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THE DISTRICT 6580
HISTORY
(USA)
Prepared by the district and not verified
by Rotary Global History |
Honor Our Legacy
by
Donald L. Sodrel, PDG 1991-92
"Who the hell wants to hear actors
talk?" - Harry M. Warner, Warner
Brothers, 1927.
"Everything that can be invented has
already been invented." - Charles H.
Duell, Director U.S. Patent Office,
1905.
"Sensible and responsible women do not
want to vote." - Grover Cleveland, 1905.
"There is no likelihood man can ever tap
the power of the atom." - Robert
Millikan, Nobel Prize in physics, 1923.
"Heavier-Than-Air flying machines are
impossible." - Lord Kelvin, President,
Royal Society, 1895.
"Babe Ruth made a big mistake when he
gave up pitching." - Tris Speaker, 1921.
Lucky for us and millions of others
throughout the world, Paul Harris was
not a "Nay" sayer. Paul took action on
his vision and built an organization for
the future.
The year is 1905. Teddy Roosevelt is
president of the U.S. More than 100
motorcars are displayed at the New York
Auto Show with prices ranging from $400
for a runabout to $8,000 for a richly
upholstered 40 horsepower limousine.
Oklahoma is admitted to statehood, with
New Mexico and Arizona as the only
territories remaining. In Indiana, Lew
Wallace, author of "Ben Hur", is dead at
the age of 71. And in Chicago, the
vision of a young lawyer, who felt lost
and alone in the sprawling city, becomes
reality.
On a cold, windy Thursday night, 23
February 1905, Paul Harris and three
friends meet to discuss an idea of
Paul's to recapture some of the friendly
spirit that existed among businessmen in
small communities. The three men -
Silvester Schiele, a coal dealer;
Gustavus Loehr, a mining engineer' and
Hiram Shorey, a merchant tailor - meet
in Gus Loehr's office - room 711 of The
Unity Building at 127 North Dearborn
Street. As you know, from this meeting
came the world's first service club -
Rotary - and as the saying goes "The
rest is history".
The founding four were of U.S., German,
Swedish and Irish ancestry, representing
Protestant, Roman Catholic and Jewish
faiths. There is no evidence to suggest
that Paul planned this diversity, but as
products of the American Melting Pot,
they were fitting representatives of the
international organization they brought
into being.
A fifth member, Harry Ruggles, a
printer, was soon enlisted, and the
group organized as The Rotary Club of
Chicago. The first roster indicated a
membership of 30, with Silvester Schiele
as president. Paul Harris declined any
office and did not become its president
until two years later. Harry Ruggles was
the man who began the custom of group
singing. In 1907, the first community
service project -- a
public comfort
station -- was installed near city hall.
Paul was often asked if he thought -- on
that cold, wintry night of 23 February
-- that Rotary would grow into the
international service organization that
it has become. Perhaps his best answer
was given shortly before his death in
1947: "No. I did not in 1905 foresee a
worldwide movement..when a man plants an
unpromising sapling in the early
springtime, can he be sure that someday
here will grow a mighty tree? Does he
not have to reckon with the rain and the
sun -- and the smile of providence? Once
he sees the first bud -- ah, then he can
begin to dream of shade ."
It didn't take long for the tree to bud
and the shade of Rotary to spread. Three
years after Chicago, a second club was
founded in San Francisco and the
following year, three more were started.
By 1910, there were 16 clubs with 1,500
members scattered across the U.S. Rotary
became international in 1911 with a club
in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and at the
1912 convention in Duluth, Minnesota the "National Association of
Rotary Club" gave way to the
"International Association".
The year is now 1913 -- both New Mexico
and Arizona are states, having been
admitted on January 6, and February 14,
1912 respectively. Woodrow Wilson is
president. In California, Richard Nixon
is born. Financier J.P. Morgan is dead
at age 76 and in New York, Harriet
Tubman dies at age 92. In Washington,
congress passes a bill to impose a
graduated income tax, but congress
promises that it will be limited to a
maximum six percent on those making
above $500,000 per year. In Indiana,
The
Rotary Club of Terre Haute becomes the
first club in what is now District 6580.
The second club to be chartered was
Evansville in 1914, and Vincennes and
New Albany came on board in 1915.
These four clubs were followed by
Princeton and Bloomington in 1918;
Madison, Washington, Franklin, Seymour,
and Bedford, in 1919, which -- with five
new clubs -- remains the best year ever
for extensions in our district. 1920
gave us Greensburg and Jeffersonville,
and Mitchell was organized in 1922. Two
years later in 1924 we gained Sullivan,
followed in 1925 by Columbus, and in
1926 by Bloomfield and Linton. Next came
Rising Sun in 1933, Aurora in 1936,
Brazil in 1937 and Corydon in 1939.
