Brief Historical Overview
of the
Pittsburgh
Rotary
Club
The Rotary Club of Pittsburgh was
organized on
December 2, 1910
by Colonel Oscar
T. Taylor, an attorney and career military man, who served
in the Spanish-American War. On the afternoon of December
2, 1910, thirteen people including Mr. Taylor and Rotary
International Founder, Paul P. Harris met in the French Room
at the then Fort Pitt Hotel.
Taylor
was commissioned
by Chesley R. Perry, Secretary of the National Association
of Rotary Clubs, to organize a club in
Pittsburgh.
Also worth noting is
Taylor
’s guidance of
the design of the familiar Rotary emblem, from a wagon wheel
to a modern and certainly more appropriate gear wheel. This
has become known throughout the world as the symbol of
Rotary International.
Currently, the Rotary Club of
Pittsburgh has approximately 160 members, and has had as
many as 350 or more during its 93 years of existence. Seven
members from the club have served as District Governor to
District 7300, soon to be 8 in 2005. Additionally, the
Rotary Club of Pittsburgh is proud to be the 20th club
founded and will enjoy hosting the “First 100 Clubs
Centennial Bell” in November, 2004. The Rotary Club of
Pittsburgh has spawned 10 of the 51 District 7300 clubs
currently in existence.
The
Rotary Club of Pittsburgh is involved with many projects and
programs through its
Pittsburgh Rotary
Club Foundation and the R. L.
Stevenson Foundation for international projects. This year,
we registered our Roberto Clemente Health Clinic II in
Nicaragua
– which is currently under
construction - as our R.I. Centennial Project. In addition,
a $10,000 grant was given to the College Junior Kindergarten
Program in Turks and Caicos.
On the local
community front, the Rotary Club of Pittsburgh recently
awarded eight (8) $5,000 scholarships to college-bound high
school seniors through our CMS Realize Your Dream
Scholarship Program, which is coming up again in the spring
of 2004. Program Hope, our fall career awareness fair,
hosts over 3,000 8th grade students at the convention center
for a career fact finding experience, and is held in
conjunction with Junior Achievement and the
Pittsburgh
Public Schools
. Also this year, the Rotary Club of
Pittsburgh agreed to become a financial sponsor of the
Caring Habits Adventure Program in area middle schools in
addition to continuing monthly volunteer involvement. We
also host the District 7300 Ethics Symposium at the
convention center, a spring project that will be held on
March 3, 2004
.
As of last
year, our primary fundraising vehicle has been the Ducky
Derby. This program has afforded us the opportunity to not
only raise funds for these and many more worthwhile programs
and projects, but to also work closely with other District
7300 clubs and bring the District closer together. |
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