FarmHouse Fraternity

FarmHouse was formed in 1905 at The University of Missouri (a small agricultural college at the time). In the spring of 1905, three young men (D. Howard Doane, H.P. Rush, and Earl Rask) formed a friendship and desired to form a Agricultural Club. Threrefore the Alpha Zeta chapter of FarmHouse was formed. FarmHouse was created as a club for Agricultural majors and/also men raised on farms to come together. This idea was accepted and several other men were invited to join and it was proposed that they all would live in a rented home in the fall of 1905. When school resumed in September 1905 the group of seven men moved into a house rented from Judge Stewart for $65.00 a month. The men had a wonderful year and, had no problems managing the house themselves. The cost of managing and mantaining the house and the three servants to cook and serve food cost around $300-400 a month. The next year the men hired a matron to assist the men in managing the home. In 1907 the men moved to a new home on the corner of Rollins and Missouri Streets. Also in the same year a club picture was included in the Savitar.

In 1916, FarmHouse was recognized as a professional fraternity. In 1924, FarmHouse became a fraternity on the University of Missouri campus and also joined the Pan Hellenic Council. Plans for nationalizing FarmHouse began in 1915. By this time there were already 3 active chapters. The Nebraska chapter had been independently formed and had just adopted the FarmHouse name. The Illinois chapter had been formed as a duplicate of the Missouri chapter. By 1920, a coat-of-arms and chapter regulations had been formed for all chapters.

During World War II, FarmHouse closed all chapters and let the universities use their houses as dormitories. Full operation of all FarmHouse Chapters resumed in 1947.

FarmHouse joined the National Interfraternity Conference in 1944 as a Junior Member. In 1953, FarmHouse gained full membership in National Interfraternity Conference, and have been very active ever since. A trial merger was tried to merge FarmHouse with Delta Theta Sigma, the trial failed and in 1950 the merger was cancelled. FarmHouse revoked the requirement that all members must have an agricultural major in 1963. Since that time there have been a diverse community of FarmHouse men coming from different backgrounds. In 1974 the first international chapter was opened at the University of Alberta in Alberta, Canada. Currently FarmHouse has 28 Chapters in North America, and is an Alcohol-Free fraternity.