1927

In the 20 years from 1907 to 1927 the number of sororities at Cornell grew from four to fourteen.   Every sorority recognized by the university had successfully established itself.  The original four had moved out of Sage into their own houses and the ten new sororities had all obtained a house of their own.   Most were clustered on north campus between Highland and Triphammer which was logical because Balch Hall was built in the 1920's and the residential locus for Cornell women had shifted from Sage to Balch.   

Cornell had always been coeducational but male enrollment had dwarfed female enrollment and the two groups of students were somewhat segregated from each other.  This was reflected by the 1927 Cornellian whose first 503 pages is exclusively male except for a handful of female faculty.  Pages 504 to 607 is the women's section.  This is followed by the Advertising section.

Pictured above is Kappa Alpha Theta's first sorority house.  It was an existing residential house at 118 Triphammer which they acquired in about 1920.   Eventually they would tear it down and build a new house on the same lot.  When they disbanded in 1965 the Tri Delts would purchase the house and are still there. The pictured house was the first residence on Triphammer.  Mary E. Cornell is listed as living in this house in 1912.  Make of that what you wish.

In 1921 Kappa Kappa Gamma purchased the Beverly Baines house (pictured above) at 508 Thurston.  By 1937 they had built their present house on the same lot.

Pictured above is the Sage Mansion at 603 E. Seneca which Delta Gamma lived in from 1920 until building their current house at 117 Triphammer in 1940.  Their website mentions living in several rental houses prior to the Sage Mansion.

Alpha Phi was already in their 411 Thurston Avenue house pictured above.  They still occupy this house although it has been enlarged considerably.  Prior to this they had a house at 114 Kelvin Place which Pi Beta Phi then took over.

One has to go back to 1915 and Paul Clymer to find a non-sorority occupant as both Kappa Kappa Gamma and Chi Omega occupied the house during the 1917 - 1919 period. 

This house on The Knoll was still a private home in 1916.  AOPi was occupying it by 1921.

200 Highland Avenue was the Phi Epsilon Pi house in 1916 and a private residence in 1920.

Delta Zeta was there by 1922-23.

710 Stewart was a private residence in 1916.  The Tri-Delts were living there in 1920 - 1923.

706 Stewart was a still a private residence in 1923. It was occupied by Chi Omega by 1925.

109 Triphammer was a vacant lot in 1920.  Kappa Delta was living there by 1922-23.  They are still at this location although I can't tell if any portion of the pictured house has survived.

301 Wyckoff Avenue was not yet built in 1916.  It was the Kappa Alpha Theta Lodge by 1919.

And Sigma Delta Tau by 1922-23.  It is still standing and one of my favorite houses.

228 Wait was still a private residence in 1920. 

AZD was at 301 Wyckoff by 1921. 

114 Kelvin Place was not yet built yet in 1916.  It was occupied by Alpha Phi in in 1920-21 and was a private residence in 1922-23.  It was occupied by Pi Beta Phi in 1925.

505 Wyckoff Avenue was being built in 1919;  it was occupied by Theta Chi in 1920-23 and Phi Delta Pi in 2024-25.

Alpha Epsilon Phi was there by 1926.

150 Triphammer Road was a private residence in 1920.

Sigma Kappa was living there in 1922-23.

There are 64 fraternities with pages in the 1927 Cornellian.   This reflects a huge growth during the early 20th century which would soon taper off to nothing with the coming depression and the Second World War.   Actually considerable shrinkage was on the horizon.   Chapter size was typically under 40 actives so many of these organizations were rather fragile.  

In the section below I have included house photos from the 1927 Cornellian for about half of the chapters,  listed alphabetically.  Mostly for fraternities that were not in the 1914 section or ones whose photo shows a different side of their house.   The yearbook back then was pretty good at new photos each year.

If you skip ahead to 2025 only 28 chapters are still active with several more on temporary suspension.  So the 2025 chapter count was roughly half of what it was in 1927.   Not all those that went away vanished entirely.   There were a lot of mergers nationally during the past 100 years as larger organizations sought to gain economies of scale. 

