High school fraternities and sororities

High school fraternities and sororities, also called secondary fraternities and sororities, were inspired by and modeled after Greek-letter organizations which became prevalent in North American colleges and universities during the nineteenth century.^[1] Omega Eta Tau, formed in 1859 as Torch and Dagger in Council Bluffs, Iowa, is the first known high school fraternity.^[2] It was followed by Gamma Sigma, Alpha Zeta, Alpha Phi, Sigma Psi, Alpha Chi Sigma, Pi Phi, Gamma Delta Psi, Eta Kappa, and more.^[2]

The establishment of other fraternities was fairly slow, gaining momentum between 1890 and 1900 as older organizations added chapters and new Greek letter organizations were established.^[3] Most high school fraternities were located at schools in and near New York City and Chicago, with San Francisco being a third location.^[3] San Francisco's Girls' High School had seven sororities by 1905.^[3]

Although there were many local high school fraternities and sororities with only one or two chapters, many secondary fraternities founded in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries grew into national organizations with highly evolved governing structures. In the early 20th century, many fraternities that formed in the Eastern United States established chapters on the Pacific Coast.^[3] In this era, President William Rainey Harper of the University of Chicago contacted the 464 largest secondary schools in the United States; 120 of the 306 reporting schools had one to six fraternities and many also had a sorority.^[3] With this growth came pushback against these "secret societies" and their "obnoxious" practices.^[3]

Some state and local governments banned fraternities and sororities in public schools. The states of Indiana, Kansas, and Minnesota and the city of [[Madison, Wisconsin, adopted regulations in 1907.^[3] Ohio passed an anti-fraternity law in 1908, as did the school board in St. Joseph, Missouri and Worcester, Massachusetts.^[3] California, Iowa, Nebraska, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington passed laws against secret societies in 1909.^[3] In 1909, school boards in Kansas City, Missouri; Lowell, Massachusetts; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma all approved prohibitory regulations, followed by Chicago; Denver; New Orleans; Butte, Montana; Meriden, Connecticut; and Racine, Wisconsin in 1910.^[3] Michigan passed an anti-fraternity law in 1911, followed by Mississippi in 1912.^[3] More school boards, including those in Covington, Kentucky; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Reading, Pennsylvania; Superior, Wisconsin; and Waltham, Massachusetts, passed regulations in 1911.^[3] As a result of these regulations, many Greek letter organizations ceased to exist and were replaced by local clubs; at some schools, fraternities went underground or changed to community-based organizations.^[3][4][5] This favored the survival of smaller or local organizations over the larger national fraternities that continued to operate in the open.^[3]

In response to the anti-fraternity sentiment and policies, the Grand Inter-Fraternity Council was formed in February 1909.^[3] Its purpose was "to promote the usefulness of preparatory and high school fraternities; to place before the public the objects of these organizations and create a body by which all grievances between fraternities, school and civil officials can be fairly terminated."^[3] Its founding members were organizations that were at least ten years old and had more than five chapters.^[3] In 1910, the council included 25 fraternities that represented 31,455 members.^[3] By 1912, 46 fraternities had joined the council.^[3] Its counterpart for sororities was the Junior Pan-Hellenic Congress.^[6]

In December 1927, Gamma Sigma was the first high school fraternity to established a chapter outside of the United States and the first international high school fraternity, establishing its Alpha Zeta chapter in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.^[2] Theta Kappa Sigma sorority was established at Stamford Collegiate Institute in Niagara Falls, Ontario in 1932. By 1969, there were forty high school fraternities and sororities in the United States and Canada.^[2]

The following is an incomplete list of secondary and high school fraternities and sororities.

