Phi Kappa Psi fraternity founded at Jefferson College
- When
- 1852
- Where
- Widow Letterman's home on the campus of Jefferson College
- Episodes
- 1
Phi Kappa Psi was founded at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, on February 19, 1852, by William Henry Letterman and Charles Page Thomas Moore. The founders established the fraternity based on the joy of serving others experienced during a typhoid fever epidemic that struck the college in the winter of 1850.
Episodes
Background and detail
Background. In the winter of 1850, a typhoid fever epidemic hit Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. Among those who remained during this crisis were William Henry Letterman and Charles Page Thomas Moore. The following school year, these two students decided to found a fraternity based on "the great joy of serving others" that they experienced during the epidemic.
Founding. Letterman and Moore founded Phi Kappa Psi in Widow Letterman's home on the campus of Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania on February 19, 1852. This event established the first chapter of the fraternity, which is commonly known as Phi Psi.
People involved
- William Henry Letterman · Founder
- Charles Page Thomas Moore · Founder
Sources
- Phi Kappa Psi Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-02
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.