About Delta Tau Delta

     Delta Tau Delta was founded in 1858 by eight men at Bethany College  in response to a fixed vote of the Neotrophian Literary Society, in which a prize in oratory was given to someone undeserving of it. Our founders are Alexander Campbell Earle, Richard H. Alfred, William Randolph Cunningham, John Luscious Newton Hunt, Jacob Lowe, Eugene Tarr, John C. Johnson, and Henry King Bell.  Delta Tau Delta had to be a secret society because if the college found out about it, these eight men would surely have been expelled.
     In the following year, charters were given to West Liberty College and West Virginia University.  On February 22 1861,  Rhodes Stansbury Sutton and Samuel S. Brown rode on horses through the night in a terrible snowstorm from Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania to Bethany College to be initiated because the remaining Bethany members were all called to duty in the Civil War.  Sutton and Brown took  the original charter and the Alpha designation back to Jefferson College.  In 1866, the first General Convention was held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and incorporated chapters at Allegheny College, Ohio University, Washington & Jefferson College, Monmouth, and Pittsburgh.
     Since then, over 100 chapters have been created and over 100,000 men initiated into the fraternity.  Gamma chapter holds a special place in the heart of Delt history since our two founding brothers were able to save the fraternity from extinction.  Additionally, Gamma chapter is the oldest Delt chapter in continuous existence.  It has never been closed in 146 years of operation.