The first meeting of the Club occurred on August 21st, 1858. Mr. Flythe was elected the first President, with Mr. Green elected Secretary, Mr. Seymour elected Treasurer, and Mr. Cherry elected curator.

The officers originally consisted of a president, secretary, treasurer, and curator. Later, the president was called the “Grand Seigneur.” A second curator, an assistant secretary, and agent of correspondence were later added. The constitution provided for regular literary exercises: at each meeting two of the members being called upon to read an essay or deliver an oration. The members spoke of their chapter as a “club”, and in the records as well the meetings the word “brother” was not used, members being spoken of as “Mr. -.” The organization was known to its members first as “the Chi Phi” and later “The Chi Phi Fraternity”.

The spirit of expansion was part of the Southern Chi Phi from its very inception. The fraternity spread very quickly in three years, adding chapters at Centenary (1858), Davidson (1859), Virginia (1859), Nashville (1860), and Cumberland (1861). With the onset of the Civil War, all the other chapters of the Southern Order passed out of existence, yet the North Carolina Alpha Chapter kept the light burning, though twice the records were buried on account of the advances of the Northern army, and on at least two occasions the chapter strength was reduced to one man. Alpha lost heavily during the war, as 55 of her members were in the army, including all the charter members. Out of these, six lost their lives during the conflict.

In 1868, the University of North Carolina found itself in a perilous position. The endowment was gone, and a new regime was contemplating reorganization. Students were not returning in high enough numbers after the Civil War, and in July 1868 the old trustees were removed and a new board appointed. The old board forthwith vacated the chairs of the faculty and the majority of the students withdrew to pursue their studies elsewhere, a large number entering the University of Virginia. When these conditions developed, Alpha chapter, at the close of the session of 1867-1868, decided to suspend operations and transferred the records to Delta Chapter (at the University of Virginia), which assumed the powers of the Grand Chapter until the Convention of 1870 formally ratified the action.

After a long hiatus, the chapter at the University began its rebirth when seven university undergraduates formed a local fraternity known as Gamma Phi. Edwin Sparks, the national chapter inspector at the time, visited Chapel Hill at the request of the Grand Council to determine the prospects for re-establishing a chapter there. He was referred to Gamma Phi by the University Administration. The meeting was timely, and led to the granting of a charter to the members of Gamma Phi in October 1924. The chapter was designated Alpha-Alpha in recognition of the original Alpha chapter.

For a complete history, click here.