At nine o'clock on the evening of the eighth day of the eighth month of the year 1839, eight earnest young men, all students at Miami University, held the first meeting of Beta Theta Pi in the Hall of the Union Literary Society, an upper room in the old college building known as "Old Main". The eight founders in the order in which their names appear in the minutes were:

John Reily Knox, 1839
Samuel Taylor Marshall, 1840
David Linton, 1839
James George Smith, 1840
Charles Henry Hardin, 1841
John Holt Duncan, 1840
Michael Clarkson Ryan, 1839
Thomas Boston Gordon, 1840
"of ever honored memory, sir"

The Founder's Paragraph (above) is from the minutes of the first meeting of Beta Theta Pi. Ever since that fateful day in 1839, Beta has continued to grow and spread throughout North America. Spanning over 160 years and covering two countries, our history and traditions are very important to us.

For more information about Beta Theta Pi in general, click here.
For more information about our chapter, click here.
Also, in an effort to maintain some history relating to the ties of brotherhood within our own chapter, we have started the family tree project, which can be found by clicking here.