Founding Date

Jun 5th, 1903

The university was founded in 1861, and officially opened as the Territorial University of Washington on November 4, 1861. The school floundered for a few years due to lack of funding and inadequate enrollment, but it eventually found its footing. The first graduate was a female in 1867. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, enrollment more than doubled and the university thrived. Today, UW has nearly 47,000 undergraduate students. In October 1900, Elizabeth Hancock, a transfer from Xi-Michigan, organized a group of 10 women into a local sorority called Delta Alpha with the express purpose of petitioning Delta Gamma. In the fall of 1902, Elizabeth reported that Mrs. Susie Wegg Smith, Omega-Wisconsin, a prominent worker in Delta Gamma's earlier days, had moved to Seattle. A tea was held for the Delta Alphas to meet her and secure her assistance in petitioning Delta Gamma. Mrs. Smith consented to go to the 1903 Convention in Wisconsin to report in favor of the charter. The advisability of going to the far northwest, where there were no chapters, was discussed and debated during each of the three days of Convention. On the last day, May 15, Miss Cooley, Xi-Michigan, moved that a charter be granted to University of Washington. The motion carried. The Greek letter Beta was selected for the chapter to honor Winfield Smith, the husband of Susie Wegg Smith who was a Beta Theta Pi, and the Beta Theta Pi husband of Mrs. Colegrove who assisted the local sorority. Phi Delta Theta offered the use of its house for Initiation. On the night of Friday, June 5, 1903, after dinner and a songfest with the Phi Delts, 10 women were initiated by Susie Wegg Smith and Elizabeth Hancock. A banquet was held the following Monday evening at The Washington. Beta was the first chapter of Delta Gamma in the Pacific Northwest. By June 1913, Beta chapter had grown to 22 women. At their annual Reunion Banquet that year, 58 chapter members gathered at the Ranier Club to celebrate. Since its establishment at UW, the women of Beta chapter have excelled on campus and in the community, performing well scholastically, taking on leadership roles in other organizations in addition to their dedication to Delta Gamma, and volunteering in and fundraising for their community. At Founders Day 1978, Beta celebrated its 75th anniversary with 350 Delta Gamma women at the Broadmoor Golf Club. The chapter held its first Anchor Splash® in the spring of 1979. Beta celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2003. Between 1904 and 1936 the women of Beta rented several homes to be the Delta Gamma house. In 1936 construction began to build a white brick Georgian-style chapter house for Beta. Coming back after Easter vacation in 1937 the furnishings were complete and chapter members moved into the new home. The chapter was able to purchase this house, and in 1962, the chapter added an addition.