The Philoneikean Society

Exactly when the Philoneikean Society was founded is unclear. The popular belief is that it was formed by a group of young men in 1853 anticipating the opening or Moore's Hill College in 1854. There are a few documents available from the mid 1860's which suggest the literary and debating society actually was founded September 26, 1855. Other literary societies at Moore's Hill College were the Sigournean (later a chapter of Chi Omega sorority), the Photozotean (later a chapter of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity) and Castalian (later a chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi sorority). These four societies were the dominant extracurricular organizations at Moore's Hill and later at Evansville College, which relocated in 1917.

In the middle and late 1920's, the literary societies were undergoing radical changes; by the early 1930's they had shed their literary character and were almost entirely social fraternities and sororities at Evansville College. This did not happen without running into administrative roadblocks, as the college's administrators resisted these changes. In 1928, Evansville College President Hughes turned down requests by several of the literary societies to adopt greek letter names. In October 1929, however, the administration relented and allowed the organizations to adopt greek letter names. In October 1929, the Philoneikean Society became Pi Epsilon Phi Fraternity . The fraternity's ideals were embodied in its name and in the fraternity's badge's guard, gamma.

The flower of the fraternity was the yellow rose, the fraternity colors were black and gold, and the fraternity's motto and rallying cry was "Excelsior!".