 The other thing of note is that no chapter coming to campus after 1921 has survived.  Phi Delta Sigma  (1908-1930) was formed out of Skull and Bandhu and it in turn merged into Phi Kappa Tau.  All currently active chapters have at least 100 years on campus.   Most likely because Cornell was fraternity saturated by 1927 and over the past century the male/female ration has been slowly reversing itself as females increased their representation in the student body.

This is a much nicer photo of the house at #620 Thurston - now the lot is just a parking lot for the Welcome Center.

Alpha Chi Rho was at 726 University by the early 1930's,  this Thurston Road house having been torn down for better access to the Johnny Parson Club/Japes Lodge restaurant.  And later the Noyes Lodge.

https://alumni.cornell.edu/cornellians/frozen-beebe/

Alpha Chi Sigma is a professional chemistry fraternity still at Cornell with a current house at 425 Wyckoff.  

The pictured house is at 113 Oak Avenue (beside the Lutheran Church) is still standing.

This is a picture from a different angle of AEPi's 216 Cascadilla Parkway house.  It was tucked up at the very end of the road and next to gorge,  that porch faces the gorge.  Although torn down long ago it still gets my "Most Funky" award.

Another photo chosen because it is a great photo of their super cool old house which was torn down in 1960.  Both houses were on the 203 Highland lot.  Alas, another situation where the old house was infinitely better than the new old.

Alpha Phi Delta (1922-1969) (2012-2018) Italian-heritage fraternity.  Non-residential during their latest colony attempt.

The pictured house is at 111 W. Green, it is no longer standing. 

The 1927 Alpha Psi house was at  228 Linden Ave. ,  it was a veterinary medicine residential professional society.  The house pictured is  still standing in Collegetown although the neighborhood is much more crowded today.

Alpha Zeta's first house at 214 Thurston is included because other photos are less detailed.

The Delta Sigma Phi photo further down this page shows some additional details.

This chapter of Beta Psi (1926-1935) went dormant with the dissolution of their national during the depression.  The pictured house at 410 Elmwood is still standing.

Beta Sigma Rho's house was located at 126 Westbourne.  To quote from the Ithacating in Cornell Heights website:

 "This is the Westbourne Apartments building. Back in the day,  it used to belong to a fraternity called Beta Sigma Rho. Beta Sigma Rho, or Beta Samach as it was originally called, was founded in 1910 by four Cornell students who were excluded from the current system because of their Jewish religion. By 1950, there were thirteen chapters. However, all good things come ot an end."

A slightly different photo of the house at 210 Thurston.  Delta Sigma Phi (1907-1943) began occupying the house in the early 1920's,  taking over from Kappa Phi.  It was a private home in 1915.   Thurston was virtually undeveloped in 1903.

Note the first Alpha Zeta house in the background.

Eleusis (1912-1931)  was at 313 Wait.  The house is still standing and renting out rooms to students.  Eleusis was the local that became Theta Kappa Nu (1931-1939) and then merged into Lambda Chi Alpha. 

Omega Tau Sigma (Professional Veterinary Fraternity) at 413 Dryden Road from another angle.  The pictured house is still standing and looks amazing.  That weird thing between the dormers is a balcony - it is still there.  

Omricon Alpha Tau (1912-1934) was a historically Jewish fraternity that was absorbed nationally by Tau Delta Phi,  they lasted at Cornell until 1971.  Only a portion of that at 934 Stewart - which looked like a train station.  The train station was torn down and replaced with the Edgecliff Apartments which looks like the worst block of a east European ghetto.  

Tau Delta Phi occupied the pictured house in the 1940's.

I never fail to be amazed that #2 Ridgewood Road was originally a private residence.  I also never fail to be amazed that Phi Delta Theta left their house in back of the law school and moved this far out in the boonies.  When I was boarding at the former house my Lambda Chi hosts requested that I absent myself during hell week and I moved into #2 Ridgewood Road for those nights.  The only nights I spent there.

Phi Delta Mu (1925-1934) merged in and reestablished Phi Beta Delta which in turn merged into Pi Lambda Phi in 1941.  Such was the fate of most small Jewish fraternities at that time.  The pictured house is 103 Highland Place in Collegetown,  off Williams Street.  I have been unable to verify if it is still standing.

