St. Anthony Hall

According to ''Baird's Manual, the Alpha chapter of the Fraternity of Delta Psi was founded at Columbia University on by John Hone Anthon, Sam. F. Barger, Charles Arms Budd, and William Myn Van Wagener. In The Review'' magazine, the fraternity says Anthon was a founder and the first leader of the fraternity. Another source says Delta Psi was started by the fifteen-year-old Edward Forbes Travis who came to Columbia University from England "with an odd fascination for St. Anthony the Great, the gnarled fourth-century mystic." In this scenario, Travis shared "certain rituals" with a Charles Arms Budd on the saint's feast day, creating "a sacred bond that was soon extended to others." It is a non–religious, nonsectarian organization. The fraternity developed "a literary flavor: members would spend hours reading essays to one another for general critique or amusement." It also held evenings featuring orators and poets, often publishing the poems or speeches. A Beta chapter was formed at New York University on January 17, 1847. However Beta was short-lived; the Columbia College's Record lists the New York University founders alongside its students. In 1879, ''Baird's listed seventeen chapters opening throughout the Northeast and South during the mid-19th-century. In December 1865, the fraternity held its annual convention in New York City. The New York Times'' reported, "Attendance from all the Northern chapters was large, and measures were taken to give the most cordial assistance in response to applications for the rehabilitation of the Southern chapters in such of their colleges are again in operation." Three of the Southern chapters resumed operations: the University of Virginia, the University of Mississippi, and Washington and Lee. Members from many Southern chapters attended a commemorative dinner in New York City in December 1871. In 1894, Yale's Sigma chapter built a dormitory and named it St. Anthony Hall, apparently the first use of that name. The Fraternity of Delta Psi also became known as the Order of St. Anthony and St. Anthony Hall. Following the respective traditions of each chapter, St. Anthony Hall is now self-described and referred to on its various campuses as a fraternity or coed fraternity, a secret society or literary society, or a private club. A former Yale chapter president said, "Chapters have a range of degrees of secrecy." In 2006, a Yale member said, "Our secret aspects are truly secret, and our non-secret aspects are truly non–secret." == Symbols ==

The 1879 edition of ''Baird's Manual'' describes the fraternity's badge as a "Saint Anthony's cross, with curved sides. The cross bears a shield in blue enamel displaying the letters "". On the bar of the cross are engraved four Hebrew letters, and beneath the shield the skull and bones." The sword and the key are crossed, with the skull on top. In 1860 when the Civil War seemed inevitable, fraternal medallions were made for the brothers to attach to their uniforms so they would be recognized as a member of Delta Psi on the battlefield. A photograph of a medallion in the fraternity's archives shows a round, gold coin with a skull as its central figure. Beneath the skull are a crossed sword and key. Encircling the outer edge of the medallion are a list of each chapter's Greek letter and the foundation date. == Chapters ==

Following are the chapters of St. Anthony Hall, with active chapters indicated in bold and inactive chapters in italics. There have been rumors that the Lambda chapter operates underground; Williams College banned all fraternities in the 1960s, phasing them out by 1970. That the now-inactive Delta Psi local fraternity at the University of Vermont (1850–2004) was never affiliated. == Membership ==

Members of St. Anthony Hall call each other "brother", "sister", or "sibling" according to individual preference. In 1961, the Yale chapter was the first fraternity on campus to admit a person of color. In recent times, the fraternity's membership has become more multicultural. Other chapters were reestablished as coed including, Brown University in 1983, Princeton University in 1986, and the University of Rochester in 2010. ==Activities==

St. Anthony Hall members pursue their literary mandate through different programs at the various chapters. The Brown chapter publishes a literary and visual arts magazine called The Sketchbook and hosts bi-weekly literary readings. The UNC chapter hosts open mic nights, poetry readings, and art shows. The Delta chapter at the University of Pennsylvania hosts an annual lecture series with nationally significant speakers and also organizes a book drive and reading program for a local public school. The MIT chapter hosts a scholarly lecture series, coffee hours, and participates in charitable activities. The Trinity chapter hosts its annual Clement Lectures. The Columbia chapter hosts writers to discuss their works at least once a semester and also engages in charitable fundraising. == Chapter houses and buildings ==

