The History of Rotary
On February 23, 1905, Chicago lawyer, Paul P Harris, called three friends to a meeting. What he had in
mind was a club that would kindle fellowship among members of the
business community. It was an idea that grew from his desire to find
within the large city the kind of friendly spirit that he knew in the
villages where he had grown up.
Room 711 of the Unity Building at 127 North Dearborn Street in
downtown Chicago, Illinois, was the site of Rotary's first meeting on
February 23, 1905. At that time, it was the office of Gustavus Loehr, a
mining engineer and one of the founding members of the organization.
The four businessmen didn't decide then and there to call themselves
a Rotary club, but their get-together was, in fact, the first meeting of
the world's first Rotary club. As they continued to meet, adding others
to the group, they rotated their meetings among the members' places of
business, hence the name.
Soon after the club name was agreed upon, one of the new members
suggested a wagon wheel design as the club emblem. It was the precursor
of the familiar cogwheel emblem now worn by Rotarians around the world. By the end of
1905, the club had 30 members.
The second Rotary club was formed in 1908 half a continent away from
Chicago in San Francisco, California. It was a much shorter leap across
San Francisco Bay to Oakland, California, where the third club was
formed. Others followed in Seattle, Washington, Los Angeles, California,
and New York City, New York. Rotary became international in 1910 when a
club was formed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
By 1921 the organisation was represented on every continent, and the
name Rotary International was adopted in 1922.
The Rotary Foundation
The Rotary Foundation is Rotary's corporate charity. It is dedicated to furthering
international understanding, goodwill and peace. The Foundation administers many
programmes to aid the needy and deserving. One of these programmes is the 3-H
fund which seeks to alleviate problems of the disadvantaged throughout the world
under the headings of Health, Hunger and Humanity. The projects supported under
this programme are usually beyond the capability of a single club or group of
clubs to support.
The Foundation's most ambitious project so far has been PolioPlus, a campaign
to help the World Health Organisation and UNICEF immunise the world's children
against polio, measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus and tuberculosis.
PolioPlus raised over $400 million of which Rotary clubs in Great Britain and
Ireland contributed £8 million and has almost single handedly wiped out polio throughout the
world.
The fund also provides grants, educational
scholarships and opportunities for young people, but not Rotarians or their
close relatives, to visit and study in other countries.
Such strong support and involvement of Rotarians worldwide ensures a
secure future for the Rotary Foundation as it continues its vital work
for international understanding and world peace. It is the biggest private
charity in the world. In the year 2000, Rotary Foundation collected £74M and donated £100M in
the same year.
For more information on the history of Rotary Foundation, click here
or on the link on the left.
Rotary Club of Thurso
