Post Author: dollinca
Featured Image
TKE fraternity house, also known as the Joshua Wilton house, pictured in the Breeze on January 30, 1976. Photo by Don Peterson.
The fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon(TKE) bought the historic Joshua Wilton House on South Main Street from the Shank family in 1973. During this time, Madison College students expressed more interest in the historic homes around the campus and thus preyed on them as affordable off-campus living. The Joshua Wilton House is perhaps the most prestigous dwelling of the neighborhood of Old Towne. Old Towne Harrisonburg is a historic neighborhood of mostly turn of the nineteenth century houses. Harrisonburg zoning ordinances stated that dwellings in Old Towne could house six or more unrelated residents. However the Joshua Wilton house was zoned as a boarding house, an exception to the rule allowing it to have more residents, thus attracting the fraternity.
TKE lived in this historic house in relative peace, with the exception of the frequent weekend keg party. Alumnus Susanne Myers recalls walking from her dorm to the TKE house as one of the few places to socialize off-campus. The franternity would throw “massive” parties which “anybody” could attend. Myers paints a picture reminiscent of the classic movie Animal House as she describes the amount of people, number of kegs, and the normality of brothers “sliding down the stairs” and “jumping out windows.”(Myers)
President Carrier has his own memories of the TKE house parties. It was not uncommon for TKE to receive noise violations and leave a path of destruction along South Main Street leading into downtown. As a result, Dr. Carrier would receive phone calls in the middle of the night with reports of drunken franternity brothers being too rowdy. Furthermore, Dr. Carrier would be requested to take care of the matter with legal or academic consequences. Dr. Carrier would politely oblige, however reach and unplug the phone. According to him, there was no point in quelling a party that would be “be over in an hour anyway.”(Carrier) Dr. Carrier was no push-over, however, as he would walk to the TKE house and wake up the fraternity brothers in the early sunday morning hours to demand that they clean up the litter from the night before. Dr. Carrier always made it a point to keep kids out of legal trouble, however at the same time demanded that the brothers respect the local residents.
After three years of living in downtown, the fraternity’s ownership of the Joshua Wilton House was threatened. In winter of 1976, the TKE house contained sixteen brothers, as was legal in residential zone R-3 which allowed for boarding houses as well as sorority and fraternity houses(Goins, Jan 30) However due to limited parking and increased congestion along Main Street leading into dowtown Harrisonburg, a proposed city ordinance would limit the number of unrelated persons living together in zone R-3 to ten. Dr. Richard Smith, the originator of the requested amendments to the city ordinances also made it clear that his intentions were not only to maintain healthy infrastructure, but also to quell the infusion of college students into residential neighborhoods. In an interview with the Breeze, Dr. Smith stated that he was intending to “retain the character of the South Mason Street neighborhood.”(Goins, Feb. 27)
TKE brothers attended city council meetings, lobbying them to think it over. In an open hearing in which TKE president Bob Cochran attended along with fourteen brothers, Cochran asked the council to waive the regulations for the house because the fraternity would not be able to retain the house with only ten occupants. Furthermore, Cochran listed numerous community service projects that the fraternity had undertaken within Harrisonburg. Regardless, twenty Harrisonburg residents voted unanimously in favor of adopting the amendments. Less than a month later, the amendments became law following a unanimous vote from the city council. Thus, the first battle between Townies and Gownies over housing came to a close, and TKE packed their bags.
Work Cited
Carrier, Ronald, “Class Lecture,” History 337 Local History, James Madison University
Goins, Jennifer, “Zoning: No Problem for TKE?” The Breeze. Jan. 30th, 1976, page 1.
Goins, Jennifer, “TKE House Violates New Density Rules,” The Breeze. Feb 27, 1976, page 1.
Myers, Susanne, “Class Lecture,” History 337 Local History, James Madison University