721 Hunter Avenue in Bloomington, Indiana, holds an important place in Kappa Alpha Psi history. In the fall of 1914, the fraternity leased a five-room house at that address near Indiana University. It became the first chapter house rented and operated by the fraternity itself. ^[2] [3]

For a brother who recognizes 721 on a shirt, the address points back to the years when Kappa was still establishing itself. Founder Byron Kenneth Armstrong’s Crossing the Jordan and Beyond (Passing Bits of Kappa Lore) helps explain the effort that preceded that home and why having one mattered.

The beginnings in Bloomington

Kappa Alpha Psi recognizes January 5, 1911, as its founding date at Indiana University. Originally known as Kappa Alpha Nu, the fraternity emerged among Black students facing restricted housing and exclusion from much of university social life. ^[4]

Armstrong’s account gives that setting a personal dimension. He describes students scattered throughout Bloomington, finding accommodations wherever they could. One gathering place was Mollie Spaulding’s home on East Kirkwood, where Armstrong and Marcus Blakemore lodged. During the cold winter of 1910–11, students stopped by her warm fire on their way from work. ^[1]

Those details help us picture the circumstances in which brotherhood developed. The men needed places to gather and people they could depend on while working toward a college education.

The struggle to establish a house

After the first month’s rent had been paid, and before any furniture had been moved in, Elder Watson Diggs pinned a small bow of red and white ribbon on him (J. Jerome Peters) to mark his pledge to the organization.

In the section titled Fraternity House, Armstrong recalls that the men resolved before the end of the spring quarter of 1911 to obtain a house for the following school year. Armstrong and Henry T. Asher suggested possibilities, but the group lacked the money to carry them out. ^[1]

Over the next two or three school years, members occupied small houses rented to them by Mrs. Drake, Mrs. Proctor, and Mrs. Eggleston. Armstrong describes arrangements that often amounted to one or two poorly furnished and poorly heated rooms. ^[1]

Armstrong regarded those efforts as part of what kept the fraternity together. The sacrifices required to maintain even a modest home gave the men another reason to persist with the fraternity they were building. ^[1]

The house at 721 Hunter Avenue

The clearest reference to the address appears in a letter included in Armstrong’s appendix. Writing to Armstrong on March 27, 1953, Dr. J. Jerome Peters recalled that the “first real Chapter House” opened at 721 Hunter Avenue around September 22, 1914. He distinguished it from earlier rooming arrangements because this house was rented and operated by the fraternity. ^[2]

The fraternity house at 721 Hunter Avenue, taken from The Story of Kappa Alpha Psi, Third Edition

Peters also remembered an intimate detail from its opening. After the first month’s rent had been paid, and before any furniture had been moved in, Elder Watson Diggs pinned a small bow of red and white ribbon on him to mark his pledge to the organization. ^[2]

That recollection gives the address a human story. The rent was paid, the house was still empty, and the work of bringing another young man into the brotherhood had already begun.

A home with a purpose

Armstrong also reproduces passages from the April 1914 Kappa Alpha Nu Journal that describe fraternity life in terms of “common sacrifices” and “common responsibilities.” The excerpts connect suitable chapter housing with members’ health, education, and social development, and identify a well-regulated chapter house for every active chapter as an organizational goal. ^[1]

Read alongside the accounts of cramped rooms and the opening of 721 Hunter Avenue, those passages explain the purpose behind the effort. A shared home could give members a stable environment in which to study, support one another, and take responsibility for life together.

Housing remained a concern as Kappa grew. Armstrong later recalled proposing a per capita tax to support the Housing Fund at the 1928 Grand Chapter meeting in Indianapolis. His account places the struggle for a home within a longer commitment to sustaining fraternity houses. ^[1]

Carrying the story forward

At NupeMarket, our Hunter Ave pieces draw on this early chapter of Kappa history. The address recalls members making do with limited resources, working toward a shared fraternity home, and continuing to build their brotherhood once its doors opened.

Wearing 721 can invite that story into a conversation. Behind the number is a house in Bloomington, and behind the house are young men whose willingness to sacrifice for one another helped the fraternity endure.

Wear the history, Start a conversation

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