ROTARY MILESTONES

1905  •  First Rotary club organized in Chicago, Illinois.

1908  •  Second club formed in San Francisco, California.

1910  •  First Rotary convention held in Chicago, Illinois.

1912  •  The Rotary Club of Winnepeg, Manitoba, Canada becomes the first club outside the USA to

             be officially chartered. The club was formed in 1910.

1917  •  Endowment fund, forerunner of The Rotary Foundation was established.

1932  •  4-Way Test was formulated by Chicago Rotarian, Herbert J. Taylor.

1945  •  Forty-nine Rotarians help draft United Nations Charter in San Francisco.

1947  •  Rotary founder, Paul Harris dies; first 18 Rotary Foundation scholarships granted.

1962  •  First Interact club formed in Melbourne, Florida.

1965  •  Rotary Foundation launches Matching Grants and Group Study Exchange.

1978  •  Rotary International's largest convention with 39,834 registrants held in Tokyo, Japan.

1985  •  Rotary announces Polio Plus Program to immunize all children of the world against polio.

1989  •  Council on Legislation opens Rotary membership to women worldwide;

             Rotary clubs chartered in Budapest, Hungary and Warsaw, Poland for first time in almost 50 years.

1990  •  Rotary Club of Moscow chartered first club in Soviet Union.

1990-91  •  Preserve Planet Earth program inspires some 2000 Rotary sponsored environmental projects.

1994  •  Western hemisphere declared polio-free.

1999  •  Rotary Centers for International Studies in Peace and conflict Resolution established.

2000  •  Western Pacific declared polio-free.

2001  •  30,000^th Rotary club chartered.

2002  •  Europe declared polio-free; first class of 70 Rotary Peace Scholars begin study.

2003  •  Rotarians raise more than $18 million to support final stages of polio eradication.

2005  •  Rotary celebrates 100 years!

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