The land on which Broadlawn, home of Hillsdale College presidents, now sits used to be the home of the Beta Alpha Delta fraternity, an organization which no longer exists on campus. Beta Alpha Delta was a local fraternity organized in 1924 by a group of men formerly known as the American Commons Club, according to a 1935 issue of the Hillsdale Collegian.
In April of 1935, the local fraternity decided to join a larger national fraternity, Sigma Delta Rho. However, the reorganized chapter was not destined to succeed. In a September issue of the Hillsdale Collegian, it was reported that the fraternity had disbanded.
“Conditions arose which seemed to the executive committee to make it necessary to close the chapter. The actives and alumni have sold their furniture and the house has been turned back to the college,” it said.
The administration quickly demolished the building and began construction of Broadlawn. When Broadlawn was completed less than a year later in the summer of 1936, no trace of the defunct fraternity remained.