History

A Brief History of Rotary

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The first Rotary Club in the world was organised in Chicago, Illinois USA, on 23rd February 1905 by Paul Harris. He was a young lawyer who gathered together a group of men in the spirit of friendship and understanding, each of whom were engaged in a different form of service to the public. That basis for memberhip, one person from each business and profession in the community, still exists in Rotary. At first, the members of the new club met in rotation at their various places of business, and this suggested the name "Rotary".

Since 1905, the ideas of Paul Harris and his friends have become ideas which have been accepted by people of practically all nationalities, and of many political and religious beliefs. Today there are Rotary Clubs in Austria and America Samoa, in Brazil and Brunei, in India and Italy, Scotland and South Africa - in 168 countries and 34 geographical regions. The universal acceptance of Rotary principles has been so great that there are now more than 35,000 Rotary Clubs, which have a membership of over 1,200,000.