Owl Club (Harvard)

The Owl Club is a men's only final club at Harvard College, founded in 1896. Its clubhouse is located at 30 Holyoke Street in Cambridge, in close proximity to Lowell House.

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The Owl Club

The Owl Club is one of eight final clubs at Harvard, including the Porcellian Club; the A.D. Club; the Fly Club; the Delphic Club; the Phoenix SK Club; the Fox Club; and the Spee Club. The club participates in "punch season" every fall with the other final clubs and elects sophomores and juniors to become members.

Early history

The Owl Club was founded in 1896 by Reginald Mansfield Johnson, Malcolm Scollay Greenough, Jr., Frazier Curtis, Preston Player, Charles Clifford Payson, Austen Fox Riggs, and Dudley Hall Bradlee, Jr. It originally went under the name Αvλòζχαι’‘Εχπωμα (meaning the Pipe and Mug), or Alpha Epsilon.

In 1901, land on the corner of Holyoke Street and Holyoke Place was purchased. In 1905, architect James Purdon of Purdon and Little drew up plans for the Georgian clubhouse, and on June 24 of that year the cornerstone of the present clubhouse was laid. The new building was formally opened on March 24, 1906, the tenth anniversary of the Club.

In 1916, it was voted officially to change the name from “Phi Delta Psi Club” to “The Owl Club”. The club had become informally known as the Owl as an abbreviation of its Greek name, Αvλòζχαι’‘Εχπωμα.

Notable members

References

Further reading