The events that preceded the creation of the Beta Deuteron Chapter are such that no one who had a hand in then is likely to forget. The battle for a charter by a little group of unknowns in an area which was, at that time a wilderness to Phi Sigma Kappa, is memorable.

What eventually became Phi Sigma Kappa began in 1907 as a small campus group that called itself FLX. Though not a Greek letter society, it was secret. The dozen or so young men rented an apartment building just off of University Avenue on Fifteenth Avenue. While it wasn’t much of a place, it made a handy meeting spot between classes. It was here that the final proposal was made to seek a charter from a national fraternity.

What led the young men to decide upon Phi Sigma Kappa, a national fraternity with only one chapter west of New England and the mid-Atlantic states, is a mystery. It posed the problem of persuading the fraternity to alter its policy, not to mention interesting the national officers in a small, recently-formed local chapter. Similarly, the University of Minnesota did not have the same scholarly aura as the eastern schools, much as we might view smaller state schools today.

There were brother alumni in the Twin Cities, but they were inclined to stand aloof. Coming from chapters such as Gamma at Cornell and Epsilon at Yale, they regarded the Minnesota applicants as upstarts. Support was given to the group by J.P. Wentling, a member of the faculty of the agricultural college. The chartering petition was made, and with the help of a few timely recommendations from influential faculty, the charter was granted on May 12, 1910.

History of the Chapter House

With Beta Deuteron a national chapter, soon came a series of moves from one home to another. After the Fifteenth Avenue apartment, the next home was an old house on Twelth Avenue. Next came a move to 1800 University Avenue S.E., where the Fieldhouse now stands. The hectic period was complicated by the fact that the house next door was occupied by the women of Alpha Xi Delta. The next move was to a house on University Avenue between Tenth and Twelth Avenues which the chapter and alumni purchased. This was occupied for several years until the property on which the present house stands was purchased and the chapter house was constructed in 1928. Beta Deuteron holds great pride in the fact that the chapter house was built by two alumni brothers, Harry and Reuben Lovering and their successful Lovering Construction firm.