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The history of Rotary International has been written about in many books and publications, and is a story in itself. For the purpose of including a relationship to the Rotary International history and that of our District history, we have endeavored to list some of the highlights without trying to provide an in depth history which is so adequately covered in other publications. References to these publications are listed as follows to allow Rotarians who wish to seek a more in depth understanding and knowledge of the history of Rotary as an International organization to seek out further information.
From the publication entitled "My Road to Rotary" which is an autobiography published initially in 1965 and revised in 1985, we learn of some of the early thoughts and motivation of our founder, Paul Harris, to start a service club to meet some of the community needs that he believed existed in the City of Chicago. Paul Harris arranged for a meeting with three of his business associates at his office in 1905. We learn further in reading this publication that the name "Rotary" was selected in recognition of the decision made at the third meeting of the group to rotate the meeting place for their early meetings. We learn that our founder chose to hold no office in the group for the first three years and then served in 1908 as the first President when the group became a club in Chicago. He next served as the first President of Rotary as a national organization in 1910. He served two terms until 1912. Paul Harris's closest friend was Silvester Schiele, who served as the first President of the group of the founders in 1905.
We learn from this publication "My Road to Rotary" that by 1908 the organization was still contained to the City of Chicago, but the membership had grown into the hundreds and was preparing to expand to provide more extensive services in the community and to expand out into other areas of the country and later the world.
The expansion began in 1908 with the second club established in San Francisco, California, the third club in Oakland, a fourth in Seattle; and a fifth in Los Angeles. This was followed by the starting of Rotary Clubs in New York and Boston and in 1910 Rotary truly became International with the starting of a club in Winnipeg, Canada. The founding of additional clubs in Canada and then in London, England followed this as Rotary crossed the ocean.
The detailed story of our eighty-six Rotary International Presidents from 1910 when Paul Harris served his two-year term to 1995-1996 when Luis Giay served is covered in a wonderful publication published in 1997 by Rotary International under the title of "Paul Harris and his Successors, Profiles in Leadership".
On pages 121 to 124 of this book one can find a wonderful write up on Walter Head the International President who was a member of the Montclair Rotary Club at the time he served as President in 1939-1940. Later he became a member of the Teaneck Rotary Club in our District. He died on January 26, 1967, shortly after the Walter Head Foundation was established in our District.
From the Paterson Rotary Club History Book prepared by Dr. Earl Warren in 1978 we learn that the Paterson Club was the first Rotary club in our District and that it was organized on February 25, 1913 and chartered on June 1, 1913. There were forty-one charter members. The Paterson Club was Club #70 in Rotary International.
In Dr. Warren's book we learn that the dues for membership in 1913 were fifteen dollars a year with a ten-dollar initiation fee. Their outstanding outside speaker in this first year was Dr. Frederick A. Cook, the Arctic explorer. The club met in a number of different places during their early years, finally settling into the Alexander Hamilton Hotel where they met from 1925 to 1973. Later they met in the Hamilton Club and in recent years and at the present time at the Brownstone House.
It is of interest to note that the Paterson Club has sponsored 16 new clubs in our District. They are as follows:
Ridgefield Park Ridgewood FairLawn Little Falls Paramus Maywood Haledon East Paterson Clifton Rochelle Park Pompton Lakes Fort Lee Wayne Wyckoff Saddle Brook Paterson AM
April 1921 April 1921 September 1948 November 1948 March 1949 June 1949 December 1950 February 1951 June 1951
April 1952 January 1953 May 1953 February 1958 March 1958 June 1960
June 1994
The Paterson Club has also had the opportunity to host seven Presidents of Rotary International, either in their incumbent year or as a past or incoming President: Frank Mulholland, E. Leslie Pidgeon, Arthur Lageux, J. Edd McLaughlin, Charles Pettengill, Jim Conway, and Royce Abbey.
It is also interesting to note that the Paterson Club has been able to retain its position as the largest club in the District even to this present day, having reached their largest number in 1954 at 191 members. Paterson has also given the district the most Governors, a total of seven up to Joe Dino in 2004-2005.
Moving back from the history of the Paterson Club to the History of Rotary International it is noted that in 1921, the first International Convention outside of the United States was held in Edinburgh, Scotland. Edinburgh was the birthplace of the wife of Paul Harris, Jean Harris, and is the city where she is buried. The Rotary District in Scotland was extended the honor of being assigned the lowest number in the numbering of Rotary Districts in the world as District #101. A member of our District #7490, Ray Wells, has had the privilege of serving as the Representative of two Rotary International Presidents at District Conferences of District #101. Chicago retains the title as the number one club in the world.
Questions or looking for more information please contact district7490rotary@gmail.com