June 10, 1884
Founding at the University of Texas
Texas Rho was founded at the University of Texas at Austin on June 10, 1884 by Thomas C. Barrett. Initial Pledge Class:Seth M. Morris
John I. Bonner
William A. Roberts
Yates Flannigan
R.J. Felder
“Thomas C. Barrett established Texas Rho at the University of Texas on the 10th of June, 1884. The first Texas Rho, at Marvin College, had not been dead a fortnight when Barrett gathered his little band at Austin and place upon them the diamond-shaped badge of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Earlier fraternity writers have written as if the first Rho was transferred from one college to the other, but such statements simply give a wrong impression. They were made with a desire to lessen the number of dead chapters in the fraternity’s graveyard, but this cannot be done by giving the name of an old chapter to some new chapter in an entirely different institution. The living Texas Rho of today is an entity and never had actual existence except at the University of Texas. Barrett’s neophytes were Seth M. Morris, John I. Bonner, William A. Roberts, Yates Flannigan, and R. J. Felder. Such were the beginnings of Sigma Alpha Epsilon at the University of Texas. The chapter has maintained an honorable record, as we shall see as the history proceeds.”
(pp. 18-19, Volume II, The History of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, William C. Levere, 1911)
“True, Texas Rho the First, the ill-advised chapter at Marvin College, gave up the ghost with the end of the college year, but no other shadow darkened the path of Sigma Alpha Epsilon in all 1884.”
(p. 12, Volume II, The History of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, William C. Levere, 1911)
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February 9, 1882 – May, 1884
The First Texas Rho at Marvin College in Waxahachi
Levere clearly distinguishes this chapter from Texas Rho at the University of Texas, pointing out that the chapter did not move from Marvin College to the University of Texas. (see excerpt above) “The new chapters were situated at Marvin College, Waxahachie, Texas, South Carolina College, Columbia, S.C. and Central College, Righmond, Kentucky. The first of these new chapters was the work of Kentucky Chi men, Thomas a Ferris and Robert S. Goss. Goss went to Waxahachie to take charge of the elucution department of the college and there found Ferris, who had come to Texas some time previously. It was not long before they were busy plotting for an S.A.E. chapter for the college, and on February 9, 1882, the chapter was established.” (p. 406-407, Volume I, The History of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, William C. Levere, 1911) “The chapter began to show signs of disintegration in the fall of 1883, and the authorities of the fraternity began to realized that the chapter had become a stalemate.” “The chapter revived itself under the energetic inspiration of Goss, but in May, 1884, the college was sold by the trustees to the city and the first Texas Rho returned its charter.” (p. 408, Volume I, The History of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, William C. Levere, 1911)
October 3, 1912
Formation of House Corporation
Formed as the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Chapter House Association Founding Directors:H.Y Benedict
W. M. Odell
James W. McClendon
1927
Purchase of First House, 509 West 26th
1958