A Brief History
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.