Courtesy of Ray Leisy, Club Historian
This starts a series on the history of Wooster Rotary, the first of which addresses the founding of Rotary International.
The first Rotary Club was formed when Paul P. Harris, an attorney, called three of his business acquaintances in downtown Chicago together for lunch at the office of Gustave Loehr, a mining engineer and a freemason. The other two attendees were Hiram E. Shorey, a tailor, and Silvester S Schiele, a coal merchant. The members choose the name “Rotary” because they initially decided to rotate subsequent meetings between their respective offices. However, the Club soon began to grow so quickly that they decided to select a permanent meeting place.
The first Rotary Club was formed when Paul P. Harris, an attorney, called three of his business acquaintances in downtown Chicago together for lunch at the office of Gustave Loehr, a mining engineer and a freemason. The other two attendees were Hiram E. Shorey, a tailor, and Silvester S Schiele, a coal merchant. The members choose the name “Rotary” because they initially decided to rotate subsequent meetings between their respective offices. However, the Club soon began to grow so quickly that they decided to select a permanent meeting place.
The next four Rotary Clubs to be organized were in San Francisco. Oakland, Seattle and Los Angeles. Anticipating further growth, the National Association of Rotary Clubs in America was formed in 1910. However, on November 3, 1910, a Rotary Club began meeting in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It was not officially chartered until April 1912. The first to meet outside of North America was the Rotary Club of Dublin but they did not seek a charter until later. The London Rotary Club was, therefore, the first officially International Rotary Club chartered outside of North America. To reflect the addition of International Rotary Clubs, the official name was changed to International Association of Rotary Clubs in 1912.
Additional Clubs soon followed in England, Cuba, the Philippines and India. In 1922, the name was again changed simply to Rotary International and has remained the same since. By 1925, Rotary International had grown to almost 900 clubs with 20,000 members. Today there are over 32,000 Rotary Clubs worldwide in 200 countries with 1,220,000 members.
Additional Clubs soon followed in England, Cuba, the Philippines and India. In 1922, the name was again changed simply to Rotary International and has remained the same since. By 1925, Rotary International had grown to almost 900 clubs with 20,000 members. Today there are over 32,000 Rotary Clubs worldwide in 200 countries with 1,220,000 members.
For an additional bit of Rotary history, you can find the history of the Rotary bell here.