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→The Early Years (Excerpted from The History of Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity: 1870-1976)
In the fall of 1895 six Kappas moved to Beta Delta's first chapter house at Washington and Ingalls Streets. There were six more moves before the $19,000 house was built at 1204 Hill Street. Ground had been broken April 1910, and 22 girls were housed in the unfurnished building that fall. Beta Delta's Grand President Florence Burton Roth was guest of honor at the housewarming.
==World War I Era==
World War I brought meatless, wheatless days of sacrifice and service, Red Cross knitting, farmerette duties and many forms of thrift. On Armistice Day an impromptu Kappa dance brought in servicemen and a jazz band. A highlight of the year 1924 was the wedding of Theodosia Burton Stewart, X - Minnesota, daughter of the university president. The entire chapter, dressed in pastel formal gowns, adorned the balcony of the elegant new Clements Library where the ceremony took place. They also attended, with such luminaries as Henry Ford, the reception that followed in the president's residence next door.
Visits from Dorothy Canfield Fisher, BN-Ohio State, and Robert Frost, while he was the university's Poet-in-Residence, were also of great interest to the chapter.
==Highlights of the 1920s==
Outstanding Beta Deltas of the 1920s include three honored in architecture: Marion Frances Blood, awarded the Booth Scholarship in Architecture; Ruth Goodhew Chasteney, editor of Architectural Forum magazine; Frances Sutton Schmitz, first woman architect registered in the State of Michigan, a long term member of the Fraternity Housing Committee, and recipient of a Kappa Distinguished Alumnae Award. Phyllis Laughton Seaton became the first Michigan coed to direct the Junior Girls Play, later a leading drama coach in Hollywood, California, and a mayor of Beverly Hills.
The paramount interest of Michigan women during this period was the planning and financing of a Women's League building as a campus activities headquarters. At that time women were not allowed to enter the men's Michigan Union by the front door, or use the building for meetings. In 1923 Beta Delta stood first in contributions among organized houses, and in 1929 the beautiful million dollar Michigan League made the university the first and only campus with two student buildings.
==Highlights of the 1930s--
The Kappa Kronicle, chapter financed, which appeared in the spring of 1931, has been continuously published and has received many Fraternity awards. It chronicles the times for Beta Delta alumnae. The Depression years note such items as the addition of a water softener, linoleum in the attic dorm ("no more splinters"), and electrical equipment in the pantry. ("Now we can have hot toast and even an egg in the morning if we pay a nickel.")
After the Depression came lighter, happier times. Initiates of 1937 were required to skip, rather than walk, and to bow when encountering an active. Beta Delta's Helen Bower, star reporter for the Detroit Free Press and editor of The Key from 1930 to 1946, often came to initiation banquets, delighting each new class with her rendition of "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere," complete with gallops across the dining room floor. This was the Big Band era. Kappas danced to the music of Jimmy Dorsey at one end of the Intramural Building and Kay Keyser at the other at the "U Hop" in 1938. In the late 1930s dressy Michigan coeds no longer strolled down the "Diag," the main walk on campus, in high heels, gloves, and hats. Instead they wore saddle shoes, skirts, and cardigans (preferably Braemars( buttoned down the back, and always with pearls.
==Highlights of the 1940s==
The high point of 1940 was the celebration of fifty golden years of Beta Delta. Two charter members, Mildred Hinsdale and Lucy Clark Terry, and two Kappa presidents, Elizabeth Bogert Schofield, M-Butler, and Florence Burton Roth, were honored guests. Over 100 attended the reunion and formal banquet with Helen Bower as toastmistress.
A Sunday round table of advisers and new and outgoing chapter officers was instituted, a practice giving greater continuity to chapter programs, later to be recommended by the Fraternity to other chapters. The year 1942 had marked the last spring initiation to be held for a decade. There followed constant revision and re-evaluation of the rushing system, forcing continual change in the chapter social and financial patterns, culminating in 1949, in a quota system designed to spread membership to all houses, but never succeeding.
==Highlights of the 1950s==
Seniors emerged as secure and dedicated young women in the 1950s, aspiring to assume their roles in the world. Nancy Watkins Osius became the first woman president of the Literary College senior class and was selected by McCall's Magazine as the outstanding 21-year-old woman in the country. She later received a Rotary scholarship to study in Scotland. Gloria James Kerry chose a career in dentistry and became a leading periodondist. She received a Kappa Alumnae Achievement Award some years later.
Student Government Council began to interest itself in sorority rushing procedures and membership clauses. In 1957 it dictated a return to deferred rushing, which marked the beginning of significant changes in student attitudes, and presented constant challenges to keep the sorority system alive and healthy.
==Highlights of the 1960s==
In 1960, Beta Delta marked its 50th year as a corporation, and in 1965, the 75th anniversary of its founding. At the celebration luncheon "diamonds" were everywhere, even glued on the euonymus sprays massed on the tables. Once gain Mildred Hinsdale, now 95, delighted the more than 200 guests with reminiscences.