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ROTARY CLUB OF WINNIPEG
HISTORIC PLAQUE UNVEILED
  Mounted
on the very building where the first Rotary Club meeting outside
of the United States was held,
Winnipeg Club President Richard Whidden (left and below
left) and District 5550 Governor Rick Felstead (right and below
right) unveiled a plaque commemorating that event and the names
of the five “Rotarians” who formed the club on November 3, 1910.
As well, recognized on the plaque, is former Winnipeg Rotarian,
Rev. Dr. Leslie Pidgeon, who was the first non-American Rotary
International President in 1917-1918.
 The
plaque is located on a building on the southeast corner of
Portage Avenue and Smith Street in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
At the time it was the Y.M.C.A. Building and is now designated
as an “historic building” by the City of Winnipeg.
 The
organizer of the Rotary Club in Winnipeg, and, arguably the
“father” of Rotary International, was a little known Canadian
named P.A.C. (Pac) McIntyre. In the summer of 1910, “Pac” was
returning from a business convention in Detroit and stopped in
Chicago to visit his cousin, Rotarian Will Lander. Will
arranged a luncheon with Paul Harris and Chesley Perry and
“Pac”. After lunch, Paul Harris and “Pac” went back to the
former's office where “Pac” was given some literature about
Rotary. Reportedly, he came back to Winnipeg “just filled with
Rotary”. Because he was not very familiar with the City, “Pac”
did as Paul Harris had done at the start, by enlarging his
circle of friends through forming a Rotary Club. This occurred
on Nov 3, 1910 when the Rotary Club of Winnipeg became the
17th Rotary Club in the world. A set of By-Laws obtained from
the Rotary Club of Boston were modified and adopted on Nov. 15,
1910.
At a meeting on Dec. 7, 1910, in a letter from Ches Perry, the
Secretary of the National Association of Rotary Clubs, he stated
“It is evident that this will now have to be the International
Association (of Rotary Clubs)”. At the Oct. 11, 1911
Club meeting one dollar was collected from each member as the
fee for the National Association of Rotary Clubs. On April 13,
1912, Paul Harris signed the Charter naming Winnipeg as the 35th
Rotary Club.
On Feb. 2, 1914, the Lieutenant Governor of Province of Manitoba
signed into law “An Act to incorporate The Rotary Club of
Winnipeg”. This Act is still in effect.
At the third Annual Rotary Conference held in Duluth, Minnesota
in Aug 1912, Winnipeg Rotary Club President W. J. Club moved
that the “name of the organization be changed from the
“National Association of Rotary Clubs” to the “International
Association of Rotary Clubs”. The motion was carried and was
called that until 1921 when it was again changed to “Rotary
International”.
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Contact – PDG Cam King, 130 Laurentia Bay, Winnipeg, MB R2C 0H1
Thanks to George Derwin for the photos
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