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April 17 marks the anniversary of Beta Sigma Psi Fraternity. It was on this day in 1925 that the dreams of the Founders were realized when incorporation papers were filed in Springfield, Illinois....
Fredrick William Gustav Stiegemeyer, the son of a Lutheran Pastor, was born on January 16, 1878 in a parsonage in Dubuque, Iowa. Early in his life he decided to follow his father's footsteps and to serve the Lord. He received his college education at Concordia College in Ft. Wayne Indiana, and prepared for the ministry at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis.
The Rev. Stiegemeyer was a staunch Lutheran, who served his congregations faithfully, and was not afraid to introduce new ideas that he thought would further the Lord's work. After serving churches in Ohio, West Virginia, and Illinois, he accepted a divine call to St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Champaign, Illinois in 1911. As part of his ministry there he was to serve the students at the University of Illinois.
The Lutheran Church was awakening to the needs of a growing Lutheran student population. Rev. Stiegemeyer's early experiences with college students convinced him that young men away from home for the first time were easily influenced by those around them. His chief concern was to help Lutheran Students remain in contact with each other and the church of their childhood and youth. Hence, he cast about for ways to increase student's knowledge of the Lutheran heritage, and for group activities that would keep them together while at school.
In the autumn of 1919, he and 10 male students organized the Lutheran Illini League. Their intention in forming the group was to do no more then meet once or twice a week for religious instruction and discussion. The league grew during its first year, and as members became more acquainted with one another, someone suggested organizing a living group.
When classes began in September of 1920, the 20 members of the Lutheran Illini League rented a house, and later reorganized as the Concordia Club. Rev. Stiegemeyer was so pleased with the with the progress of the club that he communicated his enthusiasm to fellow pastors and prominent laymen in Illinois. The Club held its first initiation ceremony in March, 1921. Beta Sigma Psi's first nation president, Edgar Friedrichs, later wrote that the members seemed to be inspired "with a form of missionary zeal and a desire to spread the program to other universities."
Concordia Club Secretary, Paul Sanmann, soon wrote a letter to the Rev. Paul Schmidt at Purdue University, urging him to organize a similar club at the school. Pastor Schmidt responded with action, and the Purdue Concordia Club was soon organized. On September 3, 1921, Pastor Schmidt called to the attention of the state convention of the American Luther League the existence of the this new club, and asked that something be done for it. With their assistance, a house was purchased for the club for the beginning of the 1922-23 school year.
Meanwhile, at Illinois Pastor Stiegemeyer was so encouraged by the progress of the club, that he also inaugurated plans for the purchase of house. With the assistance of Alfred H. Gilster, Henry H. Horst and A. H. Harms, he helped raise money for the purchase of the house. Mr. Gilster was an uncle to one of the clubs members, William Welge. In the autumn of 1922, the members of the Illinois Concordia Club moved into their new home, this time as property owners.
Illinois Concordia Club members regularly participated in campus activities, so much so that they heard their group being referred to as the "Concordia Fraternity." Such talk may well have been among the circumstances that encouraged some of them to give serious thought to reorganizing the Club and making it part of the University's fraternity system.
Such talk, however, spawned serious debate among Club members. Many thought that such a move would deprive the organization of its Lutheran Character, and cause it to forfeit some of its most cherished objectives. They felt that by joining the fraternity system, they would run the risk of becoming progressively secularized and would end up as "just another fraternity."
The debate continued into the 1924-25 school year. In truth, the Concordia Club at Illinois and Purdue closely resembled fraternities, having adapted a fraternity-like constitution, a crest, a badge, and even an initiation ritual. At Illinois, those in favor of joining the fraternity system pointed out that the group could have a voice in shaping fraternity policy on campus, and could be an example for the other fraternities. Meetings were held, and plans were laid to organize as a new national fraternity.
