Sororities can be traced to Wesleyan

Q: What is a Macon college’s connection to the history of sororities in the U.S.?

A: Much of the history of sororities in the U.S. can be traced to the 1850s at Macon’s Wesleyan College.

On May 15, 1851, students at Wesleyan Female College, as it was then called, founded the Adelphean Society as the first secret society for women in the country, said Kathie Garland, former executive director of the Phi Mu Foundation, the Alpha Delta Pi Foundation and a member of Phi Mu. The Adelphean Society was a literary society.

“The women got together basically to discuss writing and penmanship,” said Garland.

In 1905, the Adelpheans changed their name to Alpha Delta Phi and became a national organization, expanding first with a chapter at Salem College in North Carolina. By 1913, the organization had joined the National Panhellenic Council and settled on the name of Alpha Delta Pi.

Less than a year after the Adelpheans began meeting, another group of Wesleyan students formed the second-oldest secret society for women, the Philomathean Society. Now known as Phi Mu, the Philomathean Society was officially founded March 4, 1852 at Wesleyan College, also as a literary society, said Garland. In 1904, the Philomathean Society was chartered as Phi Mu and began establishing charters nationally, starting at Hollins College in Virginia.

The Wesleyan Board of Trustees voted to abolish all sororities in 1914, acting on faculty recommendation, according to the Alpha Delta Pi website. At the time, the sororities at Wesleyan College included Alpha Delta Pi, Phi Mu, Zeta Tau Alpha and Delta Delta Delta. The college banned the creation of any new sororities, but current members were allowed to continue their meetings until graduation. By 1917, all sororities were off campus.

Founding members of both groups are buried in Macon. Martha Hardaway Redding, a founder of the Philomathean Society, is buried at Riverside Cemetery, said Robin Fanning, former national president of Phi Mu. Adelphean founder and president Eugenia Tucker Fitzgerald is buried in Macon’s Rose Hill Cemetery, according to Alpha Delta Pi’s website.

To commemorate the 150th anniversaries of Alpha Delta Pi and Phi Mu, each organization gave a gateway to Wesleyan College in 2002, said Robin Fanning, former national president of Phi Mu.

Phi Mu’s headquarters in Peachtree City and Alpha Delta Pi’s headquarters on Ponce de Leon Avenue in Atlanta each contain museums dedicated to their early years at Wesleyan, said Garland.

According to their websites, Alpha Delta Pi has 161 active chapters, and Phi Mu has chartered more than 247 chapters. Their roots as the two oldest secret societies for women and their foundation at Wesleyan are a source of pride for both sororities.

“It’s something that we are proud of ... we certainly use that as a claim to fame,” said Phi Mu’s Fanning.