The Rotary Club of Seattle has contributed much to the development of the Rotary movement we all know today. As part of the initial Pacific Coast expansion of 1908-09, Seattle Rotarians grappled with the dilemma of early Rotary. Rotarians in Seattle were some of the first to realise that Rotary must rise above the goals of business self-interest and embrace Service above Self.

Rotary's first objectives were:
1. The promotion of the business interests of its members.
2. The promotion of good fellowship and desiderata ordinarily incident to social clubs.


The birth of Club #4

Seattle's birth came from an unusual source- namely the networking of the Travelers Insurance Company.

Extension in the Pacific cities was partly due to the first San Francisco Rotary Club President Homer Wood, but more significantly, it was Homer's colleague in Club #2, Arthur Holman who was responsible for Rotary expansion on to Seattle.

Arthur was a local manager of the Travelers Insurance Company and aimed to spread the new idea of Rotary with missionary zeal. On a business trip, he first made contact with Frank W Jewett of the Travelers Insurance Company in Oakland (and thereby helping form Club #3).

Arthur Holman moved on to Seattle on business and, again, he began to talk about Rotary to the manager of Seattle's Travelers Insurance Company, Mr Roy Denny.

Denny later remembered: "Holman came to Seattle early in 1909 and explained the Rotary idea to me. In Seattle at that time were many young men like myself, practically newcomers. Two or three young men I talked to welcomed the Rotary idea. These included Earl McLaughlin and Ernie Skeel, both close friends. Our first informal meeting was in my house in Laurelhurst; Jim Pinkham would have been there. I feel, but he was at the time out of Seattle. At the first meeting there was no attempt at organization".

Roy took up Arthur's enthusiasm with no little relish, he called a preliminary meeting on May 21st 1909 with five present - Denny, Skeel, McLaughlin, Emery Olmstead and Erwin Braun. Denny became the first President of Seattle Rotary Club at its first formal gathering on June 15th 1909 at the Olympus Café with Skeel named secretary.

Roy Denny, in turn spread Rotary to nearby Tacoma where he talked to Harry Pelletier (a district representative of the Travelers Insurance Company). Harry would become the first Rotary Club President. Roy Denny also called in at Portland where he conversed with Phil Grossmayer, General agent for the TIC.

Calum Thomson

Sources - Seattle Rotary's Golden Years 1909-1959 - A J Izzard, H O Stone et al
History of the  Rotary Club of San Francisco - W J Mountain

A final twist is Paul Harris' own version of the order of the clubs organization from "This Rotarian Age," page 77 in which he writes that Oakland was number 3 and Los Angeles was number 4. That information is linked here.

However, in a letter just above, Harris finds his error and writes an apology.