Sycamore Club 1900-1919

1900. The Sycamore Club was likely founded privately in 1900, however there are conflicting dates.

1910. It was not until June 23, 1910 that they were publicly founded, to be similar to many other already existing fraternities. The original Sycamores were: W.S. Webb and S.R. Webb (1912), R.E. Nottingham (1913), R.B. Miller (1914) and E. J. Shumaker.

1914. December 12, 1914 Letter from Shepardson to R. B. Deer regarding National Fraternity expansion

1916. In 1916 The Sycamores wrote a petition to become a chapter of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, 85 years after Denison University was founded. However, this petition was either not fully submitted, or was turned down. In 1915 the club was officially incorporated. Their name comes from the tree that was outside their original house on Summit Street that was that old Granville Hotel. The colors of The Sycamore Club were brown and white.

1918. February/March 1918 Letter to Shepardson from F. Morris Cochran (GIZ 11)

1918. March 6, 1918 Letter from Sycamores to Warren A. Cole

1918. March 12,1918 Letter from Shepardson to Cochran

1918. March 19, 1918 Letter from Cole to Cochran

1919. February 17, 1919 Letter from Sycamores to Shepardson

1919. April 17, 1919 Letter from Cole to Cochran

1919. April 30, 1919 Letter from Cole to Cochran

1919. May 5, 1919 Telegram from Cochran to Cole

1919. May 8, 1919 Petition from Sycamores to Lambda Chi Alpha

1919. May 13, 1919 Letter from Cole to Cochran

1919. May/June 1919 Telegram from Cole to Cochran

1919. June 2, 1919 Letter from Cole to Cochran

1919. June 20, 1919 Letter from Cole to Cochran

Warren A. Cole (Boston 1912), As a college student at Boston University, founded Lambda Chi Alpha on November 2, 1909, with the expressed objective purpose of bringing about the association of college students of good moral character in the various collegiate institutions within the United States and Canada; to foster a high moral and spiritual standard of life based on Christian ideals; to promote honorable friendship; to cultivate intellectual excellence; to secure for members the greatest advantages in college life; to establish brotherly love, mutual aid, close personal connection between alumni, undergraduates and colleges; and, to bind them together for mutual pleasure and interest in college, as well as after life by testing each with courage, self-control, obedience, democracy, and courtesy toward all with whom they may come in contact.

Francis W. Shepardson (Denison 1882/Brown 1883), General Secretary of Beta Theta Pi for 10 years and President for 20 years thereafter; while President, also edited The Beta Theta Pi for 13 years; dominant force in the fraternity from 1910 until his death in 1937; one of the two most prolific Beta writers with at least five books; known as "Mr. Beta Theta Pi;" he and Baird were perhaps the two most prominent fraternity men of the first half of the 20th century.

Clark W. Chamberlain, President of Denison University from 1913-1925

F. Morris Cochran, (Denison), Gamma-Iota Zeta 11