Many of the St. Anthony Hall chapter houses were designed by well-known 19th and early 20th-century architects such as Henry Forbes Bigelow, J. Cleveland Cady, Cope and Stewardson, Wilson Eyre, Heins & LaFarge, Charles C. Haight, Henry Hornbostel, J. Harleston Parker, William Hamilton Russell, and Stanford White. Alpha: Columbia University The Alpha chapter originally met at the Simon DeWitt Bloodgood house. In 1879, a new building was constructed at 29 East 28th Street for the Alpha chapter and its alumni group, the St. Anthony Club of New York. The Alpha chapter's Renaissance-inspired lodge in red and yellow brick was designed by William Hamilton Russell, a member of St. Anthony Hall and an architect with the firm of James Renwick, Jr. The Hartford Courant wrote, "The decorations of the interior are most elaborate, and altogether it is said to be one of the most beautiful college secret society buildings in the country." Later alterations were made by J.A. Moore in 1899 and 1918, including adding 1.5 stories that replaced the original pyramid roof; the stone shield remains between the fourth-floor windows. To be closer to the new campus, the Alpha chapter purchased land on 434 Riverside Drive on March 23, 1897. To design a new chapter house, they hired Henry Hornbostel and George Carnegie Palmer (a member of St. Anthony Hall) of the firm of Wood, Palmer and Hornbostel. The chapter house is also a contributing building to the Broadway-Riverside Drive National Register Historic District. Saint Anthony is depicted in a stained glass window in the stairway landing of the first floor; as seen in the photo to the right, a stone tau cross is also above the second-story windows on the exterior. Upsilon: University of Virginia The University of Virginia's brick chapter house with two-story tall columns and a spacious portico was the third fraternity house constructed on Grounds—although it was the first with residential use in mind. Built in 1902, this Colonial Revival or Jeffersonian style house is "beautifully situated on 'Page Hill'" and blends well with the campus architecture designed by Thomas Jefferson. The Upsilon chapter house was designed by J. Harleston Parker, founder of the Harleston Parker Medal. It cost $20,000 (equivalent to $ in 2023) to build. The interior was "furnished with taste throughout", and included ten bedrooms, a library, a billiard room, and a reception room that was paneled in oak. Cady was a member of Trinity's Epsilon chapter. Added in 1985 to the National Register of Historic Places, as Saint Anthony Hall, the Epsilon chapter home is the oldest St. Anthony Hall building still in use by the fraternity. The house features ogee gables and a conservatory, as well as an addition added in 1961. Lambda: Williams College The former Williams College chapter house dates from 1886 and was designed by Stanford White of McKim, Mead and White. White had just designed a New York City townhouse for fraternity member Frederick Ferris Thompson, who provided White to create the Lamba chapter house. The chapter house was constructed in of blue freestone and combines early Norman and Old English styles. The building was renovated and refurbished in 1996. This five-story building was said to be "the finest thing of the kind in any university in the country". It was a Richardsonian Romanesque style structure built of red sandstone. Located at 133 College Street, the dormitory housed 26 men and was named St. Anthony Hall—perhaps the first use of that name. Next, Vanderbilt hired Charles C. Haight to create a matching Neo-Gothic style chapter house which was completed in 1913 at 483 College Street. The flanking residential halls are now part of Silliman College; St. Anthony Hall donated them to the university when Yale started a campus residential system in the 1930s. Tau: Massachusetts Institute of Technology The first Tau chapter house was designed by J. P. Fuller and built circa 1834–37 in the Greek Revival style. It was located at 6 Louisburg Square in Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood. Related campus buildings Yale chapter member and benefactor Henry Becton donated the Becton Center to Yale. Designed by Marcel Breuer, the Becton Center opened in 1970. Located at 15 Prospect Street in New Haven, the building's most distinctive feature is an arcade of monumental tau cross-shaped concrete columns. Originally built between 1878 and 1879, Gage redesigned the building between 1902 and 1904 in the Neo-Federal style. In addition, the townhouse boasted ornate moldings, high ceilings, skylights, oak Versailles parquet floors, and six wood-burning fireplaces. In the early 1970s, the Barnard College Club leased space in the St. Anthony Club building. The fraternity closed its club and sold the building in 1990; the former club is now a private residence. == Alumni groups ==

