"[4][5] Philomathean Society, was founded on October 2, 1813, by all thirteen members of the junior class, its original purpose being "the advancement of learning;" a counterweight and complement to Penn's academic coursework.

The Philomathean Society maintains a full-scale cast of the stone in its meeting room, along with several original lithograph prints of the report.

[11] In 1916, Philo became the first Penn group to require its members to take an oath not to discriminate based on race, creed, and religion; in 1948 the Society voted to admit women as full members, prompting the headline "Philo hits rock bottom, admits women".

Houston Hall was not an ideal location: space constraints and building policy, especially the 11:30 p.m. curfew, severely limited Philo traditions.

As a result, Society membership decreased, a trend further exacerbated by the outbreak of World War II, when Houston Hall was taken over by the U.S. Navy as part of its officer training program, and former Philo rooms were requisitioned for storage.

After the war, the Society held more formal meetings and grew in membership, but it was not until 1951, under the direction of Moderator Charles Fine Ludwig, that the old pre-war customs were revived.

Most of these events center around inviting one or more Penn professors (and occasionally distinguished faculty from other universities) to the Halls to present their research and career experiences.

[14] The Society has published several books, including, most recently, The Philomathean Society Anthology of Poetry in Honor of Daniel Hoffman — Hoffman, a former professor at the university and a distinguished poet in his own right, had brought many renowned poets and authors, including John Updike, Seamus Heaney, Joyce Carol Oates, and Yevgeny Yevtushenko, to read in the Philomathean Halls.

On February 16, 2010, Philo hosted a public screening of the 1971 internationally televised debate between philosophers Noam Chomsky and Michel Foucault.

Since then, Philo has been the venue of many debates about matters central to modern society, such as a discussion of whether a tomato is a grape or a metaphor for Homeric authorship.