This month we celebrate the 116th anniversary of the founding of Rotary . .
On February 23, 1905, attorney Paul Harris and another friend, coal dealer Sylvester Schiele, met mining engineer Gustave Loehr and merchant tailor Hiram Shorey in Loehr’s Chicago office – Room 711 of the Unity Building. There, Harris presented an idea – the formation of a businessman’s club for social purposes. The other three men shared Harris’ enthusiasm for the idea, and agreed to meet again two weeks later, when they would bring other friends.
The February 23 gathering is credited by Rotary historians as the first-ever Rotary Club meeting, and Loehr, like the others, holds a valued place in Rotary history. From this humble beginning on a cold Chicago night in 1905 grew one of the world’s premier service organizations.
Prior to the Unity Building’s demolition in 1989, Rotarians painstakingly removed all fixtures from Loehr’s old office and placed them in storage. The office was later reconstructed on the sixteenth floor of Rotary International headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, where it remains a memorial to the legacy of the first Rotary meeting.
In 1917, The Rotary Foundation was created by Rotary International’s sixth president, Arch C. Klumph, as an endowment fund for Rotary “to do good in the world.” During the subsequent 104 years, our Foundation has grown from an initial contribution of $26.50 to more than $1 billion. It has become one of the largest and most prestigious international fellowship programs in the world.
The Rotary Foundation is a non-profit corporation that supports the efforts of Rotary International to achieve world understanding and peace through international humanitarian, educational, and cultural exchange programs. It is supported solely by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and friends of the Foundation who share its vision of a better world.
I joined the Pflugerville Rotary Club in July 2021 and it has been a tremendously rewarding experience. This club is part of the Austin Rotary District 5870 . If you live in the San Antonio, Texas area, I encourage you to check out a club in the San Antonio Rotary District 5840 .
