LOOK BACK KAPPA HISTORY
Host Cities, 1911-1968
BOSTON, 1 965
LOS ANGELES, 1947, 1957
ATLANTA, 1956
SAN FRANCISCO, 1964
SAN ANTONIO, 1939
of the members of the Grand Board of Directors, and recapped the 12th Grand Chapter Meeting. ALTERNATING SEASON CONCLAVES 1960s-1980s To accommodate a desire to host Con- clave during the fraternity’s Golden Anniversary year of 1961, the fra- ternity modified the Grand Chapter Meeting schedule for this milestone event by skipping 1960. After the Golden Anniversary Conclave, the fraternity moved from meeting annu- ally to an 18-month rotation where Grand Chapter Meetings were held in the winter and the summer. Up to this point, the fraternity, with a few excep- tions, held its annual Grand Chapter Meeting the week after Christmas and before New Year's Day, typically lasting three to four days.
POSSIBLE REASONS WHY GRAND CHAPTER MEETINGS WERE HELD IN THIS GEOGRAPHIC CLUSTER • Chapters in cities that could manage the responsibility of hosting a GCM • Popular locations for members at the time due to travel logistics (use of train, bus, and automobile rather than air travel) • Avoidance of southern cities due to Jim Crow laws excluded the opportunities to secure adequate meeting locations and lodging.
This alternative 18-month season format for Conclaves remained for nearly the next three decades and ended in 1989 with the last winter Conclave, the 69th Grand Chapter Meeting held in Los Angeles, CA, from December 26-30, 1989. Starting with the 70th Grand Chapter Meeting in Orlando, FL, in 1991, the fraternity has maintained a 24-month meeting rotation with
Conclaves planned to occur in the summer months of odd-number years.
THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GRAND CHAPTER MEETINGS The above map reveals the geography of Grand Chapter Meetings venues. Between 1911 and 1968, an over- whelming majority of Grand Chapter Meeting host cities (identified by the black location symbol residing
36 THE JOURNAL ♦ WINTER 2024-2025
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