Sigma Delta Rho
Fraternity

Sigma Delta Rho (ΣΔΡ) was a small American's men's fraternity founded on January 8, 1921 at Miami University of Ohio, the fifth general social fraternity to be formed at that school. It "disintegrated" in the spring of 1935 due to pressures of the Great Depression and "absence of strong leadership." About half its chapters were absorbed into other fraternities.
History
Sigma Delta Rho was founded as Delta Sigma Rho at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, on January 8, 1921. The university recognized the new local fraternity under that name. However, it was discovered that there was a previously existing national recognition society of the same name; thus, when the fraternity made plans to become national several months later, it changed its name Sigma Delta Rho by switching the order of the first two letters.
The fraternity was incorporated as Sigma Delta Rho in the State of Ohio. Its five founders were Herbert Ansteatt, Arthur Baker, Roe Bush, Albert O. Grooms, and Gilbert L. Stout.
The fraternity joined the National Interfraternity Conference as a junior member in 1930. By that time, it had 466 members, seven collegiate chapters, and four alumni chapters. Three of its collegiate chapters owned houses.
The public source identifies “Sigma Delta Rho” as fraternity. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Sigma, Delta and Fraternity.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sigma Delta Rho” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.