The Glee Club's history began modestly in 1862 when eight undergraduate men formed what is now the oldest performing arts group at the University of Pennsylvania; subsequently, another eight men were added to the group. The Glee Club's premiere performance was in the chapel of Collegiate Hall at Ninth & Chestnut Streets in Philadelphia for "an audience that was unusually select and large, the Hall filled to its utmost capacity". At this concert, each man wore red and blue ribbons in his buttonhole, thus becoming the first known Penn group to wear the University colors as part of its uniform.