A BRIEF HISTORY OF ROTARY INTERNATIONAL
FEBRUARY 23, 1905 — FEBRUARY 23, 2009

      Rotary is an organization of business and professional leaders united worldwide, who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world. Currently, there are approximately 1,200,000 Rotarians, members of more than 32,600 Rotary clubs in 166 countries.
       Rotary's first day and the years that followed... February 23, 1905. The airplane had yet to stay aloft more than a few minutes.  The first motion picture theater had not yet opened. Norway and Sweden were peacefully terminating their union. On this particular day, a 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. So it was that a merchant tailor, a coal dealer and a mine operator began to meet alternately at each other's luncheon place. It was an idea that grew from his desire to find within the large city of Chicago the kind of friendly spirit that he knew in the villages where he had grown up.
       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 our 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 organization was represented on every continent, and the name Rotary International was adopted in 1922.
       In 1945, Rotary played a major role in the organization of the United Nations. With it's established bases in countries around the world, Rotary became a natural partner with the UN in its goal to unite the world in a common goal, that of world peace through understanding. Rotary,s founder, Paul Harris, died in 1947 and his memory has been carried on through programs of The Rotary Foundation.