Brief
histories of Rotary's First 100 Clubs
Rotary Club of Phoenix
#100
Rotary International District
5490
Organization of the Rotary Club of Phoenix,
Arizona
Rotary
was brought to Phoenix by Wallace C. Button. He was returning to Phoenix by
train from St. Louis. It was June
1, 1913. He met Mr. L. P. Sullivan, a Rotarian from
San Antonio, who suggested that Wallace organize a Rotary Club in Phoenix.
He received literature from Rotary International, which he gave to five men.
The five men got together with several others and had their first meeting in
early July 1913. There were several more meetings, but it wasn’t until December
15, 1913 that 25 men met at the Hotel Adams at an evening dinner to proceed with
the actual formation of a Phoenix Rotary Club. There was a great deal of
discussion but little results and another meeting was called for on December 31,
1913. There were 35 present at this meeting; there were many matters
considered, many new ideas proposed and objections to the organization ironed
out. None of those present had a very clear idea of the aims and objects of
Rotary.
There were several that objected to the
formation of a Rotary Club for various reasons, one of which was the fear that
Rotary might somehow be somewhat similar to the Ku Klux Klan! The fears were
laid to rest and another meeting was held on January 5, 1914. At this meeting
approximately 50 men met to perfect the organization and to make application to
Rotary International for membership. A constitution and by-laws were read and
adopted (Club 100’s constitution predates the constitution of Rotary
International). Thirty men signed the application and paid a membership fee of
$10 each and are our Charter Members. The application was denied by Rotary
International because Phoenix did not have the minimum 25,000 population
required to support a club. However, after several months of correspondence,
Charter No. 100, dated March 1, 1914 was delivered to the Club and Phoenix
became the “Century Club” of Rotary International. Strangely enough, on this
date, the Club had 100 members!!
The Rotary Club of
Los Angeles sponsored Phoenix into Rotary.
Note this interesting photo of Jimmie Fricke from the August 1921
Rotarian Magazine Posted by Dr.
Wolfgang Ziegler 2 November 2005
Club 100 is the last of our Centennial Tributes
and was chartered on 1 March 1914.
Rotary
100 Executive Director Gail Peretz
was a founding
member of Rotary Global History Committee
Also see the
"Other 100s"
