History

The Greek-letter fraternity is a phenomenon unique to higher education in North America.  Students in other countries have their societies or clubs, but only in America does the concept of Greek-letter fraternities exist.

The Chi Phi Fraternity was founded on friendship and stands for liberty, truth, honesty, and personal purity.  During the middle of the 19th century, by a strange and wonderful coincidence, there were three brotherhoods in the United States bearing the name Chi Phi.  Each was oblivious of the existence of the others, yet each stood for ideals of friendship of man with man.  They are known to us as the Princeton Order of Chi Phi, founded at Princeton College in 1824, the Southern Order, founded in 1858 at the University of North Carolina, and the Hobart Order, founded in 1860 at Hobart College.  In 1867, the Hobart and Princeton Orders combined and formed the Northern Order of Chi Phi, then in 1874, the Northern Order combined with the Southern Order to form the Chi Phi Fraternity.

The Tau Chapter of the Chi Phi Fraternity was founded when Benjamin Russell entered the University of Alabama on leave from his family textile business and expressed a desire to start a chapter of his college fraternity.  In conjunction with three other chapters in Georgia, the Alumnus of Alpha Chapter succeeded in initiating underclassmen into the fraternity in 1919.  On April 20, 1920, the official chartering ceremony was conducted and the original house was occupied during the first year.

These men were the first in a long line of hundreds of men to take the oath of membership at Tau chapter.  Most of these men have gone on to exceptional careers in all walks of life.  However, they share one common bond - brotherhood in Tau chapter of the Chi Phi Fraternity at the University of Alabama.  All of them, at one time, shared a common goal of making Tau chapter into an exceptional fraternity.