Social fraternities

Organization	Symbols	Founding date and range	Founding institution	Foundation location	Status	References
Alpha Chi Sigma	ΑΧΣ				Inactive	[2]
Alpha Phi	ΑΦ	1876	Colgate Academy	Hamilton, New York	Active	[7][8][a]
Alpha Zeta	ΑΖ	December 8, 1869	Union Classical Institute	Schenectady, New York	Active	[3][7][8][b]
ATOPHI (Alpha Tau Omega Phi)	ΑΤΩΦ	November 2, 1988	West Philadelphia High School	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Active	[9]
Delta Sigma	ΔΣ	1897–198x ?	Lewis Institute	Chicago, Illinois	Inactive	[c]
Delta Theta	ΔΘ	1896	Polytechnic Institute	Brooklyn, New York	Inactive	[d]
Eta Kappa	ΗΚ				Inactive	[2]
Eta Kappa Phi	ΗΚΦ	before 1898			Inactive	[7][e]
Chi Sigma Chi	ΧΣΧ	1890	New York Military Academy	Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York	Inactive	[f]
Gamma Alpha	ΓΑ	1914	Baton Rouge High School	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	Active
Gamma Beta Phi	ΓΒΦ		Williston Seminary	Easthampton, Massachusetts	Inactive	[7]
Gamma Delta Psi	ΓΔΨ	April 13, 1879 – c. 1995; 2008	James Hillhouse High School	New Haven, Connecticut	Inactive	[2][10][g]
Gamma Eta Kappa	ΓΗΚ	1883	Lowell High School	San Francisco, California	Inactive	[7][8][3][h]
Gamma Sigma	ΓΣ	October 1869	Brockport State Normal School	Brockport, New York	Active	[2][7]
Kappa Alpha Pi	ΚΑΠ	1904–196x ?		Chicago, Illinois	Inactive
Lambda Sigma	ΛΣ			Michigan	Inactive	[7]
Omega Delta	ΩΔ	1950 c. 1950–196x ?	La Salle Senior High School	Niagara Falls, New York	Inactive	[11]
Omega Eta Tau	ΩΗΤ	1859–1861, 1866–1880, 1893		Council Bluffs, Iowa	Active	[i]
Omega Gamma Delta	ΩΓΔ	1902		Brooklyn, New York	Active	[12][j]
Omicron Kappa Pi	ΟΚΠ	November 1893	Lewis Institute	Chicago, Illinois	Inactive	[7][8][k]
Phi Chi	ΦΧ			San Francisco, California	Inactive	[3]
Phi Kappa	ΦΚ	1919	Southern University Preparatory School	Greensboro, Alabama	Active
Phi Lambda Sigma	ΦΛΣ	February 12, 1892	Clinton Academy	Clinton, Missouri	Inactive	[13][l]
Phi Sigma Chi	ΦΣΧ	November 28, 1900		Zanesville, Ohio	Inactive
Pi Delta Koppa	ΠΔϘ	1889	Michigan Military Academy	Orchard Lake, Michigan	Inactive
Pi Phi	ΠΦ	1878–198x ?	Rochester Free Academy	Rochester, New York	Inactive	[2][7][m]
Sigma Phi Omega	ΣΦΩ	1902	Sewanee Military Institute	Sewanee, Tennessee	Inactive	[n]
Sigma Psi	ΣΨ	1950 c. 1950–196x ?	La Salle Senior High School	Niagara Falls, New York	Inactive	[2][11]
Tau Kappa Delta	ΤΚΔ	1924	Pottsville Area High School	Pottsville Pennsylvania	Active
Theta Kappa Omega	ΘΚΩ	November 13, 1872 – 196x ?	California Military Academy	Mayfield, California	Inactive
Upsilon Lambda Phi	ΥΛΦ	April 5, 1916			Inactive

