1897: The Founding of North Alabama Conference College

“In the nineties [1890’s] Dr. Z.A Parker made a motion at one of the meetings of the Birmingham Pastors’ Union that a Methodist paper be established in the North Alabama Conference in Birmingham…The paper was established and was called the Birmingham Methodist. It was primarily for the purpose of advocating the building of a college for the North Alabama Conference…Persistence usually wins in the long run, and this fight for a male college in North Alabama proved no exception…The committee met and proceeded to locate the college at Owenton…There was, then, no such reason in the way of this committee to keep it from locating the college at Owenton, which was so near Birmingham and destined soon to be a part of that great city…He [Mr. Rose Wellington Owen, who offered the land for the building of the college] had likewise dreamed of seeing the college on the hill at Owenton overlooking Jones Valley from Bessemer to Birmingham. He thoroughly agreed with Dr. Anson West [a member of the committee to build the college] when he said. ‘God created that hill for the site of a college’” (Perry 52-54). The quotation is in reference to the hill on which Munger Hall now stands. This hill was the site of the original building of the North Alabama Conference College.

“The College at Owenton was called North Alabama Conference College, or at least that was its official name. It was commonly called ‘Owenton College’…He [Dr. Anson West, who became the fourth President of the North Alabama Conference College], more that any other one man, perhaps, was responsible for the establishment of the school. He was a strong man and held to his opinions tenaciously, no matter what antagonisms he aroused. No doubt the present institution under the auspices of the two Conferences [i.e., Birmingham-Southern College] owes a great deal to his persistence and to his faithful service as President” (Perry 57).

“During these years [1900-1915] there arose one of the staunchest supporters the College [at Owenton] ever had. This was Mr. R.S. Munger. He gave liberally of his money and of his time to the support of the College, the name of which had been changed to Birmingham College in 1906” (Perry 58).

“[In 1916] it seemed that the school was beginning a new era of prosperity. America entered the World War, however, in 1917, and the bright prospects of the College [Birmingham College] were dimmed. The student body was greatly reduced by the volunteering of many of the young men for the service” (Perry 59-60).

 

Note: The featured image for this post does not appear in any other version of the Chapter History. It is a photograph of Owenton College (1906 Pegasus, courtesy of Birmingham-Southern College), which appears at the following url: http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016/06/birminghams_forgotten_colleges.html.

 

 

A New Century: The Early Years of the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity

Lee C. Bradley, Birmingham-Southern, was elected as Worthy Grand Scribe in 1892 (Reno 256).

“Ferdinand E. Smith, Birmingham-Southern, entered Rose Polytechnic Institute, Terre Haute, Indiana, and by initiating seven, established Gamma Gamma, November 15, 1893” (Reno 135).

“Alpha Tau Omega has always been a singing society. The meetings of the Lexington chapters were invariably opened and closed with the devotional odes which were adopted by succeeding chapters and eventually became a part of the Secret Work. Newly initiated Brothers who had undergone the rather strenuous ceremony of that day were greeted by a noble song of welcome” (Reno 148).

The following images come from Claude J. Reno’s The ATΩ Story: The First Fifty Years.

ATΩ FACES THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: Third from left stands Founder Glazebrook in this portion of the traditional “Congress Picture” taken at Boston in December 1900. Thirty-seven chapters and ten alumni associations were represented. Now firmly established in the North, the Fraternity looked to the West for new fields to conquer. Chapters at California, Colorado, Kansas, Washington, Missouri, and other strong universities beyond the Mississippi were to follow in the next few years. (Reno)

THE THIRD CHAPTER ALPHABET: Iowa BA, Simpson; Ala. BB, Birmingham-Southern; Mass. BΓ, M.I.T.; Ala. BΔ, U. of Alabama; La. BE, Tulane; Vt. BZ, U. of Vermont; Ohio BH, Ohio Wesleyan; N.Y. BΘ, Cornell; Ga. BI, Georgia Tech; Mich. BK, Hillsdale; Mich. BA, U. of Michigan; Ohio BM, U. of Wooster; Ga. BN, Middle Georgia; S.C. BH, Charleston; Mich. BO, Albion; Tenn. BΠ, Vanderbilt; Ohio BP, Marietta; Va. BΣ, Hampden-Sidney; Me. BY, U. of Maine; S.C. BΦ, Wofford; Penn. BX, Haverford; Calif. BΨ, Stanford; Ohio BΩ, Ohio State; Tenn. BT, Southwestern*. (Reno)

      

