Rotary Districts were first established in 1915, at which time the Calgary Downtown Club was the only one in our area. In 1957, the present District was established as District 536 without change to the geographic boundaries of the original District. Since there were only 30 clubs in the District at the time, Governor Glen Peacock of Calgary initiated an extension drive which resulted in eight new clubs receiving their charters, setting a District record.

In 1972 Northeast British Columbia was added, increasing the area of the District at that time to 893,065 square miles. In 1991, the year that the number of the District was changed from 536 to 5360, Spruce Grove became the 37th addition to the 30 original District 536 clubs. In 1997/98 there was more than one club in seven communities: Fort McMurray, Grand Prairie, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, and Red Deer with two each, Calgary with 9 and Edmonton with 10.

In 1972, the clubs in the United States, Canada, and Bermuda were organized in zones for the purpose of electing directors to the Board of Rotary International. Zone 22, consisting of all Canadian clubs, cuts across the 23 Districts to which these Clubs belong. Only seven of these Districts in 1998/99, including District 5370, have only Canadian clubs, the remaining 16 being international in scope.

During the tenure of DG Bill Young (1977-78) the geographic dimensions of the District prompted the first consideration of redistricting. It was not until the early 1990s, however, that a committee of past District Governors began to study the matter seriously, under successive chairmen PDG Frank Totino and PDG Alan MacLean, respectively. After careful consideration of twelve different "redistricting scenarios", the committee recommended splitting District 5360 along an east-west line of demarcation across the existing district (being the 52nd degree, 45 minute parallelof latitude, north of Ponoka, Alberta). This recommendation was adopted by a vote of the clubs attending the 1995 District Conference in Lethbridge and, following a subsequent vote of approval by the RI Board of Directors, the clubs north of the line across the old District became members of District 5370, effective July 1, 1998; those clubs south of the line became members of the new reconfigured District 5360. The equitable division of assets of the former District between the two new Districts was agreed to by vote of the clubs at the 1997 District Conference in Banff.

We are a new District but our fine traditions continue. The names of many Past District Governors are honored in our District Awards program. In addition, we continue our participation in the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park program. Participation in sports activities transcends the District boundaries, as evidenced in the joint curling bonspiel and golfing events.

[Part of the above history is reproduced with acknowledgement from the 1998-99 District 5360 Directory]