Happy Birthday Rotary

Next week, Rotary International will be celebrating it's 109th anniversary.  It all started with the vision of one man, Paul P. Harris, a Chicago attorney.  On February 23, 1905, Harris, Gustavus Loehr, Silvester Schiele, and Hiram Shorey gathered at Loehr’s office in Room 711 of the Unity Building in downtown Chicago.  This was the first Rotary club meeting a place where professionals with diverse backgrounds could exchange ideas and form meaningful, lifelong friendships.  Rotary’s name came from the group’s early practice of rotating meetings among the offices of each member.  In 1910, Harris worked to expand Rotary beyond Chicago to several other major U.S. cities.  Today there are 34,382 clubs and approximately 1.2 million Rotarians in over 200 countries throughout the world.