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Rotary is an organisation 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.
There are approximately 1.2 million Rotarians,
members of more than 29,000 Rotary clubs in 160 countries...
The Beginning....
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.
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. 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 organization was represented
on every continent, and the name Rotary International
was adopted in 1922. (Source: Rotary International)
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