The is our old friend the Phi Kappa Tau house (1930-2025) at 106 The Knoll.   The present house is a bit beat up so connecting it to the pristine one in the photo might be hard for some.  Phi Delta Sigma  (1908-1930) was formed out of Skull and Bandhu and it in turn merged into Phi Kappa Tau.  Bandhu purchased the pictured house from a professor in 1910.  When the First World War reduced the number of actives in Skull and Bandhu; the house on The Knoll was made into a naval barracks and the Skull home on 96 Wait Avenue was rented to a sorority.  In 1918 Bandhu and Skull merged and took the name Phi Delta Sigma.  In 1930 the local became Phi Kappa Tau's Cornell chapter.  

The house at 96 Wait Avenue was sold to the university and is still standing - it is pictured in the 1914 section of this website.

Phi Epsilon Pi (1911-1970) was a Jewish fraternity that would eventually fold into Zeta Beta Tau nationally.  Their 1915 house was 200 Highland.  They were in the pictured house at 316 Highland Road by 1922 and stayed until the merger.  The house was vacant in 1971 and is now the site of The Villager Apartment complex which was in operation by 1976.

Pi Kappa Phi (1921-present) with several breaks in service.  They eventually end up at the Green Trees house on Ridgewood Road but take a circuitous route getting there.  Their first house was at 308 Bryant a modest place in Collegetown,  then at 301 Eddy,  and in 1925 the pictured house at 115 Ridgewood.  By 1938 they were off the grid and 115 Ridgewood was in the possession of Sigma Delta Tau sorority.  

They recolonized a couple of times and in 1952 began occupying a house at 722 University (since torn down).  Phi Kappa Sigma bought Green Trees in 1935 from the George Morse estate and Pi Kappa Phi purchased it from them in 1991.  So they ended up back on Ridgewood in the house next to the pictured one. 

Rho Psi (1917-1931) was Chinese men's group no longer active on the collegiate level.  The pictured house at 212 Fall Creek Drive is still standing.

Scorpion Club (1923-1940) became TKE (1923-1934 & 1940-2020) in 1940.  In 1925 Scorpion's house was at 320 Wait Avenue and TKE was at 200 Willard Way.  Scorpion had built and moved into 105 Westbourne Lane by 1930.  320 Wait (the pictured house) was torn down by the university after serving for many years as the music department,  the other two houses are still standing.  During WWII the Westbourne house served as a girls dormitory.

Sigma Alpha Mu (1911-1973 & 1985-present) was at 614 Stewart (pictured and still standing) in 1927.    I won't detail their many addresses around campus but it seems safe to say there are the most mobile chapter in Cornell history.   A few years earlier they were a couple houses north at 626 Stewart and by 1940 they were at 312 Highland. 

Sigma Phi Sigma (1910-1941) was a local that merged into TKE in 1941.  They spent most of their existence in the pictured house at 103 McGraw Place.  It is the present Watermargin House and before Sigma Phi Sigma was the Phi Kappa Psi house.  

Although they have been on campus since May 1917,  Sigma Pi is one of Cornell's most junior fraternities.  They initially rented the house at 636 Stewart (still standing - see below).  In 1915 they purchased a professor's home at 730 University - this is the pictured house before their bizarre alterations turned it into the embarrassing monstrosity you see today.  They had a nice fire in 1994 yet chose to pass on a chance to restore the mansion to its beautiful 1927 appearance.   Instead they lovingly rebuilt it into a replica of the horrific 1990's structure.   

636 Stewart

425 Wyckoff

This extremely cool house at 618 Stewart is still standing although so obscured by trees that the best architectural details are hidden.  Theta Alpha (1915-1933) was a victim of the depression. 

This 534 Thurston house has been replaced.   The street itself was virtually undeveloped in 1903 but Theta Xi built the pictured house shortly after.

201 Highland

515 Stewart  this is the best shot so far of this house - note the tunnel.

Zodiac (1904–1936) was absorbed into ΑΤΩ 

They were not the first occupants - it was the Delta Phi house as early as 1901.  Delta Phi has an 1892 entry with the address of 52 Stewart.  They were founded in 1891 and probably built the house as all houses on this block were built by the fraternities.