GT Beta Iota History
The founding of the Beta Iota Chapter of Alpha Tau Omega is intertwined with the founding of Georgia Tech. In 1888, Isaac S. Hopkins was selected as the founding President of the Georgia School of Technology. President Hopkins realized the new school needed to develop strong leadership to survive and prosper. As an ATO at Emory, President Hopkins knew that the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity was the best choice for leadership at this new school. On September 18th, 1888, a full month before classes ever began at Tech, President Hopkins, with the help of Frank G. Corker, founded the Beta Iota Chapter of Alpha Tau Omega.
From these noble beginnings, the Beta Iota Chapter has flourished. The chapter house was originally located on North Avenue before moving to its present location at 205 Fourth St NW. Our house on 4th Street was built in 1929 for the Chi Psi fraternity and purchased by ATO July 18th, 1944. The house, which had served as a hospital during WWII, suffered severe fire damage in 1945. The living room wing was rebuilt and several rooms were added at that time.
Alpha Tau Omega National History
During and after the Civil War, families were torn apart, due to brothers fighting on opposite sides. A Virginia Military Institute student, Otis Allan Glazebrook, had a vision to reunite the North and the South in brotherhood. His ideals started Alpha Tau Omega as the first fraternity that would be considered a national fraternity, and it was with Erskine Mayo Ross and Alfred Marshall that he sought to bring together the two factions that had been torn apart. ATO was not established in imitation of or in opposition to any existing fraternity. In June 1935, the ATO Foundation's inception occurred at the 34th Congress in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1950 Indiana University Worthy Master Robert Lollar created "Help Week" setting the pledges to doing good deeds around campus and replacing the traditional "Hell Week." The LeaderShape Institute, Inc. was created in 1996 by Alpha Tau Omega, and today is considered one of the nation's finest leadership skills training programs in the country. ATO was honored by the Smithsonian Institution for innovative use of technology with an award for Information Technology in the field of Government and Non-Profit Organizations in June 1995. The award was given for ATO's innovative use of CompuServe as a communications tool.
View the full history of ATΩ at the national website.