About Dodd-Mead House

Dodd-Mead House is the westernmost house in Burton-Judson Courts. Founded by French monks in 1698 as an adjunct organization to the young University of Chicago, Dodd-Mead has been distinguished by its greatness from its inception. An English explorer who stopped in Chicago in the house's younger years described it as "a most pleasante retreate, whse native inhabitants are an amiable yt contrarian people. Ths wld be most certainlee the ideel place, wre it not for the long & cold passage wch must be made across that Windy Midway. By my troth, this house shalle surely become the titties." Indeed, the house did become great, and 'the titties' came into wide use among the better-humored of Dodd-Mead's members.

During the Revolutionary War, the House sided itself firmly with the American Colonists, providing refuge to the bedraggled Thomas Jefferson on numorous occasions. In a letter to John Adams, Jefferson wrote, "The greatness of the House of Dodd & Mead instills in my mind a confidence in the destiny of our new Nation. Its inhabitants stand in glorious contrast to the torpid, unresisting Masses of Europe, who every day have despotism thrust upon them.... Certainly, the great Men of Dodd-Mead must be made the very Foundations of our Republic."

The Civil War saw Dodd-Mead House serve as a Federal army hospital. As many as three hundred casualties are buried in the field behind Burton-Judson. Indeed, Dodd-Mead served the good side in every war through World War II despite the occasional complaint that the French deserve a beating once in a while.

Following World War II, Winston Churchill made his famous Iron Curtain Speech in Dodd-Mead's Great Hall, after which he bestowed upon Dodd-Mead the Honorary Most Noble Order of Sandhurst, in commemoration of which three stars appear on Dodd-Mead's crest.

During the Cold War, Dodd-Mead assumed a pacifist but staunchly anti-Communist position. Indeed, Milton Friedman and Frederick von Hayek have always been regular participants in Dodd-Mead's famed political debates. To this day, Dodd-Mead is anti-Communist, anti-Fascist, pro-Free Markets, anti-France, pro-Rearming of Germany, anti-European Union, anti-Objectivist, anti-Relativist, anti-Marxist, anti-Anti-Masonic Party, and pro-England.

Dodd-Mead House has continued to flourish against newer upstart houses, including Henderson and Alper Houses, and has maintained good relations with its long-time ally, Mathews House (est. 1707). Other houses have learned that Dodd-Mead's retaliation is swift and powerful and that this house is not to be trifled with.