Founding Date

Mar 6th, 1954

Texas Technological College was created by legislative action in 1923 and has the distinction of being the largest comprehensive higher education institution in the western two-thirds of the state of Texas. The college opened in 1925 with six buildings and an enrollment of 914. Graduate instruction did not begin until 1927 within the school of Liberal Arts. A “Division of Graduate Studies” was established in 1935 and eventually became known as the Graduate School in 1954. By action of the Texas State Legislature, Texas Technological College formally became Texas Tech University on September 1, 1969. At the 1952 Convention, Texas Tech was presented as a potential university for expansion. The Texas population was growing at an exponential rate and Delta Gamma wished to be at the ground floor of sorority establishment on Texas campuses. In 1953, Delta Gamma was invited along with Alpha Chi Omega to establish at Texas Tech. Five other National Panhellenic Conference groups were already established on campus. Through the efforts of the dean of women Marjorie M. Neely; Fraternity Vice President Peggy Hay, Upsilon-Stanford; Roberta Abernethy, Epsilon-Ohio State and Jane Mathews, Gamma Xi chapter was established in October 1953. Seventeen women received invitations to become charter members of the Gamma Xi new chapter. The first meeting was in the Administration Building in room 227 on November 4, 1953. On November 11, the first officers of Gamma Xi were elected. The Installation of the colony was held on March 6, 1954. Seventeen collegians and 36 patronesses were initiated during a beautiful ceremony conducted by members of Alpha Iota-Oklahoma chapter. An informal buffet supper was held on Friday, March 5, and was attended by national officers, other collegiate members, patronesses, advisors and alumnae. Fraternity Vice-President Peggy Richardson Hay, Upsilon-Stanford presented the charter to the chapter president, Bette Hickerson, and Fraternity Treasurer Helen Bradford Anderson, Mu-Missouri, as well as former Fraternity President Helen Byars, Mu-Missouri assisted with the Installation. The banquet on Saturday night was held at the Caprock Hotel and dean of student life James G. Allen attended as a representative from the university. The formal reception to present Gamma Xi to the city of Lubbock and the university was held on Sunday afternoon at the Women’s Club and dean of women Marjorie Neely attended along with the Mayor and City Manager. Gamma Xi was the sixth NPC chapter on campus, the 6th Delta Gamma chapter in the state of Texas, and the 94th chapter of Delta Gamma Fraternity. Within the first year of being chartered, Gamma Xi tripled its size of membership from 17 to 51 members. Since 1954, Gamma Xi chapter has received numerous accolades over the years, including the coveted Patricia Peterson Danielson Award a total of five times. Today the chapter has 191 collegiate members, a long way from the original 17 charter members. These members continue the work and vision of those young women who set forth to establish Gamma Xi as a chapter of strong, intelligent women who would go into the world and serve as role models to others. The founders of Delta Gamma Fraternity would be very proud of these women who have upheld the Fraternity’s motto to “Do Good.” Gamma Xi’s first lodge on campus was a store front building on College Avenue, but the chapter moved shortly thereafter to a leased house at 2424 19th Street. In 1958, 20 sororities and fraternities formed a housing corporation and purchased 25 acres of land that had once belonged to the parents of Carrie Bell Turner, Gamma Xi. Named Greek Circle, the odd-numbered lots were given to the sororities and the even numbered to the fraternities. Delta Gamma drew number five and in 1972 construction of a new lodge began. The house, which cost $93,000 to build, was dedicated on March 16, 1974 and is still in use by the chapter today.