Rugby Road
Encyclopedia
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...
that serves as the center of the University of Virginia's
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
fraternity and sorority system and its attendant social activity. It is located across the street from central Grounds, beginning at University Avenue across the street from the Rotunda
The Rotunda (University of Virginia)
The Rotunda is a building located on The Lawn in the original grounds of the University of Virginia. It was designed by Thomas Jefferson to represent the "authority of nature and power of reason" and was inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. Construction began in 1822 and was completed in 1826, after...
branching off at Preston Avenue and finally curving down to the 250 Bypass, and marks one end of The Corner
The Corner (UVA)
The Corner is a seven-block collection of bars, restaurants, bookstores, and night spots on University Avenue in Charlottesville, Virginia, extending from 12 Street Southwest to Chancellor Street. located across the street from the University of Virginia...
, a strip of restaurants and stores that cater mainly to students. Rugby Road is lined with a variety of architecturally significant houses from several different decades. Many of these are currently used by fraternities and sororities, although the majority of them were originally intended for single-family use; William Faulkner
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
was one famous resident while he was a writer in residence at the University.
In addition to its social role, Rugby Road is also home to a variety of institutions and well known structures with a wide range of uses and purposes. These include Madison House, the University of Virginia School of Architecture
University of Virginia School of Architecture
The School of Architecture at the University of Virginia is a national leader in architectural education, conferring degrees in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Architectural History, and Urban and Environmental Planning...
, Mad Bowl, Beta Bridge, the Bayly Art Museum, and the official university structures on Carr's Hill, Fayerweather Hall and the President's House.
Madison House
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...
community through community service. Madison House is unique in that it is student-led and has a multi-tiered leadership and volunteer system. There are 19 programs in which more than 3000 volunteers participate on a weekly basis. University alumni play an important role in the operation of Madison House by donating money to support the programs. Madison House has been recognized nationally with prestigious awards for the services it provides.
Madison House originated in the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) that was formed in 1856. The YMCA was founded on religious values and its members considered volunteer service a big part of their club. Membership declined in the late 1960s and the group considered disbanding. There were members, however, who still believed in the values of volunteer service so they reincorporated as the Masters and Fellows of Madison Hall. Madison House was operating at the same time with a focus on community service. The Masters and Fellows of Madison Hall grew rapidly; in order to sustain their group they sold their property to the University. In 1975, the two groups incorporated and formed Madison House.
The programs run through Madison House include Adopt-a-Grandparent, Animals and Environment, Athletics, Big Sibling, Bridging the Gap, Cavs in the Classroom, Day Care, English as a Second Language, HELP Line, Holiday Sharing, Hoos Against Hunger and Homelessness, Housing Improvement Program, Medical Services, Migrant Aid, Outreach Services, PLAY, Recreational Therapy, Tutoring, and Youth Mentoring. Each program is run by a Head Program Director, a student who bears responsibility for setting goals for the program, budgeting funds, coordinating events, and training the 10-11 Program Directors who work under them in the program. In all, there are about 200 Program Directors who are each in charge of about 10-25 volunteers within a specific program. It is their job to motivate and train volunteers, and they show their willingness to do this with a ten-hour-a-week time commitment. This leadership pyramid is supported at its base by over 3000 student volunteers. These are undergraduate students committed to work for between one and five hours per week on the program to which they belong. Overseeing everything is the staff of Madison House, composed of specialists trained at managing non-profit organizations. They are in charge of the Head Program Directors and help to connect many of the programs to the Charlottesville community. There is also a Board of Directors, with mixed student, University, and community representation, that determines the mission of the House and hires the Executive Director.
Madison House has received several awards for its service. In 1990, Madison House was designated a Point of Light by President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
. This award celebrates the success of the volunteers and spotlights the impact that various individuals, groups, businesses and families have made in their communities. In 2000, Madison House was the only Youth Volunteer group in Virginia to win the Governor’s award for volunteer community service.
Madison Bowl
As early as 1898, University students celebrated Easter Week, or "Easters", a week-long celebration that included elaborate dances and athletic games which helped the students shake the winter doldrums. It was also an occasion to celebrate Thomas Jefferson’s birthday, since the celebration often occurred right around April 13th. Traditionally Easters had been celebrated with a ball, but by the 1960s, the fraternities took a more active role in running the weekend, and Easters became a large party held in the fraternity houses along Rugby Road and in Mad Bowl. The event became something like a public street party, attracting attendees from all over the East Coast as well as internationally. Easters may be responsible for the University's reputation as a party school, reportedly earning the University a reputation as a "professional" party location in Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
in 1974. The last Easters celebration took place in 1982. During that year's celebration, a gas main ruptured on Grady Street and, while no one was seriously hurt, the rising likelihood of a serious public disaster forced the cancellation of the event from that time forward.
