Though they never lived in the house, both Alexis Sommers ’24 (Nelsonville, Ohio) and Kya Proctor ’26 (Crooksville, Ohio) had the same emotional reactions when they stepped across the threshold on Thursday morning: They were home at last.
Running her hand across the Greek letters inlaid on the wood floor, Sommers forced a teary smile and said, “The last time I saw these letters, they were covered in ashes.”
The historic home, which has been owned by Alpha Xi Delta since 1954, was nearly destroyed by fire on November 9, 2021. This week, after a two-and-a-half-year wait, Alpha Xi sisters began moving their belongings into the newly reconstructed house.
“For 70 years, 322 Fifth Street has been home to generations of Alpha Xi Delta sisters at Marietta College,” said Bethany McFarland Leslie ’12, President of the Alpha Xi Delta Beta Xi Foundation. “After two-and-a-half years of rebuild and reconstruction following the fire in 2021, we are thrilled and grateful to be able to open the house again to our collegiate sisters. We are eager to watch them settle in and to enjoy the same opportunities we all did to learn, grow, and realize their potential. We are forever grateful to everyone who has helped make our house a home again – thank you!”
Alumnae Dana Harshbarger ’14, who is the House Corp Board President, and Alli Hesson ’17, the Vice President of the Housing Corporation, have worked tirelessly with contractor Belfor Property Restoration to ensure the house’s reconstruction reflected its history.
From the moment the fire was made public, Alpha Xi alumnae calibrated their efforts to ensure the needs of the current sisters were being met, and those who stepped in to help — like the Chi Omegas and the Sigma Kappas, the Marietta Fire Department, and others within the Marietta community — were thanked. They also began raising money to support the areas of reconstruction that weren’t covered by insurance and to ensure the cupboards would be supplied by the time sisters moved in, said Foundation Board member Laura Stange Regan ’94, who was in the house this week to help with some of the organizational work.
“The house is almost 200 years old, so we were like, ‘This is a once-in-a-multigenerational-opportunity to do things like HVAC.’ So that was part of our fundraising. We had to bridge the gap between what was covered by insurance and then the extended cost to do central air,” Regan said.
After exploring the fully renovated house and moving most of her belongings into her room, Proctor couldn’t stop smiling and commenting on how beautiful the historic home is.
“I am overjoyed,” Proctor said. “When I first joined, I didn’t think the house was going to be done by the time I was finished with college. And now, I get to live with my best friend and ‘little.’ I knew some of the sisters who lived in the house (at the time of the fire), and I was able to hear of their traditions. Now, I can’t wait to be able to experience them.”
Beta Xi Chapter President Meya Derwacter ’25 (Zanesville, Ohio) joined the sorority her freshman year and was looking forward to building memories in the house with her new sisters when the fire enveloped the structure.
“At that point in time with the amount of damage that had occurred, I was unsure whether I would ever have the opportunity to live in the house,” Derwacter said. “Now, as a senior, after nearly three years of hard work by many, our house is finally move-in ready. It is so bittersweet being a part of this moment as one of the last classes in the active chapter to know the original house and among the first to live in the new one, it is extra special for me and my fellow seniors. I am beyond excited and grateful to have the chance to live in this new house with my best friends and make memories that will last forever."
During Homecoming, the sorority will host an open house for alumnae and invited friends to tour the newly renovated structure.