Changes

Location of the first chapter meetings is not known, but records show that in 1891 the girls were gathering in the home of a member, Sarah Elizabeth O'Kane (Raymond) at 215 West Tenth Avenue.

In 1916, a small apartment was rented above Long's Book Store on North High Street and furniture donated by Columbus Kappas. During World War I male students who had not joined the service were required, as members of the ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps), to live in temporary barracks erected on the campus. Rather than close the Phi Gamma Delta house, the president offered it to the Kappas. The few out-of-town members had already made arrangements to live in dormitories, so the house was used as a meeting place and for entertaining.

The war period was one of unrest on the campus. Many girls left school to fill positions left open by men who had enlisted, and others were on call for nurses's training. Beta Nu and the Columbus alumnae collected clothing for chapter member Dorothy Canfield Fisher's Dispensaire in France in addition to rolling bandages and knitting socks. The chapter pledged $500 to the YWCA. To raise the money the chapter made and sold sandwiches to the fraternities after Monday night meetings, sold flowers at football games, gave subscription dances, and performed many other small jobs.

After the war, the Kappas and Delta Gammas leased and shared an apartment at Sixteenth Avenue and High Street. In 1920, a six-room apartment was rented at 24 Fifteenth Avenue. It was occupied by four out-of-town members and a chaperone. A cook was hired and lunches served to town girls.

With the increase in the number of out-of-town girls a larger house was soon needed and one was purchased in 1926 at 84 Fifteenth Avenue, the street which has always been known as "the gate to campus." The purchase price of $30,000 was raised with the help of a loan from the Fraternity. Ten girls and a housemother used its one family-sized bathroom. A third floor with a chapter room and smaller rooms for initiation was considered to be very "posh," although fainting in the heat of initiation was standard procedure.

In 1936,"...with the mortgage reduced and the income increased," to quote from the January, 1937, ''Banta's Greek Exchange'', the work of remodeling this former family home into a sorority house was accomplished. Once again, Kappa was first with a "real" sorority house. An addition provided housing for 15 girls, larger bathroom facilities, a housemother's suite with bath, a large living room, larger kitchen and dining facilities, a basement chapter room, and, in tune with the times, a parking lot in the rear.

Kappa actives and alumnae also volunteered at USO (United Service Organization) canteens and the Kappa Service Women's Center in the Chittenden Hotel. It was one of 14 Fraternity-sponsored centers sprinkled across the country. Nola Dysle Havens was chairman of the Columbus suite, which provided a lounge area for servicewomen to rest and relax as they passed through Ohio's capital city. Kappa projects supported the Nora Waln Fund for bombed-out families in England, and Columbus women spent countless hours creating baby clothes for layettes which were sent to Norway through the fund.

More growing pains brought about the purchase of an old house at 55 Fifteenth Avenue to be used for an annex until money could be raised to build the Kappa "Dream House" on the new site. A goal of $30,000 was set by the alumnae association and the struggle began. Through rummage sale, bake sales, bridge and bingo parties, redemption of state sales tax stamps, the compilation of a Beta Nu Directory, and many other projects the goal was reached. A loan from Hazel Zeller Nesbitt gave a boost to the project. The interest was donated to the chapter later. The house was started in 1950 and ready for occupancy in the fall of 1952 at a cost of $225,000, including furnishing and landscaping. The house at 84 Fifteenth Avenue was sold to Zeta Tau Alpha for $57,000.

An alumnae association was first given public mention March 16, 1901. By 1930, about 75 percent of the 150 alumnae living in Columbus were active members. Mary Blakiston Guild, first initiate of Beta Nu Chapter, was the organizer of the group and served as its first president in 1901 and again in 1922. Upon her death her badge was given to the chapter to be worn by the president.