Social sororities

Organization	Symbols	Founding date and range	Founding institution	Foundation location	Status	References
Alpha Sigma	ΑΣ			California	Inactive	[3]
Beta Delta	ΒΔ	1926		Shreveport, Louisiana	Active
Delta Chi	ΔΧ	1950 c. 1950–196x ?	La Salle Senior High School	Niagara Falls, New York	Inactive	[11]
Delta Iota Chi	ΔΙΧ			California	Inactive	[3]
Eta Phi	ΗΦ		Albany Normal School	Albany, New York	Inactive	[7]
Gamma Theta	ΓΘ	1931	Baton Rouge High School	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	Active
Lambda Theta Phi	ΛΘΦ			California	Inactive	[3]
Omega Nu	ΩΝ	1897	San José High School	San Jose, California	Active	[3][14]
Theta Chi Omicron.	ΘΧΟ	1950 c. 1950–196x ?	La Salle Senior High School	Niagara Falls, New York	Inactive	[11]
Theta Kappa Sigma	ΘΚΣ	1932	Stamford Collegiate Institute	Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.	Active
Xi Gamma Rho	ΞΓΡ	1950 c. 1950–196x ?	La Salle Senior High School	Niagara Falls, New York	Inactive	[11]

Jewish fraternities

Organization	Symbols	Founding date and range	Founding institution	Foundation location	Status	References
Aleph Zadik Aleph	אצא	1924		Omaha, Nebraska	Active
Phi Beta	ΦΒ	1920			Inactive	[15][o]
Phi Sigma Beta	ΦΣΒ	June 22, 1910 – 1914	DeWitt Clinton High School	New York City, New York	Inactive	[16][p]
Pi Upsilon Phi	ΠΥΦ				Inactive	[17][q]
Sigma Alpha Rho	ΣΑΡ	November 18, 1917 – c. 2014, December 2022	West Philadelphia High School	West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Active	[18][19][r]

Jewish sororities

Organization	Symbols	Founding date and range	Founding institution	Foundation location	Status	References
B'nai B'rith Girls		1944		Omaha, Nebraska	Active
Iota Phi	ΙΦ				Inactive	[20]
Sigma Theta Pi	ΣΘΠ	1909 c. 1909			Inactive	[17][21][22][s][t]

High school honor societies

Main article: Honor Society § Secondary school honor societies

High school secret societies

Main article: High school secret societies

See also

• College fraternities and sororities
• High school club

Notes

1. Was formed as a local literary society in 1870.
2. The fraternity was originally organized Alpha Beta Debating Club, a literary and debating society at Union Classical Institute, later known as Schenectady High School. It did not add a second chapter until seventeen years later.
3. Originally begun as an athletic fraternity, its focus became purely social as it expanded throughout the United States. By the 1980s, most chapters of the fraternity had become dormant.
4. The fraternity chartered chapters in towns throughout the mid-Atlantic states, the upper midwest, and as far away as California.
5. Had chapters in Ann Arbor, Michigan; Cleveland, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
6. At its peak, the fraternity included over thirty chapters.
7. The fraternity was defunct by 1995. It was revived in 2008.
8. Formed as a literary society at Boys High School, now the Lowell High School.
9. Formed as Torch and Dagger. It was renamed Omega Eta Tau in 1900 when it began expanding nationally.
10. In the 2010s, it was recast as "a fraternity for men" with a focus on citywide alumni and graduate clubs.
11. Formed at the Chicago Academy, later known as the Lewis Institute.
12. Expanded to normal schools and is still active as a collegiate educational fraternity.
13. Pi Phi spread to more than 110 chapters before lapsing into solely alumni chapters in the 1980s.
14. At least thirty chapters of the fraternity were founded in other states throughout the Southern United States.
15. Not to be confused with the professional fraternity for the creative and performing arts.
16. The fraternity was re-established as Tau Delta Phi collegiate organization in 1914.
17. Its Sigma chapter was at Syracuse.
18. The fraternity formed from the Soathical Club. In December 2022, the fraternity was reactivated with a new chapter in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
19. Not to be confused with the international sorority with a similar name, Sigma Thêta Pi, founded in 2003, nor the local Christian fraternity at Howard Payne University, founded in 2004.
20. Its Upsilon chapter was in the Twin Cities.