1911
- 1920
The university continued to grow as it entered the second decade
of the 20th Century. Over 1500 students were enrolled in the fall
of 1910. Attendance had doubled at Penn State since the chartering
of PA Theta in 1904, only six years before. The faculty was increased,
and in this manner, Hugh Baker (MI Beta, '01, Michigan Agricultural
College) [later Michigan State College/University] joined the school
as the head of the Forestry Department in 1911.
In 1913, Greek representation at Penn State had increased to 16
national fraternities. Campus buildings and facilities were being
added, including a wireless telegraph tower, and the President's
house was relocated to be near the Carnegie Library. Pennsylvania
Day [probably the forerunner to Homecoming] continued to be a festive
occasion, giving rise to annual parties at PA Theta.
While football continued to be the main athletic attraction, other
sports were performing well. Wrestling became an inter collegiate
sport at Penn State in 1910. Phis held positions on the football,
basketball, and track teams, and the baseball team had a tremendous
year. As Victor Egbert '12 (Bond #58) reported in PA Theta's newly
published alumni newsletter, "In spite of the fact that the
number of cripples on the team was large, victories were gained
over Cornell, Navy, Lehigh, Fordham, and Bucknell."
PA Theta Phis were also well represented within the Penn State
community beyond athletics. Activities and clubs consisted of La
Vie, student council, glee club, Pharsonians, Parmi Nous athletic
society, Lion's Paw senior society – of which Louie Cuthbert
'11 (Bond #68) was a member – and Thespians. The brothers
were also busy maintaining their new house. Chandeliers replaced
single-globe lights, hedges were planted around the veranda (porch),
and china embossed with the Phi Delta Theta crest was purchased
for special occasions.
In 1915, Phi Gamma Delta constructed its present-day house at the
corner of Burrowes Road and Pollock Road, diagonally across the
intersection from PA Theta.
[Note: Land for the Phi Gamma Delta house was not included in the
1904 plotting of the original seven "Fraternity Lots."]
World War I came to Penn State with Congress's passage of the National
Defense Act of 1916 and the establishment of a Reserve Officer Training
Corps (ROTC) on campus. Even though the war had been raging in Europe
since 1914, the U.S. had attempted to be neutral. However, a series
of attacks on merchant ships slowly forced the hand of President
Woodrow Wilson, and the United States entered the war in April 1917.
Following creation of the Student Army Training Corps (SATC), under
which every physically qualified male college student nationwide
was enrolled, all fraternities at Penn State were converted to barracks
to house them. In WWI, several Phis from PA Theta lost their lives,
including Kirby Baldwin Sleppy '11 (Bond #54), Percy McGrew Gerwig
'20 (Bond #141), and Harry Banks Mauger '20 (Bond #131).
On January 12, 1918, H. L. "Pete" Stuart '20 was initiated
(Bond #152), and on September 30, 1918, Frederick Boyer Huston '22
was initiated (Bond #159).
On November 23, 1918, twelve days after the World War I armistice
was signed, a tremendous fire destroyed Main Engineering Building
and the adjacent power plant. Built in 1892 and dedicated in1893,
the architecturally impressive engineering structure was one of
Penn State's most important academic buildings housing classrooms
and laboratories for hundreds of students. Penn State's fire brigade
– the Student Fire Company, with Penn State student H. O.
Smith, father of Thomas L. Smith '54, as its chief – was the
first to arrive to fight the fire. The Student Fire Company was
joined shortly by State College's Alpha Fire Company and other fire
fighters from as far away as Tyrone (30 miles), who helped fight
the roaring inferno. Together, they successfully saved all other
nearby buildings, but the campus lost its source of heat and electric
power for days, and classes were canceled until those utilities
could be restored.
In 1920, the chapter newsletter, The Quarterly, was formed to be
published four times each year, and regular submissions of chapter
news were made for inclusion in issues of The Scroll, the general
fraternity's magazine.
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