The year of 1958 put Beta Chapter at The Pennsylvania State University and its members, to the ultimate test as the chapter house was the victim of a costly fire during the winter of 1958. According to an article in the Centre Daily Times that day, active brother Donald Alcorn and fraternity cook Annie Heaton detected smoke at about 6:30 AM on February 19, 1958, in different locations within the house located at 126 East Fairmount Ave. Both immediately alerted others and all the occupants were aroused and prepared to evacuate. As they got dressed and tried to save clothing and other belongings, the smoke spread up the front stairs from the basement to the third floor. Many recalled dense smoke inhibiting breathing and sight as they made their way to the rear exterior fire escape. President James Compton first attempted to call the fire department from a second-floor phone, but found it was already dead. Fortunately, he was able to make his way through the smoke to the first floor where a phone was still operable. By the time Alpha Fire Co. firemen arrived the house was fully involved with smoke emitting from various locations. Brother Fred Schuetz recalls standing on the exterior fire escape reading from a house roster to call out each occupant’s name as they stood below in the cold parking lot to assure that all had escaped safely.

The temperature that morning was about 10 degrees Fahrenheit and the brothers huddled in the parking lot and on the street, some wrapped in quickly grabbed blankets, others in the most readily available jackets, not necessarily designed for the frigid temperatures. Neighboring fraternities offered warm shelter and coffee, but many stayed in the cold for several hours as the Alphas battled the blaze for nearly four hours and called for additional help at 7:45 am. Four pumpers and seven hoses were employed before the fire was finally extinguished and the fire chief reported he had to send for extra gasoline to replenish the rapidly diminishing supply in the tanks of the pumpers.  Hoses were extended to hydrants on both Allen and Pugh Streets and traffic on Allen was completely re-routed for a time. Firemen stated there were no fire breaks in the stud spaces of the structure providing a path for the fire to spread quickly through the exterior walls from the basement to the third floor.  The house was the home of our fraternity from 1923.

As the day wore on it was apparent the structure could not be re-occupied, and the brothers set out to make do with the clothes they wore and what they were able to carry. Those who were able to salvage more shared extra layers with those who escaped with the minimum. The newspaper reported one brother saved only what he could hold in the palm of his hand – his wallet and checkbook. 

President Compton and Alumni Association president Fred Hughes and Art Nesbitt led the contacts with the University and community. In a matter of hours, the University offered lodging in a barracks-style dorm that had been built as temporary housing and was scheduled to be razed in a matter of weeks to prepare for the construction of the high-rise Pollock Dorms familiar to students today. State College area businesses quickly came forward to help. A local laundry provided bags and laundered all the members’ clothes that were retrieved after the fire before the smoke damage permanently set in. Several members who lost all their clothing in the fire were given new suits by Jack Harper’s Men’s Store and all the members were given a significant price discount for the purchase of new clothes for several months following at other men’s stores. Complimentary meals were offered to the active members for several days until arrangements were made for group dining.

Of great importance was the opportunity organized by House Advisor Glenn Kean for the fraternity to have their mid-day and evening meals prepared by our cook at the Evangelical United Brethren Church, now the Albright Bethune United Methodist Church, of which Brother Kean was a member. The arrangement allowed the actives to continue to have Mrs. Heaton prepare the meals so they could continue to dine together and especially to continue hosting an active rush program. 

During the spring semester, the local Alumni led by President Fred Hughes, Vice President Tom King, Secretary Don Cross, Treasurer Horace “Busty” Mann, Don Ace, Art Nesbitt, and others worked many hours to negotiate an insurance settlement, sell the Fairmount Ave. property, establish an alumni fundraising campaign, acquire financing and locate a property suitable for a new house. 

Amazingly, a Centre Daily Times article on April 26, 1958, announced the purchase of the three-story stone house at the corner of West College Avenue and North Patterson Street which would become the new home of the Beta Chapter of Delta Theta Sigma. The Spring Dinner Dance in 1958 was held at the Eutaw House in Potters Mills, a popular steak house at the time, and the plans for the fund-raising campaign to purchase the new property were outlined in a very long well-attended Alumni Association meeting.

As the spring semester drew to a close, the critical need to attract a large, quality pledge class to fill the planned new house in the fall was apparent. Local alumni planned and financed a dinner at the Penn State room of the Nittany Lion Inn to give assurance to the rushees who received bids that they would have a house to move into in the fall.  Don Ace gave a stirring and memorable speech describing the lifelong values of fraternity membership. Ten attendees accepted their bids shortly after the dinner and before the end of the semester, twenty-one pledges were accepted into the largest pledge class ever for the fall. These members of the graduating class of 1961 have continued their bond through annual gatherings for more than five decades, perhaps being the closest of any class and fulfilling Brother Ace’s promise of the value of a lifelong relationship. Among them is Paul Semmel who served as president of the Beta Chapter Alumni Association beginning in 2010 and led our fraternity for 10 years, at a time when the future of Beta Chapter was again uncertain.

Members can hardly imagine the hours of work and faith that was required to bring together the identification, financing, and purchase of the property at 101 North Patterson St. and then design and build the addition containing the kitchen and dining room plus second-floor study rooms in time for the fall semester to begin. Brother Les Moyer, a retired vo-ag teacher and local contractor served as the builder and worked with the building committee to complete the construction in the short time allowed by the summer break. Although the addition wasn’t entirely finished on move-in day, about 40 brothers and pledges set up their new home before classes began.