Some Historical Notes on 441 College Avenue
By David M. Stameshkin, ‘10
The new chapter house of the Delta-Rho Chapter of Kappa Sigma Fraternity at 441 College Avenue has strong and significant historical connections to the College, to the City and County of Lancaster, and to the former chapter house at 249 North Charlotte.
The House That Kieffer Built (1903-1910)
On April 1, 1893, F&M Professor John Brainerd Kieffer purchased from the estate of Jacob Griel a vacant building lot on the east side of College Avenue about 150 feet south of the southeast corner of College and James Street. Ten years later, Kieffer’s colleague and friend, F&M Professor Joseph Dubbs (the first initiate of Chi Phi in 1855), who had built a home in the 1890s on the southeast corner of James and College, conveyed to Kieffer a small additional piece of land on the east side of College Avenue that gave Kieffer additional frontage on College Avenue towards James Street. Around that time, Kieffer built the house that Kappa Sigma now owns.
Professor Kieffer taught Classics at the College from 1878 to his death in 1910. He was also the College Librarian and was instrumental in the construction of the Watts-DePeyster Library, located across the street from 441 College, which served F&M from 1898 to the mid-1930s, when it was razed and the new Fackenthal Library constructed in its place. This library was subsequently renovated and renamed as Shadek-Fackenthal, Shadek being the namesake of Delta-Rho initiates Mark ’05 and Chris ’06.
The President’s House (1910-1919)
In the summer of 1909, Henry Harbaugh Apple (F&M Class of 1889 and a Phi Kappa Psi) moved from York, where he had been serving as a minister, to begin his 26-year tenure as F&M’s President. At the time, the College did not have a house available for the new president, so Apple moved temporarily into a small apartment at 614 North Duke Street. When Professor Kieffer died in the summer of 1910, the College apparently arranged with Kieffer’s family to rent the house for use as the home of President Apple, and 441 College became the President’s House until 1919, when the newly-acquired building (now known as the Huegel Alumni House) was designated as the President’s House, and remained as such until 1966.
The Amazing Connection Between 249 N. Charlotte and 441 College Avenue
After President Apple moved out of 441, Kieffer’s daughter, Josephine Kieffer Foltz, moved to sell the house. Coincidentally, Mrs. Foltz and her husband, Charles Steinman Foltz, Sr., had built a new house at 249 N. Charlotte in the 1890s—the same house that would be the chapter house for the Delta-Rho Chapter of Kappa Sigma from 1960 to 2015—and their son, Charles (grandson of Professor Kieffer!) would become a Kappa Sigma Brother in 1929, graduate from F&M in 1931, and enjoy an outstanding career in journalism.
Griest Family Home (1919-1967)
Mrs. Foltz sold the house in 1919 to George Whittier Griest and his wife, Mabel (Richards) Griest. George was one of two children of perhaps the most prominent man in Lancaster Country, William Walton Griest, who represented Lancaster County in Congress for 20 years, among many other accomplishments. The Griest Building in downtown Lancaster (for a long time the tallest building in the County) is named for him.3 George Griest died in 1940, leaving his wife, Mabel, as sole owner. She owned and resided in the house for another 27 years. Mabel started a successful diaper business in the 1940s (it later became Baby Dy-Dee), and she ran the company until she passed away on May 31, 1967.
Recent Years
On January 11, 1968, Mabel Griest’s executors sold the house to Matthew F. Usciak and his wife, Anna Jane. They resided there for nearly decade before selling the property to James M. Bell and his wife, Betty, on February 28, 1977. Mr. Bell resided there for 38 years until he sold the property to the Kappa Sigma Star & Crescent Alumni Association on November 5, 2015.