Let us go back to January 1870.

Four women at Asbury College in Greencastle, Indiana established a society for women that would expand the horizons of collegiate women forever. This society, founded by Bettie Locke Hamilton, Alice Allen Brant, Bettie Tipton Lindsey, and Hannah Fitch Shaw, was Kappa Alpha Theta, the first Greek letter fraternity among women.

It is now 2007. Asbury College has become Depauw University, Kappa Alpha Theta has colonized chapters at over 120 four-year colleges, and has even expanded beyond the United States and into Canada.

1856 marks the year that the history of the Gamma Delta chapter began. It was in this year that the Antebellum home, the Dearing Home, was built. Each of the bricks of the house were built by slaves of the Dearing family; the old wood doors were built without any nails to hold the slats together- each twenty-foot door is but one piece of carved wood. A tunnel was also built to connect this house with two other homes of the Dearing family; these two homes are now the residence to the Phi Mu and Alpha Delta Pi sororities.

In 1936 Kappa Alpha Theta purchased the Dearing home and established the Gamma Delta chapter in 1937. The house is on the National Register of Historic Homes, and contains many valuable pieces. The windows, dimpled from age, stretch from the floor to nearly the top of the high-ceiling rooms; initials, dates, and engagements may be seen scratched in the living room windows.

Jackie Kennedy (Onassis) had a serious interest in a valuable piece inside the Gamma Delta home. She asked the chapter to donate the secretary desk in the living room to the White House as she began its renovations. It is believed that it was on this desk that the Constitution of the Confederacy was signed. The enormous desk, however, was too large to fit through the doors of the house, and one may only speculate the way in which it was placed inside the home.

With the addition of the back part of the house in the late 1950s, the house has become home to many Gamma Delta members. Currently there are fifty-five members living in the house. The house has also held many other non-Theta persons. Among these include the actors of the movie "Cobb," during its filming at the Gamma Delta house. Also, during the 1996 Summer Olympics, our home held the entire staff and correspondence for Nike as they helped sponsor the soccer events held at UGA's Sanford Stadium.

The history of Kappa Alpha Theta began over a century ago in a small town at a small college. Since then, Theta has not ceased to exist as a leader among Greeks across the Americas. The members of the Gamma Delta chapter at the University of Georgia are no exception. We are proud of our heritage, and of what we have become today, and invite you to visit our chapter to see just exactly what Theta is all about.

Bettie Locke Hamilton, Bettie Tipton Lindsey, Hannah Fitch Shaw, and Alice Allen Brant

 Founders of Kappa Alpha Theta, first Greek letter fraternity known among women.