Foundations The St. Anthony Educational Foundation Inc. is a charitable entity that supports the educational and cultural programs and activities of the fraternity through grants and scholarships to its chapters. Graduate organizations St. Anthony Hall has several incorporated graduate chapter associations that exist to support its chapters and/or buildings. The first such group was the Anthony Trust Association, which was chartered in Connecticut in 1874 and operates as a national nonprofit organization. Known graduate chapters include: Clubs and area organizations Historically, there were several alumni social clubs associated with the fraternity—the 1890 edition of ''Baird's Manual'' credits the Delta Psi with being "a pioneer in the development of this form of social life". The club also included a billiard room with high oak wainscotting and walls of a blueish-green with hints of gold, an entire floor dedicated to its library, and a national fraternity office decorated with illustrations of the temptations of St. Anthony. On July 4, 1912, the St. Anthony Club purchased the house of Edith S. Logan, widow of John A. Logan, located at 17 West 56th Street in New York City. In 1936, the club and the fraternity's office were jointly housed in a penthouse of the Berkshire Hotel at 21 East 52nd Street. The club relocated to an apartment at 270 Park Avenue in 1944. The St. Anthony Club in Philadelphia was established sometime before 1888 when moved into a new building with the undergraduate chapter. There was also a St. Anthony Club in Rochester, New York before 1890. In 1904, the St. Anthony Club of Bar Harbor, Maine gathered for its annual dinner. There was also a St. Anthony Club of Bermuda. ==Notable members==

As 2025, St. Anthony Hall has 530 undergraduate members and more than 9,800 living members in nearly 100 countries. Some notable members include Nobel Prize in Physics recipient Andrea M. Ghez; Jonathan Yardley, Pulitzer Prize winning book critic with the Washington Post; Charles Kuralt, journalist who received winner of twelve Emmy Awards and two Peabody Awards; Alex Gibney, Oscar and Emmy winning film director and producer; Jeff MacNelly, three-time Pulitzer Prize–winning editorial cartoonist and creator of the comic strip Shoe; George Herbert Walker IV, managing director of Lehman Brothers; and John Cromwell Bell Jr., chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and Governor of Pennsylvania. ==In popular culture==

