Brief histories of the
"First 100" Clubs
Rotary Club of
Lincoln 14
Rotary
International District 5650
First Club in a Community of Less Than 50,000
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA
A Charter Club of Rotary International
Organized June 6, 1910
Chartered August 18, 1910
Organization Lincoln Rotary is
Lincoln’s oldest service organization. It was the 14th Rotary Club
founded and has published a weekly newsletter, The Propeller, since
1916. Lincoln Rotary came into being as a direct result of the efforts
of the St. Louis Rotary Club. The St. Louis club president, who had
business relations with F. C. “Dad” Phillips, came to Lincoln in late May,
1910 and received a promise from “Dad” Phillips that a Rotary Club would be
organized in Lincoln.
On June
6, 1910 the selected group met in the Phillips Plumbing Shop and Lincoln
Rotary Club #14 was born with F. C. Phillips as President.
Club Extension Lincoln Rotary
was responsible for establishing most other early Rotary clubs in Nebraska.
Lincoln Rotary has sponsored eighteen (18) new Rotary clubs. They are:
Downtown Omaha Club #37, Kearney, York, Beatrice, Fremont, Hastings,
Norfolk, Aurora, Falls City, Alliance, Chadron, Scottsbluff, Crete, Ashland,
Humboldt, Lincoln Northeast, Lincoln South, and Lincoln Havelock.
District Governors The club has
furnished eleven District Governors beginning with O. J. Fee in 1916-17 and
followed by Charles Strader, Verne Hedge, Charles Cadwallader, W. A.
Robbins, Kenneth White, 1966-67; Robert W. Palme, 1970-71; John Wolter,
1985-86; Dan Drain, 1988-89; Charles Thone, 1996-97; and Arthur Knox,
1997-98. Charles Cadwallader also served on the Board of Directors of
Rotary International and in 1947 was nominated by Lincoln Rotary as a
candidate for International President.
Renowned People
One
of Lincoln Rotary’s best known members was William Jennings Bryan.
He became an honorary member when he moved his residence to Florida.
General John J. Pershing was an honorary
member and attended meetings in his honor on Dec. 30, 1919 and Dec. 21,
1929.
Read an article, about General Pershing, from
The Rotarian (October 1918 issue)
From Dr.
Wolfgang Ziegler
