Similar to the experience of the men at Syracuse, an Il Circolo Italiano group Columbia University had a realization of the need for a fraternity. In fall 1915, four of the members of Il Circolo Italiano (Ernest DeMuria, Salvatore LaCorte, William Liccione and Anthony Pascarella) decided to move ahead on this idea. They founded Sigma Gamma Phi Fraternity, an Italian Fraternity in November 1915. In January 1916, Nicholas Frunzi (of Alpha Phi Delta) transferred to Columbia and made friends with the brothers of Sigma Gamma Phi. Frunzi suggested the Alpha Phi Delta and Sigma Gamma Phi merge. A merger meeting was held in June 1916 at Syracuse University. Since the Syracuse fraternity was founded earlier, its name, Alpha Phi Delta was adopted. The chapter of brothers at Syracuse was declared the Alpha Chapter, while the chapter of brothers at Columbia University was declared the Beta Chapter. 

The image above is a photo of the Annual Beta Chapter Dinner of 1926. This annual dinner was held at the Commodore Hotel in mid-town Manhattan on September 23, 1926. In the years ahead this annual dinner would become an important event connecting the brothers of Beta Chapter to their earlier members. The dinner as an event would peter out by the mid-1930s, perhaps a result of the effects of the Great Depression. Beta Chapter would survive as a strong chapter until the onset of World War II, when the Chapter closed. Unlike other chapters, Beta Chapter never rebounded after World War II.