Higgins. A special shout out to the Cortland County Historical Soceity for the wonderful information on Dr. R. Paul Higgins, Sr. and for the copy of his historic photo.

A Wikipedia page was created for one of the Founding Fathers of The Delphic Fraternity: John Beach Abbott. He was a New York attorney, county judge, and Democratic Party leader. For more information about John B. Abbott, visit his Wikipedia Page at: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Beach_Abbott

The Delphic Fraternity was founded in 1871 in the state of New York. The fraternity can trace its organizational history back to the origins of the Epsilon chapter in Cortland, the Young Men's Debating Club formed in 1847. The organization knew the Cortland chapter was a debating club prior to becoming part of the Delphic Fraternity, however the actual founding date of the club was guestimated to be around 1842. An old article found online recently from the Cortland Evening Standard dated April 12, 1895 lists the names of prominent club alumni and confirms its founding year to be 1847. The new information has been added to the Delphic Wikipedia Page and this Delphic Fraternity History Home Page. Historially this is a great find and truly illustrates our organization's rich history. So, The Delphic Fraternity, Inc.: 140 years of brotherhood - 165 years of history.

On October 13, 1871 the Delphic Fraternity was founded as the Delphic Society at SUNY Geneseo. To commerorate the 140th Anniversary of the legendary organization, an update to the Delphic Fraternity history booklet is now available online. To check out the revised version visit the resource/links page of this website. Happy 140th Anniversary to all members of The Delphic Fraternity!