Jacquetta Downing's Sorosis speech, given in 1940.
Thursday, April 11, 1940 was a historic day for the members of Sorosis, as it marked the groundbreaking for Sorosis House. At last, the oldest sorority on the campus of the former University of Wichita would have a permanent home.
This was due to the visions of its foundress, Flora C. Clough, and the day-and-night efforts of her successor, Edith Fultx Fletcher. The cost of this house, whose official address was 1704 N. Holyoke, was nominal by today's building standards – about $6,500 – but a tidy sum in 1940.
To celebrate their good fortune, the members of Sorosis (which later became a chapter of the Delta Delta Delta sorority) gathered at the Innes Tea Room on May 4, 1940, for their Founder’s Day Luncheon.
“This spring is one that we shall call an historical occasion,” Jacquetta Downing ’21 said in her speech to members of her sisterhood. “It will record the breaking of ground for the long dreamed of Sorosis House. However, this could not have taken place if there had not been a heritage of historical stepping stones that laid a durable foundation for the future generations of Sorosis.”
Founded by Clough in 1897, Sorosis was originally envisioned as a literary society, but Clough’s ultimate intentions were to help young women succeed not only academically, but in life as well, a vision Fletcher also shared during her tenure as Sorosis’ faculty advisor.
Yet, had it not been for Clough, Sorosis, either in its inception as a literary society or its metamorphosis into a more socially-oriented sorority, would not have existed.
Between 1897 and the summer of 1940 (when members would actually move into Sorosis House), the sorority had many homes. It was originally assigned rooms in Fairmount Hall, and when that burned in 1928 it was assigned to rooms in Jardine Hall.
“I was a sophomore when we moved in,” remembers Jean Wolcott ’43, who still meets with seven Sorosis members for lunch once a month. “We all thought it was fantastic. It was a southern-style, one-story building made of red brick, and it had white pillars.” She adds with a laugh, “We made sure we took all our classes in the morning. Then we’d go over to the house, fix lunch and play bridge all afternoon.”
While Clough could not attend the luncheon that May, in an April 1940 letter to Sorosis alumnae she wrote, “Now there is a permanent home for Sorosis and my happiness, like yours, is very deep and heartfelt. I want all of you to be at home and feel that you had a part in creating it, for you are all links in the chain of Sorosis friendship that began long ago, and will extend far down the years to come.”
