[3] In July 1879, the Richmond Dispatch reported that a secret society called Eli Banana had formed at the Virginia Military Institute and consisted of "very influential members.

When the students returned to Charlottesville in the fall, they formed a Virginia chapter of Eli Banana.

[5] Its purpose was to make its members leaders in the university community and to "create an association of congenial spirits among the students.

[7] The Washington Star reported, "There was a big crowd of devil-may-care young men [at the University of Virginia], most of them with plenty of money, and they made Charlottesville and Albemarle fairly hum.

[2] It dominated the Jefferson Society and the Football Board and their semiformal affairs were reported to "outclass" those of the fraternities".

[6] In 1894, the university's faculty required Eli Banana's members to sever their ties with the organization in writing before matriculating; this action was in response to complaints from both on and off the campus.

[1] Its apocryphal lore says that its name came from "the Japanese Order of Eli Banana, to which only citizens of the highest rank were admitted.