Concerning the Fraternity song “Our Jewels”: “A lovely college romance produced the song which captured the Fraternity’s heart and through the years has remained for both actives and alumni the prime favorite, ‘the song of songs.’” Helen Choate Streeter wrote a poetic tribute to the badge of Alpha Tau Omega after being “pinned” by her boyfriend, Alpha Tau Linn Murdock Huntington at a chapter in Nebraska in 1900. “It was first published in the February, 1903, PALM under the title ‘The Azure and Gold.’ Harry A. Lyon, Cornell, a skilled musician and a noted bandmaster, set Helen’s charming verses to sparkling music, and the melodious and thrillingly beautiful song endeared itself to an appreciative Fraternity’s everlasting love. Its noble refrain is truly ‘a good song ringing clear’:

Oh Alpha Tau Omega,

Our hearts are ever thine!

We set them as the jewels

In The Maltese Cross to shine.

 

To thee we pledge allegiance,

Our service true and bold,

And ever we’ll be loyal

To the azure and the gold” (Reno 148-49).

 

“Alpha Taus fought in the ranks of Roosevelt’s Rough Riders at San Juan Hill; with the Marines they landed at Guantanamo Bay; and at the destruction of Cervervas’ Spanish fleet…To Alpha Tau Omega the patriotic service of Founder Glazebrook, Confederate veteran, the cadet who had manned the artillery at New Market, whose rhapsodic vision of a united nation had inspired him to found the Fraternity, was most impressive and exemplary. He was a captain and the chaplain of the Third New Jersey Infantry. In an illustrated history of the war an equestrian portrait of him was printed under the caption ‘The Finest Horseman in the Service,’ (PALM, XIX, 12) a picture the Fraternity has valued as a precious keepsake” (Reno 150-51).

“Division of the Fraternity into Provinces for better administration was a topic of debate [at the 1886 Atlanta Congress], but the Province system did not materialize until the turn of the century” (Reno 117).

“Provinces consist of one or more states. [A footnote clarifies: ‘At the present time, some Provinces contain only parts of one or more states, divisions being made on the basis of nearness of chapters rather than state boundaries.]…From 1898 to 1901 Province I was composed of chapters in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina and during that period Arthur W. McCord, Birmingham-Southern, was Chief of the Province” (Reno 259).

The following images come from Claude J. Reno’s The ATΩ Story: The First Fifty Years.

Arthur W. McCord

AT THE GRAVE OF FOUNDER ROSS: Arthur McCord, Birmingham-Southern, kneels with a wreath honoring Founder Erskine Mayo Ross. Standing, left to right, are former Province Chiefs Wesley King and Chesters S. Van Brundt, and Sidney B. Fithian, then Worthy Grand Chief. Brothers McCord and Van Brundt were pioneers in the Westward expansion of the Fraternity (see pages 158, 164, 172, 200). (Reno)

 

“In the beginning there were six provinces; now there are 26. The first Chiefs and the states included in their provinces follow: I. Arthur W. McCord, Birmingham-Southern: Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina…It would be difficult to compile a roster of more notable Alpha Taus. McCord, engaged in business, residing in Alabama when appointed, moved to Tennessee and later to California; wherever he lived he was a dynamic force in promoting the Fraternity’s welfare and served several terms as High Councillor” (Reno 154).

“‘Provincial Chiefs’ Arthur W. McCord, Birmingham-Southern, Thomas Ruffin, North Carolina, and George W. Mitchell, Austin, were on hand [at the 1900 Boston Congress] to present their reports on Provinces I, III, and VI. Thus for the first time a Congress received reports from Province Chiefs, even though E.P. Lyon, II; Robert W. Bingham, IV; and Thaddeus M. Jones, V, were unable to give theirs in person. Instead of bombastic, highly optimistic chapter reports the Congress secured impartial and expert surveys of the actual conditions of all the chapters, revealing their strengths and weaknesses, and counseling needed improvements. The Province system had been tried and its extraordinary usefulness proved; the Congress unanimously voted a Constitutional amendment which, ratified by the chapters, made the system a permanent feature of the Fraternity’s government” (Reno 160-61).

“Arthur W. McCord, Birmingham-Southern, was a Province Chief and as often a High Councillor. A champion of extension whose business took him to all sections of the Northwest, he casually called on the President of the University of Washington, seeking information concerning the fraternity situation on that campus…McCord enlisted the assistance of Chester S. Van Brundt, Illinois, then residing in North Yakima, Washington, another expansionist who had installed the Colorado chapter. Their joint efforts procured a charter with which they established Washington Gamma Pi, January 20, 1906.” (Reno 172).

