In late 1910 Price Cross of Dallas visited the Rotary Club in San Francisco. He returned to Dallas and discussed the Rotary idea with Fred E. Johnston and others. Then they invited a number of Dallas business and professional leaders to a meeting at the Oriental Hotel, on April 20,1911. They organized the Rotary Club of Dallas, the first such Club in Texas and the 39^th in all of Rotary. They adopted a Constitution and By-Laws, and elected Marvin E. Martin as the first Club president. Thus the service club idea came to Texas, and Dallas Rotary was only the second Club (to New Orleans) throughout the Gulf States.

Dallas Rotary met for luncheon each Thursday Noon at the Oriental Hotel, at Commerce and Akard in the heart of Dallas. Lunch cost 50¢, the Club initiation fee was $5.00, and Club dues were $12.00 a year.

The Dallas Rotarian began publication in 1912, but only a few copies have survived. The name was later changed to Rotagrams to avoid a name-conflict with the International Rotarian Magazine, after Rotary became international with Clubs in Canada and Britain. Dallas began using name buttons in 1913, and published a first small member directory.

It also helped organize the Ft. Worth Rotary Club in 1913. The Dallas Rotary Secretary's home burned in 1913, and all Club records were destroyed. Dallas Club Attendance Door Prizes included silver spoons, a case of dynamite, five hundred pounds of ice, ten sacks of cement, and a ton of coal.

Rotary Districts were formed in 1914, with Dallas in District 12. the Texas District. The U.S. entered the “Great War" in 1917, and Price Cross gave an American Flag for the Rotary meeting room, where Club members sang The Star Spangled Banner. Rotarians marched in the Dallas “Loyalty Day” Parade, and held classifications open for the five Club members away in military service. The son of one Club member was killed in the war. Club members bought Liberty Bonds, and entertained the troops at Love Field and Camp Dick (at Fair Park) where Lieutenant Jimmy Doolittle, left, was stationed. He would later lead the first bombing raid on Tokyo early in World War II.