Backing up a bit, the
grand old house at 1912 Geddes had burned down in the summer of 1967. The
alumni still owned a historic building, built in 1879 by William LeBaron
Jenney, the first lecturer in Architecture at the University of Michigan who
went on to be known as the Father of the Skyscraper for his use of structural
steel in the Chicago Home Insurance Building. The Shant is a "mystic"
little structure of 2000 sq ft with three stained glass windows. In 1968 it was
still gas lit.
This unfortunate fire
occurring during the summer of 1967, could have marked the end of
Omicron. Prior to the fire, the heating system had become inoperable and
The Omicron Literary Association under the leadership of Paul Elvidge ‘57,
Charlie Liken ‘56 and George Zinn ‘55 had negotiated a sale to move to an
innovative apartment/club house project on Wilmot and Washtenaw. The fire
destroyed these plans, the building was underinsured, litigation resulted and
as a result Omicron was left the Shant as its only asset. After a
semester attempt at rush from the then gas lit Shant, the chapter closed
operations in 1968. When the house burned, the insurance company,
took the position that it was abandoned as it was vacant for the summer. They
were successful in a lawsuit defended by George Zinn for the house, and we then
were sued by the developer as we were totally unable to afford the deal that we
had agreed upon. That suit settled and we found ourselves with a nearly 100
year old building that was in fall down condition, not having had any
renovations since 1879.
At this point Wilfred
Casgrain '16, a Detroit Financier from Grosse Pointe Farms stepped forward and
led a campaign that raised over a hundred thousand and literally rebuilt the
building from the inside out, adding necessities such as electricity, water and
heat! All of this was done with no support from the "National" which
consisted of a fine old Gentleman, James M. Henderson, who had been in DKE's
Employ since 1939 and was based in the Yale Club of New York. The Fraternity
was in a death spiral. From some 55 Chapters at its peak, it was down to 30 or
so functioning chapters who survived only on the strength of their local
alumni. We learned this to our dismay, and knew the only direction for us was
on our own.
I have added a color postcard of 1912 Geddes and filled in a few facts that I had missed in the earlier post. So this is basically a new post.
ReplyDelete1912 Geddes was an old Lumber Baron's home. It was the highest spot in Washtenaw County and directly across from Nichols Arboretum. It was the largest in square footage of any fraternity house on campus. Much of this was the Third Floor Ballroom. Interestingly there was an IFC rule at the time that women were not allowed above the party floor. We would violate this on weekends flying kites and drinking Kegs on a concealed flat roof that was accessible through a hatch in the ceiling of the Garrett where Brother Beta lived. More later.
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