{"id":598,"date":"2024-04-26T20:11:54","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T20:11:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/?p=598"},"modified":"2025-10-13T17:26:53","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T17:26:53","slug":"delta-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/delta-club\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cDelta Club\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Hewitt\u2019s rooming house, first home of the Delta Club, 210 Michigan Avenue (renumbered as 334 Michigan). Photo from 1915, when it housed Aurorean. See the Society Houses<\/a>. Image source: Wolverine<\/em> (1915), p. 203.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In spring 1910, a group of junior faculty (mostly instructors, with a few assistant professors and Experiment Station research assistants) formed the \u201cDelta Club.\u201d Beal only tells us that it was organized in 1910 and in 1913 \u201coccupies the Hewit house.\u201d He gives no description of the group and lumps it in with the\u00a0literary societies<\/a>\u00a0and other student organizations, which it was not. Rather, it was organized to provide its members, who were all college staffers, with cost-effective access to room and board.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is perhaps no coincidence that the Delta Club was formed in the same year that Station Terrace<\/a> became the Post Office, thereby disbanding its Experiment Station residency and reducing the number of rooms available to rent there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Delta Club began with thirty-three members, and in September 1910 it leased \u201cthe fine, large home of Mr. Hewitt, on Michigan avenue\u201d to house sixteen roomers and furnish meals for twenty-four. The house, built by Frank and Frances Hewitt in 1908 before East Lansing had street addresses, was variously numbered as 210 or 214 prior to 1920. It is still standing today at 334 Michigan Avenue.2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The club quickly became more than just a place to sleep and eat. It was a hub of social activity for unmarried members of the faculty, hosting weekly open houses with music and entertainment along with occasional gatherings for dinner and card games. Club members also sponsored several dance parties in the assembly room of the new Agriculture Hall<\/a>. Its diversions were delightfully wholesome:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Delta Club were entertained one evening the past week by a chalk talk, given by [Instructor in Drawing Isabel Pearl] Snellgrove and other members of the drawing department. Cartoons were made of the various members of the faculty, and a good time enjoyed by all.<\/p>\nMAC Record<\/a> 16(26), 21 Mar 1911, p. 3.<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

At the start of the 1914\u201315 school year, the Delta Club moved to 258 Michigan Avenue, one house away from the tip of\u00a0the Delta<\/a>, which had been built in 1898 as the home of Bacteriology Professor\u00a0Charles E. Marshall<\/a>\u00a0and his family. In this somewhat smaller residence, the number of Delta Club roomers was reduced to six. Mrs. Mahala Rhead ran the house and boarding accommodations, possibly with the help of her daughter Lucille (w\/\u201920).<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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Delta Club residents, current and former, on the porch at 258 Michigan Avenue in February 1917. This footnote identifies each man and his occupation: †<\/a><\/sup> Image source: MSU Archives<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

Several faculty who were members of the Delta Club had long careers with Michigan State:<\/p>\n\n\n\n