Xi Chapter, Kappa Alpha Order

The plaque mentions Robert E. Lee only as president of the college when the fraternity began. Wikipedia says the order gave him a larger role later: he was named its spiritual founder in 1923, after a toast by John Temple Graves, whom the article says championed lynching, and a 1994 mission statement still credits him. Wikipedia ties the order's Lost Cause outlook to Old South parades in Confederate uniforms, which chapters at Auburn and other schools had stopped wearing in public after complaints by 2009. Xi Chapter, founded in 1883, belongs to that history.

What the plaque says

Xi Chapter, Kappa Alpha Order This fraternity was founded in 1865 by former Confederate soldiers at Washington College in Lexington, Virginia, during the administration of Robert E. Lee. XI Chapter was founded at Southwestern University on November 28, 1883, by Alexander S. Walker and Frederick C. Procter of the Kappa Alpha Chapter at the University of Texas. XI Chapter met secretly until 1887 when faculty anti-fraternity laws were rescinded. The first fraternity house was built in 1895. Throughout its history XI Chapter has produced numerous distinguished alumni. (1983)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Williamson County Courthouse — 0.6 mi
  The fifth Williamson County courthouse, a Beaux Arts building by C. H. Page, rises over a Georgetown square of more than 50 Victorian-era buildings.
• Inner Space Cavern — 2.3 mi
  A Georgetown cave found in 1963 when highway engineers drilled test holes, holding Pleistocene fossils and 72-degree rooms that visitors reach by an artificial tunnel.
• The Round Rock — 8.6 mi
  A table-shaped stone in Brushy Creek gave Round Rock its name in 1854; the Chisholm Trail crossed the creek near it, and Old Town stayed behind when the railroad pulled the town east.
• Mount Bonnell — 23 mi
  Austin's old lookout over the Colorado, named by an 1838 traveler, picnicked on by George and Libbie Custer, and reached by a 1939 flight of about 100 limestone steps.

More markers nearby

• Iota Chapter, Kappa Sigma Fraternity — steps away
• Southwestern University — 0.2 mi
• Original Site of Southwestern University — 0.3 mi
• Judge Harry N. Graves — 0.3 mi