1905-06 Volume 30 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

®lj^ Bttnll 0f pi Mta®l|^taVol. XXX APRIL, 1906 No. 4THE COLUMBIA CHAPTER'S NEW HOME.By the time this notice is printed New York Delta will beinstalled in her new 145,000 chapter house. For years thefondest hope of the Columbia Phis was that the chaptermight become established in its own home and be able toobviate the necessity of looking year after year for new quarters.Ever since Columbia moved to its new site in 1897Morningside Heights has been building up and the value ofreal estate has increased phenomenally.In 1896 it was common report that the plot of groundknown as 'South Field,"on which the Columbia dormitoriesstand, was offered to the university trustees for about ?8oo,-000. When the institution, after about seven years at itsnew home, showed that it needed more ground for expansionSouth Field was purchased. The price as reported was inexcess of $2,000,000. In like manner rents have increasedand New York Delta, during the past year, has been burdenedwith a rental of almost $2,000.The chapter owes its opportunity to get into its own houseto Bro. F. Augustus Heinze, Columbia, '8g, the mining engineerwho has achieved such success in Montana.For eleven years New York Delta has been migratory. InJanuary, 1895, when Columbia was still at its old site onMadison Avenue the home of Phi Delta Theta in New YorkCity was at 12 East 42nd Street. The local chapter occupieda large room and several smaller ones on the third floor of acity flat. In the fall of 1895 an apartment nearer the campuswas leased and the 42nd street rooms given up. At firstthe sole lodger in the new quarters was .\rthur P. Van Gelder,'96, but he was joined later by William H. Thompson,a western Phi, George P. Bryant, from Dartmouth, who isnow in the American consular service in Egypt, and Emil J.Riederer, sometime instructor in chemistry at Columbia.