In his
book, From Flood to Fire, John McDowell described the beginning
of Rotary in Indianapolis, “The winter of 1913 was harsh in Indiana…by
the evening of February 4, when George B. Wray mailed a bundle of
letters to more than 100 Indianapolis businessmen, the city was
shivering in an 11-below ‘deep freeze.’”
“The
letters…touched off a stir of speculation in the city’s growing business
community…’not a stock-selling proposition,’ but beyond that, they had
no idea of just what Wray and the six other signers of the letter, Gerry
M. Sanborn, Albert Worm, Lucien King, G. W. Ilgenfritz, J. F. Gregoire
and Charles A. Bookwalter, had up their sleeves.”
With
this mysterious beginning, nearly 100 attended the meeting four days
later. And, less than a month later, Rotary Club Number 58 was
chartered, on March 1, 1913, with King as the charter president of a
club of 75. Indianapolis Rotary, was one of the largest Rotary clubs in
existence at the time.
After
chartering, the club began meeting on Fridays. However, near the end of
March, the club decided to change its meeting day to Tuesdays, and the
first one would be April 1, 1913. It was never held. Nor was the last
Friday meeting, March 28. They were washed out by the “Great
Indianapolis Flood.” Club members returned to the meetings determined to
build Indianapolis Rotary and rebuild Indianapolis. While
unsubstantiated, it has long been believed that the club’s incredible
community involvement was founded in the community spirit that erupted
during the recovery from that disaster.
The
club has long been committed to community service projects such as the
Rotary building at Riley Memorial Hospital, the Southwest Social Service
Centre, the Junior Achievement headquarters, the Ruth Lilly Health
Education Center, and the Rotary Greenway Project. Today, with
approximately six hundred members and its finger in most civic pies in
the city, the club operates multiple projects ranging from support of
specific inner city schools to Habitat for Humanity, a model trade fair,
and citywide initiatives for nonviolence and area growth.
