A One Page History of the Beginning and Growth of Rotary
In 1905..... 37 year old attorney Paul Harris changed the world.
From
the years 1891-1896 Paul Harris, who was raised by his New England
grandparents with values of tolerance toward all, gained his law degree
in 1891. 1In his senior year, a former graduate told his
class that they should “Go to a small town for five years make a fool of
themselves, then go to the big city!” Paul decided to hit
the road for the entire world.
He worked as a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, 1891; manual
laborer on a fruit ranch, then raisin packing plant, teacher at the L.A.
Business College in 1892. Denver, Colorado, 1892: Actor in a stock
company, reporter for the Rocky Mountain News, cowboy, reporter for The
Republican. Jacksonville, Florida: St. James Hotel night clerk,
traveling granite/marble salesman 1892/93, reporter on the Washington
Star, cattleman on a ship 1893, haymaker and cannery worker 1893,
sub-foreman of the gang of cattlemen 1893, (where he wrote that, on his
first voyage, he experienced sub-human conditions); orange picker in
Florida 1893, back to Jacksonville selling marble granite. His territory
included the southern states, Cuba, the Bahamas and Europe. When he
announced that he was going to Chicago to practice law his employer
said, "Whatever the advantages of settling in Chicago may be, I am
satisfied you will make more money if you remain with me." To which Paul
replied: "I am sure you are right but I am not going to Chicago for the
purpose of making money; I am going for the purpose of living a life."
1896-1905 In 1896, he did go to Chicago to practice law. One
evening, in 1900, Paul went with a professional friend to his suburban
home. After dinner, as they strolled through the neighborhood,
Paul’s friend introduced him to tradesmen in their stores. This
reminded Paul of his grandparent’s home in New England. “Why not
have a fellowship composed of businessmen from different occupations,
without restrictions of politics or religion?” he thought.1905-1908
2On February 23, 1905, Paul Harris had dinner with his
closest friend, Chicago coal dealer
Silvester Schiele.
Afterwards they walked over the river to
Room 711 of the Unity Building
where they met their host, Gustavus Loehr, a mining engineer; and
another friend, Hiram Shorey, a merchant tailor. Harris proposed
that they form a club. No name was chosen for
the group. The second meeting was March 9th. Three other men,
Harry Ruggles,
William Jenson, and A. L. White joined them. Ruggles was a printer, and
created the “name badge” version of the Rotary “wheel” and also started
singing in Rotary. In fact his singing kept the group from disbanding
more than once. Paul Harris later wrote: "The significant occurrence of
the second meeting was the introduction of
Harry Ruggles, the printer. Harry was destined to play an important
part in the life of the Chicago club, for through his suggestion of club
singing his influence has been made felt by the entire movement." Paul
P. Harris, page 95 "The Founder of Rotary 1928. Two weeks later the
group gathered at the office of Silvester Schiele, in his coal yard at
Twelfth and State Streets. Six of the previous seven were present
along with Charles Newton and Arthur B. Irwin.
1908-1910 1Paul was very interested
in starting Rotary in other cities. The second Rotary club was founded
by
Homer Wood in
San Francisco in 1908. 7Wood then quickly organized
Oakland #3
(When did weekly meetings
begin? 6According to the
general secretary in 1948,
it was
Oakland #3 in 1909.)
Seattle #4 and
Los Angeles #5. In fact, before the end of 1909, there were
seven clubs, including New York City #6 and Boston #7. That's right, in
1908 and 1909, Homer Wood started four clubs. In the rest of the United
States there were two, and the San Francisco club is credited,
by some, with starting
New York.
GROWTH OF ROTARY AROUND THE WORLD Paul Harris had a vision
of “Around the World Rotary” which was also opposed by many of his
fellow Rotarians. It was not until he won the loyalty of the man who was
to be Rotary’s secretary from 1910 – 1942 that Rotary became organized
and international. That man was
Chesley Perry, whom Paul called the “Builder of Rotary.”
ROTARY ORGANIZES
1910-1911
3&7 By August 1910 there were sixteen
clubs and the National Association of Rotary Clubs was
organized and held its
first convention that year, in Chicago. At the 1911
Portland Convention, “Service, Not Self” was introduced by
Frank Collins of Minneapolis. It later became “Service Above
Self. ” The slogan “He profits most who serves best,” was
also read there. It had been written by
Arthur Sheldon and
delivered by him at the first convention the previous year in Chicago.
Both were approved by RI in 1950. Learn what Sheldon really meant
by his well thought phrase. You can study all of Rotary's conventions
from 1910 on and learn about each of our presidents from Paul
Harris to the present as well as their clubs from our website
dedicated to presidents of Rotary. Another important event
at the 1911 Portland convention was the
platform brought forward by
Seattle #4. This platform, is still essential to the
philosophy of Rotary today.
1912-23 4When clubs were formed in
Canada and Great Britain in 1912, the name was changed to the
International Association of Rotary Clubs, and was later shortened to
Rotary International in 1922. 5Paul Harris was the
first
president of the National
Association of Rotary Clubs, serving two terms. He was
named President Emeritus of the International Association in 1912 and
served until his death in 1947. 1Harris suffered a near
fatal heart attack
in his final year as president of the National Association and required
a full year to recover. Yet, over the next 35 years, he and his wife
Jean Thomson Harris
made numerous exhausting trips to nearly every continent, visiting
hundreds of cities, planting
friendship trees and
attending Rotary conferences.
Click on the photo
for a larger view
1947
5As Rotary spanned the globe, branch offices were opened in
Europe, South America, South Asia, Southwest Pacific. In the UK
British Rotary had
its own office. 6When Rotary International President
Emeritus, world traveler, author and prominent Chicago attorney
Paul Harris passed away on January
27, 1947, his dream had grown from one group of four to
6,000 clubs in 75 countries with 300,000 members brought together
through the service and fellowship of Rotary
1947-89 4Two
world wars changed the face of Rotary – parts of the Far East and
Eastern Europe were closed to Rotary. Eventually, clubs were
re-established in Japan, Germany, Poland and Hungary. In 1990 the
first club was opened in the former Soviet Union and
China. In 1987,
Rotary membership was opened to women,
and in 1989 the RI Council on Legislation standardized all Rotary
documents and rules.1989-2005
Rotary came close to removing polio from the face of the earth and, in
2005, returned, again, to Chicago to celebrate the first 100 years.
2Who was the
first Rotary president?
Silvester Schiele. The meeting,
where a president was chosen, happened to be in Schiele's office, hence,
as a courtesy, he became the president.
"Silvester
Schiele, my most intimate Chicago friend, and one of the three
who first met with me, was made our first president, and has been a
constant member. Gustavus Loehr and Hiram Shorey were the other two but
they failed to follow through. On the other hand Harry Ruggles, Charley
Newton, and others who were quickly added to the group, with hearty zest
joined in developing the project." (Paul
Harris, page 231 "My Road to Rotary")
Find
the latest history at
www.rghfforum.org Study our history at
www.historylearningcenter.org The entire world of Rotary Global
History is found at
www.regionalhistory.org Get involved at
www.historycomment.org This
work is continued by a board of RGHF zone representatives serving Rotary
in all parts of the world in the belief that that history will encourage
membership retention and increase contributions to The Rotary
Foundation."
This page was inspired by