About

Chapter history

The DC alumnae chapter consists of Delta Gammas living in the District of Columbia, Suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia. Members vary in age from recent graduates to Delta Gammas initiated in 1926. Almost every chapter of Delta Gamma is represented, from some of the single letter chapters (such as Beta chapter at University of Washington and Iota chapter at University of Illinois) to the recently installed chapters (such as Zeta Chi Chapter at University of Delaware and Zeta Psi Chapter at Salisbury State).

The DC alumnae chapter was founded on September 27, 1918. It all began when two Delta Gammas — Irma Twining (Theta-University of Indiana) and Amy Nelson (Xi-University of Michigan) — met by chance on Pennsylvania Avenue in the summer of 1918. They decided to start an alumnae chapter and move in together.

Shortly thereafter, they began reaching out to other Delta Gammas that had come to Washington to help the government during World War I. Irma and Amy also began searching for places to rent, and they settled on a furnished house at 1440 Belmont Road, NW. They agreed to rent the house for one year from a family that would be traveling to Cuba to escape the U.S. war efforts.

By September, 16 young Delta Gamma alums and a chaperone filled the house to capacity. They even had a cook — it was almost as if they were forming a collegiate chapter, but these women were indeed alumnae. On September 16, 1918, a petition was sent to Delta Gamma’s headquarters. The petition for the alumnae group was granted, and the chapter was installed in the early winter of 1918.

Since then, the DC alumnae chapter has been “home” for thousands of Delta Gammas, including Sarah Tilghman Hughes, the first woman to administer the oath of office to a President; Ruth Bryan Owen Rohde, Florida’s first woman elected to U.S. Congress; Betsy Cronkite, wife of Walter Cronkite; and Grace Abbott, the first American sent to the League of Nations to represent the U.S. And that’s just a few!