Rotary International

History
Rotary was founded in Chicago, Illinois on February 23, 1905 by Paul P. Harris, a lawyer. On that day Paul met with three friends - Sylvester Schiele, a coal dealer, Gustavus E. Loehr, a mining engineer, and Hiram E. Shorey, a merchant tailor.

Initially, Paul Harris's idea was to promote fellowship among business acquaintances, but soon the purpose had evolved into a higher calling, that of service to others. This club met in rotation at the offices of the members, therefore the name ROTARY was adopted. The membership of that first club was diverse which continues to be one of our dominant themes.

In 1911 Rotary became international establishing clubs in Canada, England and Ireland. Rotary became the forerunner of other great service clubs such as Kiwanis International founded in 1915, Lions International founded in 1917 and Optimist International founded in 1919. The first international convention was held in Atlanta in 1917.

There are now 31,603 Rotary Clubs all around the globe with a total Rotary membership of more than one million two hundred thousand men and women.

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