Phi Chi Society of the East

Phi Chi Medical Fraternity of the South

“October 26, 1894, at four o’clock, p.m., there assembled in the office of Doctor Clinton Kelly” of the faculty of the Louisville Medical College, “A. Harris Kelly, Samuel T. McClung, G. Fowler Border, Joseph N. Powers, George E. Gavin, Charles W. Hibbitt, and Linn L. Kennedy (all of whom became members of Alpha of the Southern Fraternity; now Alpha Alpha) to organize a fraternity.”

The growth of Phi Chi is a great monument to the spirit that urged the original group to unite and form a medical fraternity in a city where little was known of such societies. The first members of the Southern Fraternity consisted of the previously mentioned as well as Carey A. Gray and Walker B. Gossett.

On November 5, 1894, a committee was appointed to draft a constitution and not until November 17, were the first officers elected: Presiding Senior, McClung; Presiding Junior, Gossett; Secretary, Kennedy, and Powers, Treasurer (Judge Advocate and the minor officers had not been provided for). Wedding, Chapman, and Shacklett were elected to membership and included with Gossett and Gray in the charter listing of members. The First Regular Meeting was held on Saturday, December 8, 1894. On December 29, 1894, D.A. Garrison, O. K. Harris, E. Rea Norris, and A.P. Campbell were to complete the charter members.

Beta and Gamma chapters were installed in December 1896. On February 26, 1897, the first Grand Chapter Convention of Southern Phi Chi chapters (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta) was called; this date later became Founder’s Day.

The first volume of The Phi Chi Quarterly, the name of the official fraternal publication, was published on April 1, 1904; its name was changed to The Phi Chi Chronicles in 1989.

Phi Chi Medical Fraternity

On March 5, 1905, Phi Chi Medical Fraternity (Southern Phi Chi) and Phi Chi Society (Eastern Phi Chi) were joined in Baltimore, Maryland, making Phi Chi the largest medical fraternity in America. Chapter names that conflicted during the joining were resolved by allowing the older chapter to retain its single name and the second chapter to have its name duplicated (Alpha, University of Vermont, 1889; Alpha Alpha, Louisville Medical College, 1894).

On July 1, 1910, the first history of Phi Chi was published. In 1915, the first Phi Chi Directory was published with 37 active chapters (some chapters had been consolidated) and 6,790 initiated members. 1922 saw the merger of Pi Mu Honor Society and Phi Chi, as well as the chartering of the Beta Mu chapter at McGill University, Phi Chi’s first Canadian Chapter, on May 15.

In December 1925, the 24th Grand Chapter Convention was held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In 1927, the Student Loan Fund was created to provide emergency loans for members in need; it was run by the Phi Chi Welfare Association after its incorporation in 1949.

On February 21, 1948, Phi Alpha Gamma and Phi Chi merged. On February 26, 1960, the fraternity became international with the chartering of the Omega chapter at National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico. On May 21, 1962, ΥΒ chapter was chartered at University of Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

At the XL Grand Chapter Convention in 1973, women medical students were allowed membership. Alpha Alpha and Alpha Beta alumni chapters are chartered in September 1989.