In 1837, the Methodist Church established Indiana Asbury (now Depauw University) in Greencastle, Indiana.
Indiana Asbury officially opened its doors to women in 1867, but not without great uproar from the male students. The first women students at Indiana Asbury were looking for ways to make friends and find support and encouragement for their academic pursuits. They were reviled by their teachers, taunted by their classmates, and ignored bt their girlhood friends who did the "right" thing and attended conservations for girls. It took these brave pioneers three years to found Kappa Alpha Theta, the first Greek-letter Fraternity for women.
To be sure, there were societies for women before 1867, and some of these had secret rituals with badges, passwords, mottoes, and other symbols. But in 1870, Theta became the women's Greek-letter fraternity because its primary founder, Bettie Locke, wanted full membersip in a male fraternity. When the men asked her to wear their fraternity badge as a "mascot" she responded, "If you won't initiate me into your fraternity, I'll start my own." Thus, Kappa Alpha Theta was established on January 27, 1870. In 1995, Kappa Alpha Theta celebrated its 125th anniversary.
History of Kappa Alpha Theta Fraternity Headquarters
The first salaried position for Kappa Alpha Theta was that of editor in 1891. In 1909 the editor and grand secretary position were combined. L. Pearl Green, Grand Secretary from 1909 to 1939 and editor from 1911 to 1949, worked worked out of her sister's home in Ithaca, New York and for many years this early home office served as the defacto central executive office with a secretary, a clerical assistant and funds for office rent and equipment.
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