How well do you know the Rotary Club of Evanston's history?
Our club has had a long and interesting history. You can test your knowledge of it by trying to answer the questions below. Scroll to the bottom of the page for the answers:
1. What well-connected Rotarian provided assistance and suggestions over lunch with our founding president, Cy Dennis, as Cy formulated plans for the Evanston club?2. What Northwestern University President was once a member of the club?
3. In what year was our weekly newsletter named RotoPep?
4. How many members of the Rotary Club of Evanston have served as District Governors?
5. Who has the record for perfect attendance of meetings in our club?
6. What notable Northwestern football coach was once a member of our club?
7. How many trees were originally planted by the Rotary Club of Evanston in the International Friendship Garden?
8. What makes our speaker’s lectern, which is used every week by the club, special?
9. What famous scientist was a Rotary Club of Evanston noon lunch speaker?
10. What honorary member of our club was the right-hand man to U.S. President Calvin Coolidge?
Scroll further down the page to see the answers...
Here are your answers...
1. What well-connected Rotarian provided assistance and suggestions over lunch with our founding president, Cy Dennis, as Cy formulated plans for the Evanston club?
Cecil Harris, who was the older brother of Rotary founder Paul Harris and in the 1920s was a member of Rotary’s professional staff.
2. What Northwestern University President was once a member of the club?
Walter Dill Scott, who served as Northwestern President from 1920 to 1939, and for whom Scott Hall is named.
3. In what year was our weekly newsletter named RotoPep?
1920. The name of our newsletter, which was suggested by member Vic Ortlund, has never changed in the 100 years that we have been a club!
4. How many members of the Rotary Club of Evanston have served as District Governors?
Six. Charley Ward, Dave Walker, Ken Reeling, Carl Lemasters, Wilbur Pell and Harland Edwards.
5. Who has the record for perfect attendance of meetings in our club?
Alfred H. Labahn, who joined in 1936 and aggregated 50 years of perfect attendance (no misses) by “making up” at other clubs when he couldn’t attend a Thursday meeting. Legend has it that in 1986, Al got up from a hospital bed, announcing to the nurse: “I’m going to Rotary. You can reconnect these tubes when I return.”
6. What notable Northwestern football coach was once a member of our club?
Bob Voigts, who for more than 60 years held the record as the only Northwestern coach whose team won a major bowl victory. Bob’s team won the Rose Bowl in 1949, defeating the University of California 20 to 14 in an upset.
7. How many trees were originally planted by the Rotary Club of Evanston in the International Friendship Garden?
120, planted in 1961.
8. What makes our speaker’s lectern, which is used every week by the club, special?
Some of the wood in the lectern was taken from timbers that were used when the White House was rebuilt in 1814, following its burning in the War of 1812. The timbers were removed when the White House was rebuilt again during a complete restoration in the late 1940s.
9. What famous scientist was a Rotary Club of Evanston noon lunch speaker?
Dr. Jonas Salk, father of the polio vaccine.
10. What honorary member of our club was the right-hand man to U.S. President Calvin Coolidge?
Charles Gates Dawes, a longtime Evanston resident, was Vice President of the United States under President Calvin Coolidge. Dawes also served as Budget Director of the United States and was close friends with President William McKinley. He was the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925. Dawes lived at 225 Greenwood Street, just a few blocks from the North Shore Hotel, where the club met for almost nine decades.