The
world's first service club, the Rotary Club of Chicago, was formed on
23 February 1905 by Paul P. Harris, an attorney who wished to capture
in a professional club the same friendly spirit he had felt in the
small towns of his youth. The Rotary name derived from the early
practice of rotating meetings among members' offices.
Rotary's
popularity spread, and within a decade, clubs were chartered from San
Francisco to New York to Winnipeg, Canada. By 1921, Rotary clubs had
been formed on six continents. The organization adopted the Rotary
International name a year later.
As Rotary grew, its
mission expanded beyond serving club members’ professional and social
interests. Rotarians began pooling their resources and contributing
their talents to help serve communities in need. The organization's
dedication to this ideal is best expressed in its motto: Service Above
Self.
By 1925, Rotary had grown to 200 clubs with more than
20,000 members. The organization's distinguished reputation attracted
presidents, prime ministers, and a host of other luminaries to its
ranks — among them author Thomas Mann, diplomat Carlos P. Romulo,
humanitarian Albert Schweitzer, and composer Jean Sibelius.