“[At the 1904 New York Congress] An application for the revival of the Arkansas Chapter was rejected because, as Lamar [the current Worthy Grand Chief] explained, a statute of that state prohibited fraternities at the University. ‘It was out of harmony with the principles of ATO to violate or countenance the violation of any law, state or Federal,’ he said—a declaration that became the Fraternity’s settled policy” (Reno 168).

 

1906: National ATO Congress Held in Birmingham

“[At the conclusion of the 1904 New York Congress] Birmingham, Alabama, was unanimously chosen for the 1906 Congress. After the vote, Shives [who eventually became Worthy Grand Chief] said he hoped that ‘the Steel City of the South’ would be followed by ‘the Steel City of the North’ and that Pittsburgh would be the site of the Twenty-First Congress in 1908. He got his wish” (Reno 169).

The Twentieth Congress of the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity was held in Birmingham, Alabama at the Hotel Hillman on December 26-29, 1906. The orator was Robert W. Bingham of the Bingham Chapter, and the poet was Alfred S. Hartzel of the Muhlenberg Chapter. It was declared the “Fortieth Anniversary Congress” (Reno 254).

“While the Fraternity was actually 41 years old when the delegates met in Birmingham, Alabama, the day after Christmas, 1906, the gathering became known as the 40th Anniversary Congress. And there were many present who could clearly recall the beginnings and early days of Alpha Tau Omega. An aura of poignant sorrow enveloped the 20th Congress as it met in the Hotel Hillman. Four days before, Founder Glazebrook’s wife, nee Virginia Calvert Key Smith, had passed away. As has been told, she was the daughter of the Superintendent of V.M.I. at the time the Fraternity was born. The loveliest of the charming bevy of Lexington girls, ‘The Alpha Tau Sisters,’ her radiant friendship and gracious service had immeasurably enhanced the cause and prestige of Alpha Tau Omega in its early days. Following her marriage to Otis Glazebrook in 1866, she had remained a staunch ‘Alpha Tau Girl,’ entertaining countless Brothers in her hospitable home, accompanying the Founder to Congress and other Fraternity functions, and acting as his secretary as Editor of THE PALM and Chairman of the High Council. She had lived to see ‘the Glazebrook dream’ become a nation-wide reality, and her oldest son became Worthy Grand Chief. She was buried in Richmond on Thursday, December 27, and the bereft Founder, with ‘Young Larkin’ [Glazebrook’s son], arrived in Birmingham on Friday” (Reno 172-73).

“By far the most important action [of the 1906 Birmingham Congress] was the adoption of the new Constitution…Copies of the new draft had been printed and distributed to the chapters…. on the final day of Congress [the committee to examine and report on the proposed draft] presented a new Constitution which was adopted unanimously” (Reno 173).

“‘FIRST’ AT BIRMINGHAM: The Twentieth Biennial Congress witnessed several innovations. W.G.C. Lyon proposed that each year the chapters set aside September 11, or as soon after as possible, to hold a special Founders Day meeting ‘at which the history of the Fraternity shall be studied and exercises in honor of our Founders to be conducted.’ The Ways and Means Committee made this recommendation, and it was approved. Over the years, because of the conflict with rushing and college opening, March 15 has become the traditional Founders Day, the exact date being left to the convenience of the group. It is often observed as a combined chapter-alumni dinner” (Reno 178-79).

“After selecting Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as the site of the 1908 Congress, the delegates accepted the report of the Nominating Committee for officers for the ensuing two years…The High Council included Dr. Otis A. Glazebrook, Chairman, Virginia Alpha; N. Wiley Thomas, Pennsylvania; Hugh Martin, Bingham; Arthur W. McCord, Birmingham-Southern; and Frank G. Wren, Tufts” (Reno 179-180).

Arthur W. McCord, Birmingham-Southern, was elected to the High Council for the period of 1906-08 (Reno 258).

Concerning The Palm Junior, which “originated at the Birmingham Congress in 1906, it was revived by the Atlanta committee. A four-page, three-column daily, it contained announcements, personal, editorials and even advertisements. Harvey Reno, assistant publisher of THE PALM, and Robert Quin, Emory, did most of the work of producing three issues. The Palm Junior has been making its appearance at almost every Congress since that time” (Reno 204).

 

Note: The featured image for this post does not appear in any other version of the Chapter History. The image is a map of Birmingham, AL from 1903 by Camille N. Dry. It appears at the following url: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Birmingham_Alabama_map_1903.jpg.