In 1875, shortly after the organization of the Missouri State Normal School—Third District, students began forming literary societies. The first ones were the Union Literary, the Humboldt, and the Arion. The faculty supervised but the students conducted most of the business. They were open to men and women. In 1876, the three original societies disbanded and the Adelphi and the Zenonian replaced them. In 1879 students started the Philomathean, followed by the formation of the Van Guard in 1888. In 1892, the organization of literary societies began to change. Students of the class of 1893 (with the assistance of then-president of the school, Richard C. Norton) decided that the societies would “prosper” more if the men and women developed their own separate organizations. The students organized new societies. The men established their first men-only group, the Websters. A short time later the women created the Sorosis. The next year the Bentons came into existence and several members of the Sorosis left that organization to form a new one, the Clios.

The Clios organized on January 27 1894, “for the promotion of literature, virtue, and friendship, for material improvement in composition and elocution, and for enlarging our fund of general information, into pursuit of said objects.” Named after Clio, the muse of history, the new organization became the sister sorority to the men’s Benton Literary Society. The Clio’s motto was “Once a Clio, always a Clio.”

Over time, the Clios changed from a literary to a social orientation. On March 23 1957, the Clio Society at Southeast Missouri State College received permission from the Delta Delta Delta National Sorority to become a chapter of their organization and receive pledges. On May 10 1957 sixty-eight Clios were initiated into the Phi Mu chapter of Delta Delta Delta.