In 2006, the University and the city of Charlottesville teamed up to dig up Mad Bowl and replace utility lines, install drainage and add new surfacing. For years, runoff from Fayerweather and Madison Halls collected on the field, giving it the nickname “Mud Bowl.” Bad field conditions led to practice cancellations and higher safety risks to students using the field in muddy conditions, and difficulties in planning other field events. Irrigation and drainage systems were added for the field, as well as six inches of fresh soil and a layer of sod. No stadium lights were installed, so the field is exclusively for daytime use.
Fraternity and Sorority Houses
Rugby Road and the neighboring streets house a large number of fraternity and sorority residences, including Delta Gamma, Theta Delta Chi, Sigma PhiSigma Phi
The Sigma Phi Society was founded on 4 March 1827, on the campus of Union College as a part of the Union Triad in Schenectady, New York.It is the second oldest Greek fraternal organization in the United States, and the oldest in continuous existence...
(SERP), Delta Upsilon
Delta Upsilon
Delta Upsilon is the sixth oldest international, all-male, college Greek-letter organization, and is the oldest non-secret fraternity in North America...
, Phi Kappa Psi
Phi Kappa Psi
Phi Kappa Psi is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania on February 19, 1852. There are over a hundred chapters and colonies at accredited four year colleges and universities throughout the United States. More than 112,000 men have been...
, Phi Gamma Delta
Phi Gamma Delta
The international fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta is a collegiate social fraternity with 120 chapters and 18 colonies across the United States and Canada. It was founded at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, in 1848, and its headquarters are located in Lexington, Kentucky, USA...
, Delta Sigma Phi
Delta Sigma Phi
Delta Sigma Phi is a fraternity established at the City College of New York in 1899 and is a charter member of the North-American Interfraternity Conference. The headquarters of the fraternity is the Taggart Mansion located in Indianapolis, Indiana...
, St. Anthony Hall, St. Elmo Hall, Pi Kappa Alpha
Pi Kappa Alpha
Pi Kappa Alpha is a Greek social fraternity with over 230 chapters and colonies and over 250,000 lifetime initiates in the United States and Canada.-History:...
, Phi Sigma Kappa
Phi Sigma Kappa
-Phi Sigma Kappa's Creed and Cardinal Principles:The 1934 Convention in Ann Arbor brought more changes for the fraternity. Brother Stewart W. Herman of Gettysburg wrote and presented the Creed, and Brother Ralph Watts of Massachusetts drafted and presented the Cardinal Principles.-World War II:The...
, Sigma Phi Epsilon
Sigma Phi Epsilon
Sigma Phi Epsilon , commonly nicknamed SigEp or SPE, is a social college fraternity for male college students in the United States. It was founded on November 1, 1901, at Richmond College , and its national headquarters remains in Richmond, Virginia. It was founded on three principles: Virtue,...
(SPE), Pi Lambda Phi
Pi Lambda Phi
Pi Lambda Phi International Fraternity Inc. is a college social fraternity with 35 active chapters and four colonies in the United States and Canada....
, Sigma Chi
Sigma Chi
Sigma Chi is the largest and one of the oldest college Greek-letter secret and social fraternities in North America with 244 active chapters and more than . Sigma Chi was founded on June 28, 1855 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio when members split from Delta Kappa Epsilon...
, Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta , also known as Phi Delt, is an international fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, Beta Theta Pi, and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad. The fraternity has about 169 active chapters and colonies in over 43 U.S...
, Alpha Epsilon Pi
Alpha Epsilon Pi
Alpha Epsilon Pi , the Global Jewish college fraternity, has 155 active chapters in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Israel with a membership of over 9,000 undergraduates...
, Pi Kappa Phi
Pi Kappa Phi
Pi Kappa Phi is an American social fraternity. It was founded by Andrew Alexander Kroeg, Jr., Lawrence Harry Mixson, and Simon Fogarty, Jr. on December 10, 1904 at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina...
, Phi Society
Phi Society
The Phi Society is a social, secret, Greek-letter fraternity located at the University of Virginia. Another similarly named organization, the Phi Society of 1883 exists at The University of the South. Although both organizations were created by former members of Phi Delta Theta, the Phi Society...
, Theta Chi
Theta Chi
Theta Chi Fraternity is an international college fraternity. It was founded on April 10, 1856 as the Theta Chi Society, at Norwich University, Norwich, Vermont, U.S., and was the 21st of the 71 North-American Interfraternity Conference men's fraternities.-Founding and early years at Norwich:Theta...
