Alpha Gamma Rho considers the
Morrill Act of 1862 to be the instrument of its inception. Having been signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862, it provided land and other financial support to establish one institution of higher learning in the agricultural and mechanical sciences within each state. Alpha Gamma Rho, referred to as "AGR", was founded when two local fraternities from
Ohio State University (Alpha Gamma Rho, founded on October 10, 1904) and the
University of Illinois (Delta Rho Sigma, founded in 1906) met at an International Livestock Competition in
Chicago. Sixteen men signed the fraternity's charter at the Claypool Hotel in
Indianapolis on April 4, 1908. Expansion increased dramatically over the next three decades to almost all
land-grant universities in the country. The first chapter at a non-land-grant university was chartered in 1958 at
Arizona State University. The first non-state (private) associated chapter (
Beta Psi) was at
Delaware Valley University in
Doylestown, Pennsylvania. == Symbols ==