Rotary began in 1905 when lawyer Paul Harris, formed the Rotary Club of Chicago. His idea was that professionals from varied backgrounds could exchange ideas that would promote ethical leadership, civic service and peace. The group could exchange ideas while forming long term friendships.
The first achievement was to persuade civic organisations of the need to provide public toilets to improve sanitation in the city!
The idea soon spread to other cities in the United States, with San Francisco following suit a few months later.
Within five years there were 16 Rotary clubs sending delegates to the first Rotary Convention held in Chicago in 1910. The National Association of Rotary Clubs of America was established with its own constitution, bylaws and board of directors.
A year later the convention adopted Rotary’s primary motto, Service Above Self. The first issue of The Rotarian magazine was also produced in 1911.
Then in 1912 Rotary crossed the border into Canada with the Rotary Club of Winnipeg and soon it went transatlantic with clubs in London and Dublin, so the organisation became Rotary International.
The movement spread to South America in 1919, with Montevideo in Uruguay leading the way, followed by Argentina and Brazil. Asia saw its first Rotary Club the same year in Manila, The Philippines, with Shanghai in China and Calcutta in India not far behind.
Soon the Rotary Club of Melbourne raised the flag in Australia, and New Zealand got in on the act in Auckland and Wellington, also in 1919. By the middle of that year the movement reached Johannesburg, South Africa.
Madrid in Spain formed the first Rotary club on the European continent in 1921.
So within 16 years Rotary had clubs on six continents.