Phi Sigma Chi

Murrel L. J. Logsdon established the local fraternity, Delta Theta Omega, at the Zanesville High School of Zanesville, Ohio, in November 1900.^[1][2] Its charter members were Edgar H. Johnson, Murrel L. J. Logsdon, Edgar R. Moeser, J. Herbert Norris, Harry C. Orr, and Cassell Stewart.^[1][2] In addition, Arthur C. Lindsay was associated with the founding and treated as an honorary member.^[1][2]

Delta Theta Omega became Phi Sigma Chi on November 1 or 28, 1901.^[1][2] The fraternity had a hall in the third floor of the Zanesville Bank Building on 15 North Fourth Street.^[2] Its members celebrated the Feast of the White Carnation and the Feast of the Book and Lamp.^[2]

Also in November 1901, two additional chapters were chartered at high schools in McConnelsville and Lancaster, Ohio.^[1][2] Logsdon was the fraternity's first president.^[1] In May 1902, Logsdon helped to reorganize the local fraternity into a national fraternity, overseeing a new charter and updated rituals.^[2] The ritual was written by high school teacher C. S. Hoskinson, who was later made a honorary member of the fraternity.^[2]

By May 1903, Phi Sigma Chi was organized had eleven chapters that were organized into four provinces.^[2] Because the Zanesville School Board has passed an order forbidding fraternities and class organization, Phi Sigma Chi began operating independently of the schoolboard and faculty.^[2] The fraternity held its first national convention in Zanesville on August 25 and 26, 1903.^[1][2]

Phi Sigma Chi joined the Grand Inter-Fraternity Council in February 1911.^[3] At the time, the fraternity had forty chapters were located at high schools and preparatory schools in the United States.^[3] The fraternity held its second national convention August 9 through 11, 1911.^[1] In 1912, its convention was held in Indianapolis, Indiana, followed by Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1914.^[1]

By August 1915, Phi Sigma Chi had 49 chapters and more than 7,000 members.^[1] At the 1915 national convention, the Olympian Club of Lincoln, Nebraska and the Delta Delta Delta (local) of Denver, Colorado, were chartered as new chapters of Phi Sigma Chi.^[1] However, a few years later, anti-fraternity sentiment had grown across the United States, with most states passing laws to ban high school fraternities.^[2] Phi Sigma Chi continued to operated a social fraternity, with many chapters in the Southern United States.^[2] Unfortunately, the records and history of this era were lost.^[2]

After the dissolution of the Grand Inter-Fraternity Council, Phi Sigma Chi became a member of the High School Panhellenic Council.^[4] The fraternity's 35th convention in New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 9 and 10, 1937, was attended by representatives from forty of its 95 chapters.^[5] Some of its chapters were affiliated with colleges and universities.^[5][6]

In 1951, the fraternity celebrated its 50th anniversary in Zanesville.^[2] Its national headquarters was in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1975.^[2] The fraternity was adding chapters until at least 1992,^[7] but has since gone inactive.

Phi Sigma Chi's motto was Amicitia et Fraternitas or "Friendship and Brotherhood". Its colors were black and gold.^[2] The fraternity's mascot was the owl. Its flower was the white carnation.^[2] Its symbols were a book and the lamp.^[2]

The fraternity's quarterly publication was The Chapter Hall, first published in May 1903.^[2][8] In 1939, this had the largest circulation of any fraternity magazine in the United States, with a circulation of nearly 18,000.^[8]