Phi Kappa Psi was founded on February 19, 1852 by William Henry Letterman and Charles Page Thomas Moore, two students at Jefferson College who were nursing and watching over their stricken friends during an epidemic of typhoid fever. Through the long night vigils, the two decided that they should establish a group that was founded upon the great joy they received from selflessly helping others. Th
at Spring the fraternity began to grow and flourish at Jefferson College, gradually expanding to include other upperclassmen. All idealists, the initial members of Phi Kappa Psi sought to create a new kind of fraternity, one that would supplement the university's goal of improving students' intellect by cultivating its members' humanity. They believed that unless driven by a proper love for and service to mankind, an educated man is too apt to shrink from the human race, a waste of his talents. The original members wanted the ideals behind Phi Kappa Psi to spread and thus founded Phi Kappa Psi as a national fraternity with intent to spread across the nation. The Pennsylvania Iota Chapter of Phi Kappa Psi was founded by Edgar Fahs Smith and Otis Kendall on February 19, 1877. Since then, it has continued to thrive as a fraternity and maintain the utmost standard of brotherhood, community service, and integrity.