, Kappa Sigma
Kappa Sigma
Kappa Sigma , commonly nicknamed Kappa Sig, is an international fraternity with currently 282 active chapters and colonies in North America. Kappa Sigma has initiated more than 240,000 men on college campuses throughout the United States and Canada. Today, the Fraternity has over 175,000 living...
, Chi Phi
Chi Phi
The Chi Phi ' Fraternity is an American College Social Fraternity that was established as the result of the merger of three separate organizations that were each known as Chi Phi. The oldest active organization that took part in the union was originally founded in 1824 at Princeton...
, Delta Kappa Epsilon
Delta Kappa Epsilon
Delta Kappa Epsilon is a fraternity founded at Yale College in 1844 by 15 men of the sophomore class who had not been invited to join the two existing societies...
, Sigma Nu
Sigma Nu
Sigma Nu is an undergraduate, college fraternity with chapters in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Sigma Nu was founded in 1869 by three cadets at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia...
, Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Sigma Alpha Epsilon is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national social fraternities today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is the only one founded in the Antebellum South...
, Zeta Beta Tau
Zeta Beta Tau
Zeta Beta Tau was founded in 1898 as the nation's first Jewish fraternity, although it is no longer sectarian. Today the merged Zeta Beta Tau Brotherhood is one of the largest, numbering over 140,000 initiated Brothers, and over 90 chapter locations.-Founding:The Zeta Beta Tau fraternity was...
, Zeta Psi
Zeta Psi
The Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America was founded June 1, 1847 as a social college fraternity. The organization now comprises about fifty active chapters and twenty-five inactive chapters, encompassing roughly fifty thousand brothers, and is a founding member of the North-American...
, Alpha Delta Pi
Alpha Delta Pi
Alpha Delta Pi is a fraternity founded on May 15, 1851 at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. The Executive office for this sorority is located on Ponce de Leon Avenue in Atlanta, Georgia. Alpha Delta Pi is one of the two "Macon Magnolias," a term used to celebrate the bonds it shares with Phi Mu...
, and Alpha Tau Omega
Alpha Tau Omega
Alpha Tau Omega is a secret American leadership and social fraternity.The Fraternity has more than 250 active and inactive chapters, more than 200,000 initiates, and over 7,000 active undergraduate members. The 200,000th member was initiated in early 2009...
. The first fraternity to purchase a house on Rugby Road was Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta , also known as Phi Delt, is an international fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, Beta Theta Pi, and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad. The fraternity has about 169 active chapters and colonies in over 43 U.S...
, in 1908, followed shortly thereafter by other houses clustering along the neighboring streets of Madison Lane and on Carr's Hill.
In 1983 the University’s Board of Visitors decided to address the deteriorating conditions of many fraternity and sorority houses on Rugby Road. It created a limited partnership program, known as the Historic Renovation Corporation. The Historic Renovation Corporation became a partner in the ownership of many of the houses, renovated them, and then sold them back to their original owners, most of whom are University of Virginia alumni. The Historic Renovation Corporation is still operating today, and is currently providing property management services to the alumni owners of eleven Rugby Road houses.
Carr's Hill
Carr's Hill sits at the corner of Rugby Road and University Avenue, facing Mad Bowl to the southeast and the Rotunda to the southwest. The site has long been important to the extended university community. As the enrollment at the University overflowed the original Jeffersonian rooms of the Academical Village, Sidney Carr's boardinghouse on Carr's Hill helped absorb the additional students starting in the mid 1840s. By 1877 Carr's Hill hosted dormitories, at which the University's first experiment in dining clubs took place.In the years of the Civil War, Carr's Hill served as a drill field and as a site for the Confederate flag, which briefly flew above the Rotunda itself.
The University purchased the Carr's Hill property outright in June 1867 for $10,000, and over time it became the site of two significant University buildings: Fayerweather Hall and the President's residence. Fayerweather Hall, built in 1893, was the University's first dedicated indoor gymnasium, and is currently the site of the University of Virginia's Art History department. The President's House was constructed on Carr's Hill, which had to be terraced for the purpose. Construction began in 1907, two years after the inauguration of the first president of the University, Edwin Alderman
Edwin Alderman
Edwin Anderson Alderman served as the President of three universities. The University of Virginia's Alderman Library is named after him, as is in Wilmington and Alderman dorm at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill...
, and finished in 1909. The house was designed by McKim, Mead, and White, the team of architects responsible for the buildings on the South Lawn (Rouss, Cocke, and Old Cabell Hall) and the rebuilding of the Rotunda.
