The driving force behind the creation of Zeta Phi (ΖΦ) was a young university professor named Oren Root II.

Those in attendance included Frank M. Houts of Warrensburg, Jacob Linn Ladd of Mexico, Nelson Washington Allen of Allenton, Evans Perry McDonald of Wellington, George Bingham Rollins of Columbia, Robert Franklin Walker of Versailles, Lycurgus A. Marvin of Sedalia, Scott Hayes of Springfield, and Oren Root, Jr. Root initially was not a formal member of the society but was subsequently inducted and is listed as the twelfth name on the rolls of Zeta Phi.

Although it was originally intended to be a literary society rather than a Greek-letter fraternity in the modern sense, the ideals of the organization carried many of the precepts of its modern-day counterpart.

Early minutes of the Zeta Phi Society include, for example, references to members known as Julius Caesar, Sir Isaac Newton, Copernicus and others.

Social activities began to carry greater emphasis with the society and the minutes of the March 16, 1878 meeting mention a serenade of four young ladies.

The chapter adopted the custom of wearing a badge of mourning upon the death of an alumnus but this appears to have been discontinued by the time Zeta Phi joined Beta Theta Pi.

When the Westminster Betas inquired some months later, the minutes of January 6, 1886 record Zeta Phi's reply: "We inform our committee man to report that we are not anxious to enter."

On March 8, 1890, a motion carried in the Alpha of Zeta Phi to become a chapter of Beta Theta Pi pursuant to several special conditions.

A fund drive was started and the monies raised, along with a substantial insurance recovery from the loss of the previous house, enabled the chapter to occupy new premises in 1913 with only a modest mortgage.

The chapter's new address, 520 South College Avenue, occupied a site formerly owned by the Kappa Sigma fraternity and the new building with its gabled roof stood out within the Missouri Greek system.

In September 1917, the District Chiefs of the General Fraternity met with the trustees of Beta Theta Pi at the International Hotel in Niagara Falls, New York.

With the demand for manpower on both the war front and at home, most of the chapter's active members either entered the military or went to work on farms or in factories.

The June 1918 edition of the Beta Theta Pi Magazine listed 62 Zeta Phis, both actives and alumni, enlisted in the military.

Ironically, the War Department's newly implemented selective services system was administered by another Zeta Phi, General Enoch Crowder '86, in Washington, D.C.

A journal describing chapter rules, ceremonies, officer functions and pledge training proved to be quite useful for the new crop of young men who joined the fraternity at the end of the war.

The chapter had the highest grade average among all fraternities a number [quantify] of times during this decade and Brother Charles Parker '27 became the second Zeta Phi to win a Rhodes Scholarship.

Zeta Phi chapter at Mizzou, however, weathered the period well and continued to dominate intramurals while maintaining a high academic stature.

By the mid-1970s, fraternities again began to gain in popularity and the chapter rode the crest of this wave, winning the coveted "triple crown"—grades, intramurals, and singing competitions—roughly every other year.

In the 1990s the Zeta Phi chapter maintained its high position on campus, consistently finishing first among fraternities in grade point average and earning a long succession of Don Faurot intramural crowns.