History

In 1858 Delta Tau Delta was founded at Bethany College. Eight undergraduates, angered by a fixed vote for a prize in oratory to be given at the Neotrophian Literary Society, the only real forum for students to practice and demonstrate skills in poetry, public speaking, and writing essays, responded by forming a secret society. The purpose of the new society, known by the Greek letters Delta Tau Delta, was to see that the Neotrophian Society was returned to a normal democracy, and delivered from the hands of the group of students who seized it..

The Fraternity was founded to right an unjust situation; Delta Tau Delta was born of the knowledge that integrity is essential. Its eight founders', outraged that one group of students would and could choose in advance the candidate they favored, then join together to swing enough votes for that man to win, regardless of his actual performance in the contest, presented the first opportunity for Delts to realize the importance of accountability.

The second chapter of Delta Tau Delta was established at West Liberty College, Virginia (now West Virginia), in the fall of 1859. A year later, a third chapter was initiated at Monongalia Academy (later West Virginia University) when John R. Thornton of the West Liberty chapter enrolled at that institution. By the end of the school year in 1860, the Alpha Chapter at Bethany had enrolled a total of twenty-six members.

During the year 1860, however, a disastrous fire demolished much of Bethany and destroyed all of the early Fraternity records. The impact of the Civil War thinned the ranks of the three Virginia chapters to such an extreme that the future of the Fraternity was in grave danger. Two young men of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, Rhodes S. Sutton and Samuel S. Brown, rode horseback down to Bethany to be initiated into Delta Tau Delta. These two men then established the fourth chapter at Jefferson College in Canonsburg.

When Civil War conditions ultimately caused the three Virginia chapters to suspend operations temporarily, the historic ride of Sutton and Brown proved to be the means of saving the continuous existence of the Fraternity.

The Founders of Delta Tau Delta