History of Rotary

Paul P. Harris, the founder of Rotary, was a lawyer who established his business in Chicago in 1896. On the evening of February 23, 1905, Paul P. Harris, at the age of thirty-seven, asked three friends to meet with him. He presented a problem that had been on his mind for some time: How might they as a group enlarge their circle of business and professional acquaintance? Would there not be a mutual benefit in sharing fellowship with representatives of other vocations?

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Out of the discussion that followed came the idea of a club whose membership would be limited to one representative from each business and profession. Meetings were to be held at each member’s place of business. Since this arrangement meant that meetings would have to be held in rotation, the name ROTARY was suggested and adopted.

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Paul Harris was the third president of the Chicago club and the first president of the National Association of Rotary Clubs formed in 1910. He was President Emeritus of Rotary International at the time of his death in 1947. During the time he served as President, he was also prominent in civic and professional work.

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Rotary continued to grow and when the first Rotary Convention was held in Chicago in 1910, there were sixteen clubs with 1,500 members. Today, there are 34,216 clubs with 1.2 million Rotarians throughout the world making up Rotary International. Women were first welcomed into the Rotary in 1989. Rotary International just celebrated its 119th Anniversary.