About Us

On May 24, 1913, Harold A. Severy, an alumnus of the Middlebury chapter doing graduate study here at Cornell University, founded KDR's second chapter. The original twenty-three members of Beta chapter made their home at the local YMCA, and the chapter remained active until the first World War, when it closed temporarily. Beta chapter was refounded in 1920 and moved to 306 Highland Road (next door to our present address). The house continued to grow throughout the 1920s and was a strong athletic fraternity during the 1930s, winning, perhaps for the last time in history, Cornell's all-sports trophy in 1935. The chapter closed again (as did all Kappa Delta Rho chapters) for the second World War, and was refounded by local alumni in the spring of 1950. In 1952 we moved into our current address at 312 Highland Road, and in 1964, a new wing including a kitchen, a dining room, and several new study rooms was added to keep up with the increasing needs of the brotherhood. The house itself has an interesting history as well. It was built in 1909 as an experiment by Cornell University's architecture school - all the outside walls of the original structure are made entirely of poured cement.