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HISTORY OUTLINE ROTARY GLOBAL HISTORY First 100 Clubs of Rotary International HISTORY CALENDAR  CLUBS 1 -100
ALPHABETICAL LIST ANNIVERSARIES CENTENNIAL BELL OTHER 100'S LANDMARK CLUBS ROTARY/One
CANADA THE UK CLUBS OF RIPS CONVENTION CLUBS RI 50TH ANNIV. DISTRICTS
REGIONS COUNTRIES HISTORY CALENDAR FRIENDSHIP TREES COMMITTEE FEATURES
First 100 Clubs Census Study DIST, CLUBS, & COUNTRIES DISCUSSION RI ARCHIVES WHAT'S NEW? HISTORY OUTLINE

1 March 1914

"other 100th clubs"

On this day, as with the first day of each month, new charters were granted by the, then, International Association of Rotary Clubs. On Sunday, March First of 1914 there were eight (8) completed applications. All were of "equal" standing. In February charter number 97 had been assigned to Sacramento, in California, USA.

No one will really ever know how the decision was made to create the order of the clubs listed on this page. If "rotaryfirst100.org" had not been created, it might not have been much of an issue. But we're recording history and details like this must be dealt with.

This section of our website is the result of the research of Rotary Global History senior historian Basil Lewis with the assistance of the Rotary International Archives Department, particularly Cyndi Beck.

Additional comment by Lewis follows at the bottom of the page

98. Springfield, OH, Organized 14 Jan 1914

99. Little Rock, AR,

100. Phoenix, AZ,  Organized 10 Jan 1914

Elected to membership 1 March 1914

Elected to membership 1 March 1914

Elected to membership 1 March 1914

101. Scranton, PA,  Organized 3 May 1912

102. Evansville, IN,  Organized 9 Dec 1913

103. Chattanooga, TN,  Organized 2 Jan 1914

104. Macon, GA,  Organized 7 Jan 1914

105. South Bend, IN,  Organized 7 Jan 1914

Elected to membership 1 March 1914

Elected to membership 1 March 1914

Elected to membership 1 March 1914

Elected to membership 1 March 1914

Elected to membership 1 March 1914

"Some order had to be assigned and we can only assume it was chance. The organization date was irrelevant to Rotary purposes. Many clubs took longer to be ready to proceed to apply for Rotary International Association membership. Those clubs that were speedier in the process were not penalized by those who weren't."

(From the Rotary International Archives) Regarding membership in the Association, according to the Constitution & Bylaws in force in 1914 (text at this link)

"In the beginning, Rotary numbered the clubs in the order in which they became affiliated with Rotary International and they were assigned a charter number based on the date that they were elected to membership in Rotary International. After WWII in about 1951, Rotary stopped using the numbering system that it had before the war. Today's assigned numbers are for financial purposes and are not placed on the charter nor should they be considered for order of entry into Rotary International. After a club is terminated (for any reason) should they be re-affiliated within a year, they would retain their original charter date. If more than a year has passed, then they will receive a new charter date and the old affiliation will no longer count as to anniversary, etc."

Cyndi Beck, Rotary Archives
CHARTERING AND THE NUMBERING OF CLUBS

Officially a Rotary Club only moves from the 'interim' (provisional) stage to full membership when it receives its Charter. In the early period of Rotary, clubs had to apply for affiliation to the newly formed National (or from 1912, International) Association of Rotary Clubs. Sometimes because of administrative delays or even lack of knowledge of the correct procedure, some of Rotary's earliest clubs failed to be chartered for several months or even years after their inaugural meeting. Thus, Winnipeg was formed at a meeting on November 3, 1910, but did not receive its Charter until 1912.

A similar situation occurred with the clubs in Britain where news of their creation could take a long time to reach Chicago. Because there was occasionally some dispute about the amount of the affiliation fee, not all clubs joined immediately. This has led to discrepancies in the numbering of the clubs. Thus-

Dublin was formed on February 22, 1911

Belfast on July 24, 1911 

London on August 3, 1911

Manchester Autumn 1911

Glasgow, Spring 1912

Edinburgh, September 1912

Liverpool, March 1913

Birmingham November 25 1913

RIBI 1

RIBI 3

RIBI 2

RIBI 4

RIBI 5

RIBI 6

RIBI 7

RIBI 8

RI 65

RI 67

RI 50

RI 66

RI 60

RI 62

RI 80

RI108

In the above list apart from the transposition of London and Belfast, the RIBI numbering follows the order of the club's creation. The RI numbering on the other hand reflects the order of the issuing of the club's official charter by the payment of an affiliation fee to the IARC in America. Thus, Dublin did not affiliate until April 4, 1913 and Belfast until May 4, 1914.

Basil Lewis, The "History of Rotary" Project
 

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