History
The Texas Chapter of Acacia was founded April 6, 1916. The chapter has had several ups and downs; closing around 1934, and re-opening in 1947. Texas Acacia thrived after re-opening, becoming one of the most prominent houses on campus with average pledge classes of 50 men a year.
1981- “Unlike other Greek houses, the Acacia house, home of one of the most prominent fraternities on campus, exhibits a Greek word instead of a group of letters”
Membership started to dwindle during the late 1980′s and was closed on September 2, 1989 for financial reasons. The house, located at 2614 Rio Grande, remained in possession of the Acacia Building Association and was leased out to other sororities and fraternities. In 2003, many of the Texas alumni banded together to form the Acacia Expansion Association, which raised funds for a re-colonization effort at the University of Texas, which began in the fall of 2003.
The Texas alumni brought Patrick McGovern, a leadership consultant for Acacia and former Venerable Dean of the Indiana Chapter, down to Texas to aide in the recruiting process. After several weeks and a scholarship program, the colony was established with seven re-founding fathers in the fall of 2003.
The Re-founding Fathers: Top (L to R)Robert York, Jacob Sloan, Brian Mayo.
Bottom: Chris Brown, Russell Goodman, Andrew Hsu, and Michael Strohmann.
The colony operated as a chapter from the time of their pledging and the re-founding members were initiated December of 2003 in Austin alongside the A&M colony by a group of alumni and actives from the Northwestern Oklahoma and Central Oklahoma Chapters.
In the fall of 2004, the colony moved into a temporary location at 2623 Salado Street, just on the other side of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority house from the Acacia-owned house at 2614 Rio Grande Street. At the time, the colony had only 10 members. Over the next two years the colony’s membership grew, and on May 6, 2006, the colony was re-chartered at a banquet held in Austin with a membership of 29 men. Later in that month, the chapter gave notice to the current residents of 2614 Rio Grande that Acacia would be exercising its option to move back into its former residence. In August of 2007, Acacia re-occupied our house at 2614 Rio Grande, and the chapter has been growing and thriving in its home ever since.
The chapter today continues to be very active in human service for the community. We were recognized at the 2006 Conclave for Excellence in Communications Technology, Chapter Advisor of the Biennium (Robert Mickam), and Best Young Chapter/Colony for their superior operations and commitment to Acacia’s ideals. In the Fall of 2009 the Acacia Building Association was re-organized and during the summer made great improvements to the house, most notably replacing the roof, remodeling the kitchen, painting and redecorating the interior, and enclosing the property with a fence.
