Founding:
The story of the founding of FarmHouse is well-chronicled. On April 15, 1905, while attending a Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) Bible study, a group of young men studying agriculture at the University of Missouri enjoyed one another's fellowship so much that they decided to organize a club, rent a house, and live together.
These men had no intention of starting a fraternity. The original founders are: D. Howard Doane, Henry Rusk, Earl Rusk, Claud Hutchison, Robert Howard, Melvin Sherwin, and Henry Krusekopf. Founder C.B. Hutchison remarked, “The basic point in our minds was to find a place where we could live and work together to promote our mutual interests in stimulating companionship and fellowship. To make sure no one would think of our club as a fraternity, we gave it what we thought was a non-fraternity name. It was to exemplify agriculture and rural living despite the fact that, of necessity, it had to have an urban locale.”
That "non-fraternity" name was FarmHouse. Originally open only to students of agriculture, FarmHouse now accepts men from all academic fields. Although members now pursue a variety of academic interests, FarmHouse still "exemplifies agriculture and rural living."
The first three chapters of FarmHouse were at the University of Missouri, Nebraska, and Illinois making FarmHouse a national organization in 1921. FarmHouse grew to the status of being an international fraternity on April 20, 1974 after a chapter was started at the University of Alberta, Edmonton.
Objectives of Fraternity
"The Builder of Men"
FarmHouse believes in not hazing. Our motto for hazing is, "We can't build men by tearing down boys". We believe in building the whole man intellectually, spirtitually, socially/morally, and Physically throught the attibutes of Leadership, Scholarship, and Fellowship.
FarmHouse stands for Faith, Ambition, Reverence, Morality, Honesty, Obedience, Unity, Service, and Excellence. All of which are held dear to all our brothers,
Today, you can find FarmHouse on campuses across the United States and Canada. Virginia Tech has become the thirty-second active chapter.
Virginia Tech FarmHouse
FarmHouse became an offical chapter at Virginia Tech on October 16, 2011.
The Virginia Tech FarmHouse chapter has won the Brotherhood Award and the Fraternal Chapter Award in the spring of 2012 in its first full semester as an offical chapter.
The Virginia Tech chapter supports many charities by participating in multiple philanthropies each semester.
On September 29, 2012 the chapter hosted its first annual Mud Run to support Leukemia and Lymphoma society.