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| Mu Chapter History |
Mu Chapter at Ohio Wesleyan University has one of the most prestigious histories in all of Delta Tau Delta. Any Delt knows the significant role that the chapter at Ohio Wesleyan has played in the history and survival of the Fraternity. Mu Chapter is proud of and celebrates this history.
Delta Tau Delta Fraternity was founded on the Ohio Wesleyan University campus on November 26, 1866 by Cyrus O. French, a representative of a chapter at Ohio University. French traveled to Delaware, and initiated five or six men in a room in the American House, later the Hotel Allen. Founded as Omicron, the OWU chapter at Ohio Wesleyan was one of the first to be granted a charter after the Fraternity's original founding at Bethany in 1858.
In a short time, the chapter became strong on the OWU campus, and just three years after being installed, Omicron took on the "Alpha" designation, acting as the governing chapter of Delta Tau Delta. Only the third chapter to hold this title, the Alpha distinction was then typically given to the strongest chapter of the Fraternity. Omicron took on this designation after the previous Alpha at Jefferson College was reduced to a point that it could no longer function as the governing chapter.
The chapter at Ohio Wesleyan held the Alpha designation until 1875, when it mysteriously disappeared from the campus. Upon its disappearance, Brother James S. Eaton from Allegheny College traveled to Delaware to collect what remained of the records. He discovered little about the loss of the Ohio Wesleyan members, and took the Alpha designation to Allegheny with him.
The chapter survived however, and in 1879, John H. Grove and a select group of underclassmen recruited a new group of strong men and initiated them in his home on Spring Street. It was upon its return that the chapter took on the Mu distinction, which still holds today.
The Brothers of Mu Chapter took an active role in the Fraternity, both locally and nationally. One prominent Mu Brother of the time was Edwin Holt Hughes '89, who took over the editorship of the Delta Tau Delta journal, The Rainbow, in the 1890's. During his role as editor, The Rainbow became one of the leading fraternity journals of its time. Hughes later went on to become Delta Tau Delta International President in 1899, but not before heading a committee which rewrote the Fraternity's Ritual in a form very similar to that used today.
Another Mu Brother made his mark upon history in 1903, in a rich college and Delta Tau Delta tradition. William L. McLaughlin made himself a hero by saving between twelve and fifteen lives while sacrificing his own in the Iroquois fire in Chicago. This story has been repeatedly told in Gray Chapel through the decades, and never fails to strike deep into the hearts of all the students who hear it.
Mu Chapter at Ohio Wesleyan also boasts at least three Methodist bishops, Anderson, Edwin Holt Hughes, and McConnell.
Portions of this history taken from and adapted from Ohio Wesleyan’s First Hundred Years by Henry Clyde Hubbart, and The Good Delt, published by the Fraternity. Used by permission.