• The exclusive Hamilton House secret society from the television show Gossip Girl was based on St. Anthony Hall's Columbia chapter. However, when the character Van der Woodsen is denied admission to Hamilton House, she says, “It’s fine, I joined St. A’s instead." • The "St. Ray's" fraternity in Tom Wolfe's I Am Charlotte Simmons is modeled after the University of Pennsylvania chapter where Wolfe attended a cocktail party in 2001 while conducting research for the book. • The cover art of rock band Vampire Weekend's first album is of the Columbia chapter's ballroom chandelier, taken at one of the band's early shows. • The society tabloid Gawker said "In the constellation of collegiate societies—fraternities, sororities, eating clubs, final clubs, and the like—few are more exclusive, and WASPy, as St. Anthony Hall, or St. A's as it is commonly known..." • The Official Preppy Handbook says, "St. A's appeals to the 'cool element' of Preppies at Yale; this means Preppies who don't iron their shirts. It isn't rowdy: parties there conform to the intellectual self-image Yalies hold dear." • The University of Mississippi chapter house is said to be haunted by a brother, Jim Bridges, who died in a car wreck on the way back from a LSU football game in 1964. • During a fellowship on campus in December 1967, California Governor Ronald Reagan was filmed by public television informally debating Yale students at St. Anthony Hall. Nancy Reagan was also present, as the Yalies quiz the governor on Vietnam and various social justice issues. • Mama Dip (Mildred Cotton Council), an icon of Southern cooking who was a guest at the White House, once was the cook at the University of North Carolina chapter. • During the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897, Jack London befriend two mining engineers who were members of the Yale chapter—Marshall Latham Bond and Louis Whitford Bond. They designated their cabin a chapter house, and let London camp by it for six weeks. • "'Did you join a fraternity at Penn?' I said. 'Yes I did. St Anthony–Delta Psi. But I think they were sorry that they invited me.' ...I happened to know, because I had seen it, that he had a Delta Psi Tea Company gold charm on his watch chain, but the reason he did not show it was one of delicacy; in 1908 they had not accepted his resignation but he kept the insigne hidden..." • "He and Robert quickly looked at each other's watch-chain and the Delta Psi charm and smiled." • F. Scott Fitzgerald refers to the Pump and Slipper, an annual party at the Yale chapter since 1911, in several of his short stories: • "May Day" in Tales of the Jazz Age: "'My name's Dean, Philip Dean,' he said cheerfully. 'You don't remember me, I know, but you used to come up to New Haven with a fellow I roomed with senior year, Gordon Sterrett.' Edith looked up quickly. 'Yes, I went up with him twice—to the Pump and Slipper and the Junior prom.'" • "Bernice Bobs Her Hair": "Warren was nineteen and rather pitying with those of his friends who hadn't gone East to college. But, like most boys, he bragged tremendously about the girls of his city when he was away from it. There was Genevieve Ormonde, who regularly made the rounds of dances, house-parties, and football games at Princeton, Yale, Williams, and Cornell; there was black-eyed Roberta Dillon, who was quite as famous to her generation as Hiram Johnson or Ty Cobb; and, of course, there was Marjorie Harvey, who besides having a fairylike face and a dazzling, bewildering tongue was already justly celebrated for having turned five cart-wheels in succession during the last pump-and-slipper dance at New Haven." • "A Short Trip Home", Saturday Evening Post, January 17, 1927: "There was talk of the Pump and Slipper dance at New Haven and the Princeton Prom, and then, in various moods, we four left and separated quickly outside." == Scandals and member misconduct ==

• In 1889, a death was reported in a hazing incident at the Yale chapter. According to the news report, a pledge was placed in a coffin and lowered outside a window with a rope. At the time, Iota had existed for 44 years, had 56 members in good academic standing, owned a chapter house with a mortgage balance of just $3,000 (equivalent to $ in 2023), and had an active alumni club. He was rescued from the kidnapper's carriage by another student who had a revolver. Dresser was the brother-in-law of George Washington Vanderbilt II of Biltmore Estate. However, Yale University warned that a fraternity showing discrimination "would not be welcome on the Yale campus". • In 1990, a member from the University of Pennsylvania chapter was kidnapped by members of Psi Upsilon (Castle). As a result, Castle was banned from the university. According to The Washington Post. the $38,000 (equivalent to $ in 2022 money) event "turned into a bacchanal" with same-sex dancing, the theft of decorative items, under-aged drinking, and sexual encounters in the locker rooms. The fraternity's president and the bartender were charged with selling alcohol without a state permit. However, the president was cleared of charges because the law enforcement officer failed to read her the Miranda rights. • In 2011, St. Anthony Hall alumnus Walter Perry was convicted of embezzling $650,000 (equivalent to $ in 2022) from the Columbia undergraduate chapter. He served two years in prison and was ordered to pay restitution. Perry was also expelled from the fraternity. ==See also==