In our first 26 years, from 1913 to
1939, we gained 22 Rotary clubs. In the
next 26 years we added only two -- and
only one of these, Salem, chartered in
1954 remains today. (on 8 March 1955,
West Terre Haute was chartered with 28
members. Thirty-three years later, on 22
March 1988, it became a casualty. West
Terre Haute, to this date, is the only
club from our district to have lost its
charter.)
After West Terre Haute, it wasn't until
1965 that we started to add additional
clubs with North Vernon, followed by
Greenwood in 1966. However a period of
eight years elapsed until Bloomington
North in 1974. Five years later in 1979,
Terre Haute South was admitted. The
eighties with two clubs, Martinsville in
1980 and Seymour Noon in 1985 and the
nineties with three -- Evansville A.M.
in 1990, Brown County in 1992 and, our
newest club, Clarksville in 1995 brings
us to our present number - 32.
When the Terre Haute club was formed,
Indiana was in what was called the
Central Division. It wasn't until the
Rotary year 1915-16 that clubs were
first grouped into districts, and all of
Indiana was assigned to District 8. In
1918-19 our district number was changed
to 11, and John Napier Dyer of the
Vincennes club was the first district
governor. He went on to become a
director and vice president of R.I.
In 1922-23, our district number was
changed to 20. Frank Hatfield of the
Evansville Club was the second district
governor from the current clubs and the
first governor of the new district 20.
In Rotary year 1937-38 our district
number was changed to 155, and on 10 May
1938 Indiana was first split into three
districts 154, 155 and 156 from north to
south. Paul Crim of Evansville in
1938-39 was the first district governor
of District 156 with 21 clubs.
We were to see two additional number
changes before we arrived at our current
6580 designation in 1991-92. In 1049-50
district 156 became 226 and in 1957-58
district 226 was changed to 658. Lynn
Stewart of Columbus in 1949-50 not only
was the first governor of District 226,
he also was the first half of our only
father/son governor team since his son,
Bob Stewart, served as governor in
1979-80. The first governor of District
658 and our present District 6580 were
both from New Albany: Bernard Webb, 658
in 1957-58, and Don Sodrel, 6580 in
1991-92.
Terry Frey is the 65th man to serve as
district governor. Peggy Peter in
1999-2000 will be the 68th governor, but
the first female. Of the 64 past
district governors, 42 are deceased and
eighteen continue to be members of clubs
in our district. In addition to John
Napier Dyer, two other PDGs went on to
serve at headquarters: A.E. "King" Cole
from Bloomington, governor of District
20 in 1937-38 subsequently served on the
Rotary board and V. Dewey Annakin of
Terre Haute, governor of District 226 in
1950-51, became a vice president of R.I.
Including Terry Frey from North Vernon,
24 clubs have provided district
governors. Bloomington leads the way
with 9, followed by Evansville and Terre
Haute with 6 each and New Albany and
Vince a45 nnes with 5 apiece. Eight
clubs have yet to provide a DG, with
Jeffersonville, chartered in 1920 and
Rising Sun chartered in 1933 being the
two oldest. The newest club to provide a
governor is Martinsville, chartered in
1980 -- Of course they gave us "Conan
The Rotarian".
Clubs in our district have been generous
supporters of our Rotary Foundation. As
of 31 December 1996, we had a total of
982 Paul Harris Fellows, 148 Sustaining
Members and 92 Benefactors. At last
years international convention in
Calgary, PDG Bill Cunningham was one of
only 31 DGs honored for achieving 75 new
Benefactors. All time giving in our
district is about $1.3 million.
Governor Terry has asked us to honor our
legacy. At the end of Rotary year
1912-13 -- when a group of men with
vision were taking action in Terre Haute
to build for the future by starting the
first club in this district -- there
were 50 Rotary clubs with a total
membership of 5,000. By the year 1915-16
when clubs were first grouped into
districts, there were 20,700 members in
186 clubs. Today there are almost 1.2
million members in 28,284 clubs in 155
countries grouped into 518 districts.
Paul Harris obviously had much more than
a vision. Honor our legacy by inviting
someone to join your club. Remember you
are here because someone cared enough to
ask you to join. Honor our legacy by
supporting our foundation -- PDG Orphie
Bridges did. From Columbus, Orphie
served as our 55th governor in 1986-87,
when I was my club president. Long
before he became governor, through his
love for our foundation and his action
and vision, his club led the way in
foundation support.
Honor our legacy, and men of action and
vision like Orphie, by becoming a Paul
Harris Fellow and a Benefactor. Honor
our legacy by supporting the Four
Avenues of Service. Honor our legacy by
attendance at district meetings and
district conference. Honor our legacy by
living the Four Way Test. Honor our
legacy by helping build the future with
action and vision. Honor our legacy and
show the world that District 6580
Rotarians care by attending the 1998
international convention in
Indianapolis. See you there!!
Donald L. Sodrel, PDG 1991-92
Presented at District 6580 Conference,
27 April 1997
Information and research obtained from:
Rotary International Archives
1996-97 Official Directory
"Focus on Rotary" RI No 991-EN
"Historical Review of Rotary" RI No
334-EN |
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