www.rotaryfirstfifty.org

The First 100 Clubs

THE LIST BY NAME

THE LIST BY NUMBER

THE FIRST CLUB

30000 Partners

CENTENNIAL BELL

ANNIVERSARIES

CLUB POPULATIONS

CLUB TIMELINE

FIRST 100 ARCHIVES

FIRST 101 - 105

LANDMARK CLUBS

113 CLUBS

Populations of Communities in early clubs

This is the page where our research project began. On Wednesday 11 October 2000, Jack Selway, then a member of Rotary Club of Pueblo, CO #43, received a list of the first 50 Rotary clubs. This list was faxed to Selway by RI staff member, Joaquín Mejía. It was the only list which could be found and was from an old fashioned typewriter. (seen on the left) Within a few days Selway had created a page for each club telling where they were located, when they met, maybe something about their communities. Then Founder Selway had the thought that perhaps their histories might be of some interest... From then on, volunteer Rotarians around the world worked on hundreds of projects:

Stories about all the presidents, first clubs of every country, early clubs of every continent, the philosophy of Rotary, the story of women in Rotary and the list goes on.

Within a few weeks of our founding the project became "Rotary First Fifty" with the authorized domain of www.rotaryfirstfifty.org still used to reach this page.

But here you can learn about the first nine years. From 1905 until 1914 -- 100 Rotary clubs joined together to form this marvelous organization. By studying these clubs, you'll find common goals, lasting values, traditions, abilities to adapt and great Rotarians.

What is remarkable is that these 100 clubs are "the" original "First 100 Clubs" of Rotary. Not one of them failed. They are in five countries. They've weathered two world wars. Some had war in their streets and there were awful financial times. They are still here. Enjoy meeting them as we continue to discover them ourselves.

One of the objectives Rotary Global History Fellowship was to cover the history of Rotary's early years. We chose the "First 100 Clubs" and were authorized to use www.rotaryfirst100.org, as a number during the centennial of Rotary International. For reasons satisfied by the Four Way Test, we added five clubs, all of which could have been number one-hundred. We also added eight clubs mentioned in the "1905-1948" appendix found in the first edition of "My Road to Rotary" by Paul P. Harris and published by A. Kroch and Son. The result is a study of one-hundred and thirteen clubs which cover the entire Rotary life of Rotary's founder Paul Harris.
Rotary historians, around the world, continue to maintain and improve this archive of Rotary's history.
RotaryFirst100 - Rotary's First 100 Years

The contents of this website, our electronic features and newsletters have been researched, collected, compiled, and written by Rotarians.

RGHF Mission: As an effort to serve others, RGHF accumulates and preserves the complete history, values and philosophy of the Rotary movement, as well as encourages others to do the same at every level of the Rotary movement, and publishes those histories, values and philosophies on the internet, as well as other forms of media as expedient. 17 March 2003, amended 20 December 2007, Rotary Global History Fellowship Board of Directors.

This fellowship is not an agency of, or controlled by, Rotary International, but is affiliated with individual Rotary districts, clubs, other Rotary organizations and enjoys the support of Rotarians, clubs, districts, and zones world-wide. The views and opinions expressed on this website are not necessarily the collective views and opinions of Rotary International or all Rotarians. Rotary International is not responsible for any content and accepts no liability therefore. © 2000-2008 RGHF (Rotary Global History Fellowship)