Beta Bridge
Beta Theta Pi
Beta Theta Pi , often just called Beta, is a social collegiate fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, USA, where it is part of the Miami Triad which includes Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Chi. It has over 138 active chapters and colonies in the United States and Canada...
fraternity built their house at the corner of Chancellor and Rugby in 1927, it took its current name. In 1971, that fraternity location was closed, and the Delta Upsilon
Delta Upsilon
Delta Upsilon is the sixth oldest international, all-male, college Greek-letter organization, and is the oldest non-secret fraternity in North America...
fraternity moved into its current location at 180 Rugby Road. Though their fraternity had no claim to the bridge save that of proximity, brothers and pledges of DU would paint over messages which did not contain 'THX DU' (for "Thanks Delta Upsilon"). In 2011, Beta Theta Pi moved back into their original house next to the bridge, and now messages must contain 'THX Beta'.
The tradition of bridge-painting at the university actually began in 1901 with students painting the railroad bridge crossing over University Avenue at The Corner
The Corner (UVA)
The Corner is a seven-block collection of bars, restaurants, bookstores, and night spots on University Avenue in Charlottesville, Virginia, extending from 12 Street Southwest to Chancellor Street. located across the street from the University of Virginia...
. When the railroad tried to discourage the practice, students moved their messages to Beta Bridge on Rugby. The first recorded painting occurred in 1926 when a group of students reportedly splashed the bridge with green paint. Sports scores and praises for athletes remained the most common messages on the bridge until St. Patrick’s Day of 1967. Holiday supporters painted the bridge a "festive" Irish green, but supporters of the English crown painted over the green with red, also writing "God Save the Queen" in white. The Irish patriots responded by changing the word "Queen" to "Green", and the tradition took off from there. Today, many University organizations paint the bridge to promote their activities.
Some legal and censorship issues have arisen concerning messages and graffiti displayed on Beta Bridge. The bridge is technically property of the city of Charlottesville, and in 1971, five fraternity members were arrested by city police after painting the bridge. Since then, the city has gradually ceded more freedom to students, and messages concerning everything from gay rights to violence against women, career services announcements, memorials for deaths in the community, and fraternity and sorority events have appeared. In August 2005, however, students reported that offensive images and words were painted on the bridge, and University President John T. Casteen III
John T. Casteen III
John Thomas Casteen III is an American educator. He has served as Professor of English and President of the University of Virginia from 1990 through 2010.-Early life and career:...
asked the FBI’s Civil Rights Unit to investigate the incident for racial implications. FBI Special Agent James Lamb determined that the graffiti was not racially motivated. The bridge has been allowed to remain a de facto "public forum," where the only response to speech is more speech.
Following the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings
Virginia Tech massacre
The Virginia Tech massacre was a school shooting that took place on April 16, 2007, on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. In two separate attacks, approximately two hours apart, the perpetrator, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people...
, UVA students painted Beta Bridge to show their support. This stayed on the bridge for the rest of the school year (normally Beta Bridge is painted at least five times a week.)
On Oct. 2, 2007, UVA Today reported that a sheet of paint approximately 4 feet high, 10 feet long and 3 inches thick separated from a wall of the bridge and fell off. The piece, the second peel-off in the past 13 years, was so heavy that it had to be cut in half before being hauled away by Facilities Management workers. It is suggested that a combination of summer heat, moisture, and weight of layers prompted the peel-off.
In popular culture
Rugby Road figures prominently in University social life. The song "From Rugby Road to Vinegar Hill," a bawdy UVA drinking song, places the Rugby Road scene in the context of student drinking and fun. The song has recently been associated with the Virginia Pep Band, but dates at least to 1951 when it was recorded by the Virginia Glee ClubVirginia Glee Club
The Virginia Glee Club is a critically acclaimed men's chorus based at the University of Virginia. It performs both traditional and contemporary vocal works, typically in TTBB arrangements. Founded in 1871, the Glee Club is the University's oldest musical organization and one of the oldest all-male...
and the University of Virginia Band. Partial lyrics for the song are cited widely:
From Rugby Road to Vinegar Hill, we’re gonna get drunk tonight!
The faculty’s afraid of us, they know we’re in the right!
So fill your cups, your loving cups, as full as full can be
For as long as love and liquor lasts, we’ll drink to the U of V!
CHORUS:
I think we need another drink
I think we need another drink
I think we need another drink
For the glory of the U-V-A
All you girls from Mary Washington and RMWC,
Should never let a Virginia man an inch above the knee!
He'll take you to his fraternity house, and fill you full of beer!
And soon you'll be the mother of a bastard Cavalier!
CHORUS
Fill up your silver goblet, Virginia written on it,
And we'll all have another beer! Hey! Hey!
Cause we all came to college, but we didn't come for knowledge,
So we'll raise Hell while we're here!
Glory, glory to Virginia!
Glory, glory to Virginia!
Glory, glory to Virginia!
V-I-R-G-I-N-I-A!