In 1954 the UT Board of Trustees was working on a Master Site Plan with its architect, and one element was to be a “fraternity row” concept, which would avoid having to have fraternities move because their houses were in the way of a university project. Kappa Sigma Fraternity was planning to build a new house because their house would be needed for construction of the Education Building (Philander P. Claxton Building) and requested the location so they could purchase land.
The initial plan, released in December 1954, placed fraternity row along Lake Avenue and Terrace Avenue, between Eighteenth and Twenty-Third Streets. Sixteen lots were to be available for fraternities for rental, with houses to be built in groups of three between Lake and Terrace, and seven lots were to be available on the south side of Terrace Avenue for single houses. Kappa Sigma built at the corner of Eighteenth Street and Lake Avenue. When its house was complete, Kappa Sigma sold its lot to UT, paying a nominal yearly lease fee, with a provision that the fraternity could repurchase the land in 55 years. When the repurchase time came, the fraternity decided to remain with the rental agreement and negotiated a long-term lease.
At its May 1955 meeting, the UT Trustees approved for the fraternity row site Yale Avenue (now Volunteer Avenue) west of Eighteenth Street. The way for the Fraternity Park project was cleared in 1958 when the UT Board of Trustees adopted a policy of financial aid to the fraternities. UT secured a 40-year loan for the fraternities on 80 percent of the construction cost. Each fraternity put up 20 percent of the cost prior to the start of the construction. The land continued to be owned by UT, but the fraternities were to occupy the building sites on a lease basis with options up to 75 years. The fraternities were then to pay back the balances of the loan over a 40-year period.
That site eventually did become the site of Fraternity Park when 13 fraternities, some displaced from their houses by development of the campus made possible by the Yale Avenue Urban Renewal Project, built new houses in the 18-acre Fraternity Park. Governor Frank Clement, UT President Andy Holt, and Jerome Taylor, chairman of the board of trustees’ building committee, broke ground for the park on January 19, 1966. They, and members of the 13 fraternities building houses, turned over the first shovels of land.
The 13 original fraternities in the park were Sigma Chi, Alpha Tau Omega, Lambda Chi Alpha, Phi Gamma Delta, Phi Sigma Kappa, Delta Tau Delta, Pi Kappa Alpha, Sigma Nu, Zeta Beta Tau, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Alpha Gamma Rho, and Kappa Alpha. Communal basketball courts, paved courts at each house, and a large parking area behind the houses were installed at the same time. The park was dedicated on October 12, 1967.