Rotary was first founded as a service club in 1905 in Chicago, Illinois by Paul Harris and three friends. They chose the name Rotary because they rotated meeting locations to each other’s offices each week, however within a year the club became so large this became impractical and it became necessary to find a regular meeting place. Rotary soon spread across the US and into Canada. The first club in Canada was founded in Winnipeg in 1910 and the first club in Edmonton was founded in 1916. By 1973 there were six clubs in the immediate Edmonton area.
In August of 1973, Edmonton Rotary District Governor Curly Galbraith asked the South Edmonton Rotary Club to consider sponsoring a new club which would take in south-east Edmonton and Sherwood Park. The proposed territory would run from the North Saskatchewan River south along a western boundary of 75 Street (with a small jog west to 86 Street from the CN tracks to 51 Avenue then back to 75 Street) south to Township Road 51, just north of Beaumont, then east along the township road to an eastern boundary of Range Road 22 (just east of South Cooking Lake) and then north to Highway 16. The northern boundary would be Highway 16 to the river and then follow the river back to 75 Street. The proposed area was applied for and approved in Dec 1973. The first organizing meeting of the new club took place on 13 Feb 1974 at the Regency Hotel (75 St and Argyll Road) with John Germain and Morley MacCalder from the newly proposed club and several members of the Edmonton South Rotary club in attendance.
The proposed new club would need to have twenty-five paid members before they could apply for their formal charter as a Rotary Club. In the following months they signed up new members and chose an Executive. They selected John Germain as their President, John Martin as Vice President, Henry Neufeld as Secretary and John Barnes as Treasurer. A few months later, on 30 Apr 1974, they sent in their application with the names of the following charter members:
John Germain, John Martin, Henry Neufeld, John Barnes, Morley MacCalder, Archie Clark, Peter Boyle, Bill Bell, Ken Oates, Ernie Christman, Ross Fowler, Doc Helmut Koch, Neil Weir, Helmut Blocher, Ralph Sabirch, Monte Stout, Rome Nicholson, Hugo Lehman, Lawrence Priestman, Clayton Joyce, Clare Amies, Hans Granholm, Father Bert O’Brien, Bill Macklem and Bob Lang. Many of the new members were businessmen who worked in the Old Strathcona and Argyll Road area.
The Charter of the Rotary Club of Edmonton Strathcona was formally approved on 13 Jun 1974 by Bill Carter, the President of Rotary International.
Charter Presentation from Curly Galbraith to John Germain
Charter Night Program Cover
Charter Night Program Inside
On 19 Sep 1974, the club held a formal dinner at the Regency Hotel for their Charter Night, at which the Past District Governor, Curly Galbraith formally presented the Club Charter to John Germain, the club President. There were Rotarians from fourteen other clubs in attendance, with an especially large contingent from the Red Deer club, in honor of their past president John Germain.
Club meetings were held every Tuesday at noon at the Regency Hotel. These included a buffet lunch with a short business meeting followed by an invited speaker. The club became known as the Friendly Club over the years as these meetings were and still are rife with corny jokes, kidding around and laughter.
Some of the first projects the new club undertook were to provide a massage therapy chair for a sixteen-year old with Muscular Dystrophy, to provide an ambulance for the St John’s Ambulance to be used at sports events, to provide a mini bus for the Parkland Nursing home, to support the Citadel Theatre, to build a bandstand for Strathcona Park and to provide funds and labor in support of the Edmonton Rotary initiative for the newly opened Fort Edmonton Park.
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