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Rotary International
 The world's first service club, the Rotary Club of Chicago, was formed on 23 February 1905 by Paul Harris, an attorney who wished to capture in a professional club the same friendly spirit he had felt in the small towns of his youth. The Rotary name derived from the early practice of rotating meetings among members' offices.
Rotary's popularity spread, and within a decade, clubs were chartered from San Francisco to New York to Winnipeg, Canada. By 1921, Rotary clubs had been formed on six continents. The organization adopted the Rotary International name a year later.
As Rotary grew, its mission expanded beyond serving club members’ professional and social interests. Rotarians began pooling their resources and contributing their talents to help serve communities in need. The organization's dedication to this ideal is best expressed in its motto: Service Above Self.
Read More on Rotary's History
The Rotary Club of Dallas
 
In late 1910, Price Cross of Dallas visited the Rotary Club in San Francisco. He returned to Dallas and discussed the Rotary idea with Fred E. Johnston and others. Then they invited a number of Dallas business and professional leaders to a meeting at the Oriental Hotel, on April 20, 1911. They organized the Rotary Club of Dallas, the first such Club in Texas and the 39th in all of Rotary. They adopted a Constitution and By-Laws, and elected Marvin E. Martin as the first Club President. Thus the service club idea came to Texas, and The Rotary Club of Dallas was only the second Club (to New Orleans) throughout the Gulf States.
The Rotary Club of Dallas met for lunch each Thursday Noon at the Oriental Hotel, at Commerce and Akard Streets in the heart of downtown Dallas. Lunch cost 50 cents, the Club initiation fee was $5.00, and Club dues were $12.00 per year. In addition to Cross, Johnston and Martin, other organizing members included Elmer E. Beach, Frank G. Love, Lawrence Miller, Harry A. Olmsted, Lewin Plunkett, Jake Schrodt and Hugo W. Schoellkopf.
The Dallas Rotarian began publication in 1912, but only a few copies have survived. The Club's Secretary’s home burned in 1913 and all Club records were destroyed. The name was later changed to Rotagrams to avoid a name-conflict with Rotary International’s The Rotarian Magazine. A volume is published annually to preserve the Club history.
The new Baker Hotel was completed and the Club moved there from the Adolphus in 1931. The Baker would be “home” to The Rotary Club of Dallas for the next forty-eight years. A Paul Harris portrait was placed in the Rotary office. The Rotary wives organized the Women of Rotary Club, which would help handicapped students and serve Parkland Hospital and other causes through the years. In 1935 a piano was placed on the Club car of the Rotary Special train to Mexico City, and Rotarians sang all the way to the RI Convention and back to Dallas.
Then in December 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and the U.S. was in the “Greatest War”. Thirty Club members entered military service, and two of them failed to return. More than one hundred sons and grandsons of Club members also served. Seven were killed and three were prisoners-of-war. During the war, Club members helped the USO find rooms for visiting service men and women, and entertained troops stationed in the area.
In 1946, Dallas helped organize Oak Cliff Rotary, the second in Dallas. A Rotary Glee Club was organized with Hyman Kaszynski as director and Ligon Smith as pianist. This would later be known as the Greater Dallas Rotary Chorus, and would travel worldwide to sing at RI Conventions. Dr. Travis L. Shelton would be its director, later succeeded by Thomas R. Britt, with Mrs. Inez Teddlie as pianist. Miss Inez, as she was fondly known, continued as the pianist for the Rotary Club of Dallas until her death in 2002.
In the 1970’s, the Rotary Town House would become the Club’s most ambitious project. Camp Enterprise would appear in the 1980’s, and support of the Lighthouse for the Blind would continue through many decades. Many Club members would become Paul Harris Fellows in support of the RI Foundation, with its worldwide scholarship and exchange programs. Then in 1987, RI began its most ambitious project ever – to inoculate all the world’s children against polio and other dread diseases. The Club's gifts and pledges would inoculate one million of those kids in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The Club moved from the Baker Hotel in 1979 as it was scheduled for demolition. It occupied the nearby Hilton Hotel for three years, then found a home at historic Union Station. Finally settling at the Fairmont Hotel in 2002.
In 1987, Nicki Nicol became the first woman member of the Club. Then when the Desert Storm War ended in 1991, Roy Bailey led the Club and others in arranging a tremendous patriotic rally at Texas Stadium.
Through the years, the Rotary Club of Dallas was instrumental in the establishment of Rotary in Tokyo, Japan and Mexico City, Mexico and was directly responsible for the Fort Worth, Texas Rotary Club. In turn, each of these Clubs led in the growth of Rotary throughout their respective areas. Dallas is also the direct parent of twelve other Dallas area Clubs, and grandparent of more than thirty other Clubs. Among these are a fifth generation of Texas Clubs, great-great-grandchildren Clubs of the Rotary Club of Dallas
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The Rotary Club of Dallas helped organize the following local Rotary Clubs:
Fort Worth Rotary Club 1913. McKinney 1919, Terrell 1920, Garland 1927, Irving 1937, Park Cities 1948, Oak Cliff 1945, East Dallas 1947, Mesquite 1959, Dallas Market Center 1971, Fair Park 1949, Carrollton Farmers Branch 1960, North Dallas Evening Club 2007. The Rotary Club of Dallas also helped to establish international Rotary Clubs such as the Rotary Club of Tokyo 1920 and the Rotary Club of Mexico City in 1932.
The Rotary Club of Dallas is partnered as sister clubs with the Rotary Club of Tokyo-Japan, Mexico City-Mexico and Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana-Africia Rotary Clubs.
The Rotary Club of Dallas will be celebrating it's Charter Centennial April 20, 2011
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