Side A Philip T. Snowden, owner of a fancy dry goods and millinery,
built the Italianate-style residence at 530 East Town Street in 1852.
The house was part of the fashionable University Place addition on
the east side of the city. From 1862-1864 Ohio's governor, David
Tod, lived here. Columbus philanthropist David S. Gray purchased
the house in 1870 and his family held it until 1922. One of the
city's premier architects, George Bellows, Sr. rebuilt the house in
1872. From 1923 to 1940, the house was the headquarters of the
Columbus Women's Club. In 1951, the Kappa Kappa Gamma fraternity
for women acquired the house as its national headquarters.
Side B
Six students of Monmouth College in Illinois founded the Kappa
Kappa Gamma Fraternity for women on October 13, 1870. Kappa
Kappa Gamma was a founding member of the National Panhellenic
Conference in 1902. In 1951, Kappa Kappa Gamma established its
headquarters on Town Street when it purchased the Snowden-Gray
House. The house was restored between 1981 and 2000 to depict the
daily life and culture of the Victorian era. As of 2014, Kappa is
an international organization with more than 260,000 members with
chapters on 141 college campuses. The Snowden-Gray House was
listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 as a
part of the East Town Street Historic District.
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