The world's first service club was founded on 23 February 1905 when lawyer Paul Harris and three friends met in a small office in downtown Chicago. They named their new club "Rotary" to describe the practice of meeting in rotation at the members' various places of business.
During the 1911-1912 Rotary year, the association became international.
The National Association of Rotary Clubs, which became the International Association of Rotary Clubs in 1912 adopted the name Rotary International (RI) in 1922. A lot has changed in Rotary since 1922 as it has continued to change and grow with this times to be the thoroughly modern organisation it is today.
Learn more about the history of Rotary.
Rotary Milestones
1905
First Rotary club organized in Chicago, Illinois, USA
1908
Second club formed in San Francisco, California, USA
1910
First Rotary convention held in Chicago
1912
The Rotary Club of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, becomes the first club outside the United States to be officially chartered.
1917
Endowment fund, forerunner of The Rotary Foundation, established
1921
The first Rotary club to be established in Australia - (Rotary Club of Melbourne)
1932
The 4-Way Test formulated by Chicago Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor
1945
Forty-nine Rotarians help draft United Nations Charter in San Francisco
1947
Rotary founder Paul Harris dies; first 18 Rotary Foundation scholarships granted
1962
First Interact club formed in Melbourne, Florida, USA
1965
Rotary Foundation launches Matching Grants and Group Study Exchange programs
1973
Rotary Club of Kilmore is chartered
1978
RI's largest convention, with 39,834 registrants, held in Tokyo
1985
Rotary announces PolioPlus program to immunize all the children of the world against polio
1989
Council on Legislation opens Rotary membership to women worldwide
Rotary clubs chartered in Budapest, Hungary, and Warsaw, Poland, for first time in almost 50 years
1990
Rotary Club of Moscow chartered first club in Soviet Union
1990-91
Preserve Planet Earth program inspires some 2,000 Rotary-sponsored environmental projects
1994
Western Hemisphere declared polio-free
1999
Rotary Centers for International Studies in Peace and Conflict Resolution established
2000
Western Pacific declared polio-free
2001
30,000th Rotary club chartered
2002
Europe declared polio-free
First class of 70 Rotary Peace Scholars begin study
2003
Rotarians raise more than US$118 million to support the final stages of polio eradication
2005
Rotary Celebrates centennial in Chicago, Illinois, USA
2022
Australian Rotary Health (one of the largest independent funders of mental health research within Australia) advises their funding focus will narrow to the mental health of children aged 0-12.
The humanitarian activities of Rotary international are organised through The Rotary Foundation, Rotary's charity. Rotary International has a number of programmes that are not humanitarian but focus on youth and leadership. Rotary International provides an immense network of clubs and their individual members all of who interact in creating and joining together in service and fellowship.