Those men who worked on these plans were convinced that they would create a national fraternity that could maintain all the noble aspirations of the early Concordia Club members. Those who shared this conviction were:
- Harold Ahlbrand
- Wilbur E. Augustine
- Norbert W. Behrens
- Herman Gilster
- Arden F. Henry
- Russel Henry
- Julius J. Seidel
- William H. Welge.
These men, along with Rev. Gustav Stiegemeyer are considered the founders of Beta Sigma Psi.
The founders decided to act in the spring of 1925. Incorporating papers were filed for Beta Sigma Psi on April 17, 1925 in Springfield, Illinois. This is the founding date of our fraternity. The selection of Beta Sigma Psi as a name was the result of the consultations on the part of the Ahlbrand brothers. Harold's brother, Bruno, was a student at Purdue, and a third brother, Carl, was a student at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. Only one day after the papers were filed, the bronze nameplate of Beta Sigma Psi was proudly installed on the house in Champaign.
Other Concordia Clubs had been formed by this time at the University of Michigan and the University of Nebraska, but the Purdue Club was nearby and well-organized. One month after Alpha Chapter was formed, some of its members drove to Purdue to help organize Beta Chapter. The prompt establishment of a National Council is an indication that the founders had in mind from the start the formation of a new national organization, not just a local fraternity.
The 1920's were years of prosperity in America, and Beta Sigma Psi's earliest growth reflected that prosperity. By 1929, new chapters had been installed at Michigan and Nebraska, guests from other Concordia Clubs were attending the National Council meetings, and Alpha Chapter was busy building a new chapter house that "would compare with the finest on campus."
Such optimism, however, did not reckon with the gravity of the Great Depression. The depression made fraternity financing very difficult, and Gamma Chapter at the University of Michigan closed in 1933. Alpha Chapter held on through the 1930's, but World War soon threatened to take the students away from campus. In November, 1940, Alpha Chapter's beautiful house was sold on the Court House steps in Danville, Illinois. Along with the house went many of the early records of the Fraternity.
As delegates to the 1942 National Council meeting traveled to Delta Chapter at the University of Nebraska, they faced some difficult questions. Beta Sigma Psi now had only two chapters, Beta and Delta. The early questions relating to growth and prosperity had been transformed by depression and war into questions of survival. The delegates pondered how best to keep the spirit of Beta Sigma Psi alive, and search for leaders that would help.
They found such a leader in Delmar Lienemann, an undergraduate member of Delta Chapter. Del was elected Secretary/Treasurer, the forerunner of today's Executive Director position. He started his job with little more than the National Constitution and a great determination to force life back into the Fraternity. He Immediately began communicating with all Beta Sigs, and began to lay the groundwork for post-war expansion.
After World War II, college students began returning to campuses, and Beta Sigma Psi was ready to grow once again. Epsilon Chapter became the first post-war Chartering at the 1949 National Council Meeting in Ames, Iowa. Zeta Chapter at Kansas State joined the rolls in 1951, and Eta Chapter, from the University of Missouri at Rolla, was chartered in 1952.
At the 1952 National Council meeting, again held in Ames, the fraternity found another leader who would work with Del for many years. John Hingst, an alumnus of Beta Chapter, was elected National President, and held that position for 17 years. In 1955, the fraternity rejoiced at the reactivation of Alpha Chapter at the Fraternity's birthplace, the University of Illinois.
This growth has continued since then under the guidance of many great leaders. Del Lienemann retired from his position in 1964. For 22 years he had served as the volunteer administrative head of the Fraternity, but by that time the Fraternity had nine chapters and could hire a full-time staff member. Because of his contributions, our Fraternity's highest award is named for him.
The future of the Fraternity is in the hands of its members. Edgar Friedrichs, Beta Sigma Psi's first national president, once observed that "Beta Sigma Psi was organized as a means of serving the Church -- as a means to the end. Let us therefore be vigilant lest the means become an end in itself." Constant re-examination of our founders' goals, and rededication to them, will ensure a prosperous future for Beta Sigma Psi.
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