The first Phi Beta Kappa Hall was erected in 1926 to mark the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Phi Beta Kappa Fraternity, the first Greek letter fraternity, and to honor the 50 founders. All but one were Virginians and with one exception were students the College. Elisha Parmele of Connecticut was conducting a school in Virginia after his graduation from Harvard in 1778. When he returned to the north in 1780 he took two charters, one for the Alpha of Massachusetts at Harvard and the other for an Alpha of Connecticut at Yale. These 2 branches were organized within 18 months and saved the fraternity from extinction. The Alpha at William & Mary was forced to disband on January 6, 1781, when a British force began devastating the peninsula during the American Revolution.
The date December 5, 1776, is engraved on the PBK medals to honor the date of the first meeting of the group. Groups in other states engraved the date of their first meetings. Women became eligible to join the PBK in 1875.
The original building contained an auditorium, the Apollo Room (a replica of the room in the Raleigh Tavern in Colonial Williamsburg) and the Dodge Room named in honor of Francis Phelps Dodge, a member who had most effectively fostered the 150th project.