In 1865, a young confederate soldier by the name of Otis Allan Glazebrook sought to repair the wounds of the Civil War which had so greatly damaged and torn apart his country, and saw the formation of a brotherhood based upon Christian principles as a way to do so. After crafting the ATO constitution, Glazebrook invited two friends to his home in Richmond, Virginia on September 11, 1865. The two men were Alfred T. Marshall and Erskine Mayo Ross, and in signing the Constitution that night, the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity was born. ATO was the first fraternity founded after the Civil War, as well as the first sign of Greek life in the old confederacy.
In 1879, the Alpha Epsilon chapter of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity was founded as the second fraternity at Auburn University. With young men such as Sheldon Toomer of “Toomer’s Corner”, Wilbur Hutsell, and William J. Samford (Samford Hall) becoming Alpha Epsilon brothers, Auburn ATO was steered toward prominence from an early point in its history. However, in 2000, for various reasons, the charter was revoked. In 2005, a group of men aimed to create a fraternity that was different from the status quo, thus bringing Alpha Tau Omega back to Auburn’s campus. The charter was reinstated, and thirty re-founding fathers went to work. Five years later, there are nearly one-hundred brothers in a chapter that was dead ten years ago. More than 130 years after our founding, the Alpha Epsilon chapter of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity is one of the strongest fraternities on Auburn University’s campus. With brotherhood, Christian principles, campus involvement, athletics, and scholarship being the top priorities of the chapter, Alpha Epsilon has reestablished itself and continues to move forward as a thriving fraternity.