The early beginning of the Dover Alumni Chapter was closely interwoven with the Beta Sigma Chapter at Delaware State University. 

 

Preceding Dover Alumni by nine years, the Beta Sigma Chapter was chartered on March 8, 1947.  In 1955, at a Beta Sigma alumni tailgate party at Delaware State College’s annual homecoming celebration, Brother William Monroe Hearne, an initiate of Beta Sigma, put forth the idea of establishing an alumni chapter in Dover, Delaware.  All of the brothers residing in lower Delaware were contacted for their approval and a pledge of membership.

 

The chartering process bore fruit on March 10, 1956, when the Grand Chapter granted a charter to Dover Alumni Chapter.   The chartering ceremony was held at the old Rodney Hotel in New Castle County.  Northeastern Province Polemarch, Enos S. Andrews, presented the Charter to Brothers Charles M. Bassellieu, Jr., Samuel C. Davis, William H. Davis, Bennie J. George, Douglas A. Gibson, William M. Hearne, Allen T. Hill, Eugene Holmes, Robert B. Maull, Denver B. Parker, James Parker, B. Franklin Ricketts, Harrison H. Short, George H. P. Smith, and Jonathan Staggers.

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Brother Hearne, now in the Chapter Invisible, was the first Polemarch of the Dover Alumni Chapter.  He later served as Keeper of Exchequer for twenty-five consecutive years.  Another member with a long tenure of service was Brother Harold L. Harmon, also in the Chapter Invisible, was the Keeper of Records for over twenty-five years.

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Initially, the chapter’s monthly Sunday meetings were held at various brothers’ homes.  The agenda of these meetings included Delaware State College’s Homecoming, Founders Day, the Guide Right Program, Province Council/Grand Chapter Meetings, closed entertainment with the Silhouettes, and the annual spring ball.  This formal event, the highlight of the fraternal year, was held at the Convention Center in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.  During the intermission, the Kappa Queen for the coming year was crowned and the brothers would sing “The Sweetheart Song”.

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In 1961, Dover Alumni Chapter joined forces with Wilmington Alumni and Beta Sigma Chapters to host their first Northeastern Province Council from March 31 through April 2.  In 1976, the Dover Alumni Chapter hosted its second Province Council meeting at the Sheraton Inn in Dover, Delaware and the meeting was well attended.

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By 1981, most of the members of the chapter were residents of Kent County and the brothers expressed a desire to find a permanent meeting place.  An agreement was reached that the Dover Air Force Base Officer's Club would serve as the permanent meeting place and the meeting date was changed to the first Wednesday after the fifteenth of each month at 7:00 P.M.  

 

In 1996, the Dover Alumni Chapter hosted its third Province Council Meeting.  The response by the brothers of the Northeastern Province was outstanding.  Many of the Brothers and their Silhouettes in attendance were graduates of Delaware State College and they used this opportunity to revisit the campus and take advantage of Delaware’s tax-free shopping.     

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After the tragedy of September 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center in New York, the military facility was no longer available. Since then the Dover Alumni has held its monthly meetings at various locations in the city including the Eden Hill Medical Center, Delaware State University, and various church facilities in Dover.

      

In 2016 the Dover Alumni Chapter celebrated 60 years of achievement with a Diamond Anniversary Grand Gala, at which occasion many of the Chapter’s noteworthy accomplishments were noted:  

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• At the 1993 Northeastern Province Council meeting- the Dover Alumni Chapter captured three of the top four Province Individual Awards:  Dr. McKinley Wardlaw, Jr. received the James M. Kidd Award, the highest honor given by the Northeast Province, for his lifelong service to the Fraternity; and Brothers Berlin Hollingsworth and James M. McNair were given individual Alumni Achievement Awards for civic involvement.

• Two Dover Alumni Chapter members were elected to the position of Historian of the Northeastern Province.

• In the year 2000 Dover Alumni entered the new millennium with a successful Y2K party.  The success led the Chapter to sponsor the New Year’s Eve party for several subsequent years.

• Dover Alumni spearheaded the project of soliciting the Grand Chapter to authorize an undergraduate charter (Pi Eta) in 2007, after successfully re-establishing a Kappa undergraduate presence at Delaware State University in 1998 via an expansion of the (Xi Mu) Chapter at Wesley College to replace the Beta Sigma Chapter whose charter had been retired.

 

The members of the Dover Alumni Chapter strive for achievement in every field of human endeavor.  A service-oriented body, the Dover Alumni Chapter consistently promotes and encourages positive accomplishments by young men in the Dover Area through its Guide Right Program and its support of the Pi Eta undergraduate chapter at Delaware State University.  Community Service is addressed through the “Adopt-a-Highway” initiative and participation in the annual "Kettle Drive" fundraising project sponsored by the Salvation Army.  In addition, the Chapter provides valuable information upon request through free seminars about prostate, colorectal cancers, sleep apnea, and other health conditions.

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Above all, the men of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated strive to be positive role models for the youth.