On Saturday, September 20, 2025, brothers from Kappa Alpha Society chapters across the country came to campus to celebrate their fraternity’s 200th anniversary. Kappa Alpha Society is the oldest continuously active fraternity in the United States and is a member of the Union Triad, a grouping referring to the first three fraternities founded. This anniversary not only marks 200 years of the organization, but 200 years of Greek Life on college campuses.
The fraternity grew out of informal meetings by four students in 1825: Thomas Hun, Isaac Jackson, John Hart Hunter (all class of 1826), and Arthur Burtis (class of 1827). In the fall of 1825, they gathered in their rooms for evenings of song and story, pipe-smoking, and baking potatoes in the wood stove. They originally called themselves “The Philosophers.” The four of them, joined by other friends, began to turn their group into a fraternity when they playfully made John Hart Hunter their leader by preparing him a seat atop a wood pile and inventing a pipe-lighting ceremony.
The previous four, along with four other members of the class of 1826 (John McGeoch, Orlando Meads, James Proudfit, and Joseph A. Constant) and Joseph Law (1827) held their first formal meeting on November 26, 1825. It was in Hunter and Burtis’s room in the northeast corner of the 4th floor of South Section of South College, in what is now the Sorum and Harris Minerva house. The brothers adopted a constitution and initiated three more seniors a week later.
The other members of the Union Triad, Sigma Phi and Delta Phi, were founded at Union in 1827. Kappa Alpha Society issued the first fraternity catalogue in 1830. In 1833, students at Williams College petitioned Union’s Kappa Alpha Society chapter to expand to their campus.
Kappa Alpha Society expanded to 10 chapters by the end of the 19th century. In 1865, a fraternity with a similar name, Kappa Alpha Order, was founded at Washington and Lee University. Other fraternities were further established on Union’s campus and other campuses throughout the country. Notable members of the fraternity include Issac Jackson, who Jackson’s Garden is named after, and Fitz Hugh Ludow, who wrote the college’s alma mater.
Kappa Alpha Society currently has six active chapters, three of which are in Canada. They currently reside in Davidson South and have 14 active members (not including their new member class). The fraternity has historically been one of the smaller chapters on campus in terms of membership.
The fraternity still lives up to the ideas of its founders. Oliver D’Anna ‘26, the social chair, said that the anniversary is “a celebration of a continuing tradition of academics, philosophy, music, and, and continuing to foster brotherhood at Union and talk freely and, and discuss any subject within the house.” He said. “It’s a rejuvenation of the society and a reminder of what we stand for.”
This past weekend’s program consisted of dinners, a leadership seminar, historical exhibits, and the dedication of upgrades to the gate at Jackson’s Garden, which is named after Issac Jackson, a fraternity alumnus. These upgrades include new paving, benches, and the relocation of the cornerstone from the Society’s original housing.
The historical information for this article comes from the Encyclopedia of Union College History by Wayne Somers ‘61.
