Omega Psi Phi

This Victorian structure, built in the early 1890s, houses the Detroit chapter of the first national Greek letter fraternity established at a Negro university. Omega Psi Phi was founded in 1911 at Howard University in Washington, D.C. The Greek letters symbolize the motto “Friendship is essential to the soul.” DeWitt T. Burton, Francis Dent, and O. T. Davis formed Nu Omega, the local chapter; in 1923. Fifteen years later Nu Sigma, the undergraduate chapter, began at Wayne State University. Purchased in 1942 by Nu Omega, this house fulfilled the fraternity’s initial purpose by creating an association of college men with similar ideals of manhood, scholarship, perseverance, and uplift. Many members of this chapter achieved local or national prominence.