Housing
Welcome to 53 Park!
Learn
Kappa Delta Sigma's home fosters academic excellence. By providing our members with quiet study spaces, academic resources, modern amenities and Wi-Fi throughout the house, our members are able to focus on their academics and learn in a comfortable and supportive environment. Many members share a major, attend classes together, or host group or individual study time at the KDS house. Our homes reflect who we are and support our shared commitment to academic achievement.
Lead
Outside the classroom, Kappa Delta Sigma members are boldly leading the way on campus and beyond. Our home has gathering spaces large and small, and our sisterhood strategically supports and recognizes leadership opportunities and achievements and offers officer opportunities that allow resident priority, and a greater connectedness to our sisterhood and the campus as a whole. Leadership thrives at Kappa Delta Sigma.
Live
Our home at 53 Park St in Canton, NY is part of our identity, and a home away from home to many -- even those who came before us. Our members embrace the ideal of friendship and value self-respect as they are free to be themselves, and form strong friendships while living among each other.
Our home features on-site dining prepared by a trained chef, cozy study spaces, bedrooms and a cold dorm, bathrooms, on-site parking, laundry facilities, and all the comforts of home. Kappa Delta Sigma's home is located right on the corner of campus, making it easy to walk to class and into town.
History of our Home
Before the house at 53 Park Street was built, the land on which it was built was owned by an illustrious Canton family - the Nobles. Dr. William Noble, Canton's first physician purchased the land in 1859* and lived 'next door' at 49 Park Street until his death in 1871 after which his daughter Martha Noble continued to live in 49 Park Street until her death in 1916.
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In the mid-1880’s, shortly after the house was built, 53 Park Street became the home of the Honorable Ledyard P. Hale, St. Lawrence University class of 1876 (a founder of the first Greek letter men’s fraternity, now Beta, at the University) and a Canton farm-boy who rose to prominence as an attorney. During his distinguished legal career, Hale was elected Assistant District Attorney of St. Lawrence County for 12 years, after which he was elected its District Attorney in 1893, serving as District Attorney until 1899 and was appointed St. Lawrence County judge in 1901. Later, in 1908, Judge Hale was appointed by the Governor Hughes of New York as the state's first legal counsel to the NY Public Service Commission. He wrote some of the most important opinions of the Commission and was the adviser in practically every important case before the Commission for a period of nearly 15 years. He was also president of the village of Canton in 1886 and head of the town of Canton’s Board of Supervisors from 1890-1894. Hale was Trustee of St. Lawrence University for more than 40 years and its Chairman from 1919-1923. Following the death of Ledyard, in 1926, his wife Georgettie (‘Ettie’) Bacheller Hale, cousin of Irving Bacheller, continued to live in the house until her death in 1935, after which their daughter, Irma Hale Pfund, and her husband, Carl F. Pfund, made it their home until they sold it to the national Kappa Delta sorority in the late summer of 1941.
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53 Park Street became the new home of the “Sigma Eta” chapter of the Kappa Delta sorority in the spring of 1942, shortly after it was extensively remodeled by Kappa Delta. The renovations included removing a frame extension at the rear of the home along with a barn at the rear of the property and then building a brick extension containing the dining room, housemother’s apartment, two student rooms, a cold dorm and kitchen. The main house was also remodeled by building a new staircase, widening the hallway, combining the front and back parlors into a single reception room, changing the look of the front entrance, renovating the existing bathrooms and adding a third floor bathroom. From 1942 to 1970, the house was maintained as well as periodically updated and redecorated by Kappa Delta through the Kappa Delta House Corporation.
After the sisters decided to leave the national Kappa Delta sorority to become Kappa Delta Sigma in 1969, the house remained empty for about a year. In 1970, the house was purchased from Kappa Delta by St. Lawrence University and refurbished for use by the sisters of Kappa Delta Sigma. Since 1970, 53 Park Street has remained the property of St. Lawrence University which maintains it as a home for the sisters of Kappa Delta Sigma. Since 2011, renovations and maintenance of the house have been significantly augmented by the generosity of St. Lawrence Kappa Delta alumnae and Kappa Delta Sigma alumnae through the Kappa Delta Sigma Alumnae Fund.
*Before owning the house at 49 Park Street and the land where 51 and 53 Park Street currently stand, Dr. Noble owned the land on which St. Lawrence was built, including the President's house on South Main Street.
Thanks to Lorna Ness '75 for researching and writing this history.