Who is Paul Harris?
Paul P. Harris (1868-1947)
Paul Harris is the founder of Rotary. This Chicago attorney had an idea to start a service club in which professionals could share "mutual
cooperation and informal friendship as all of us had once known in our villages." On the evening of February 23, 1905, he gathered three
business acquaintances to form a group that became the Rotary Club of Chicago, starting the world's first most international service organization.
Paul Harris became the president of what would later become Rotary International. There are currently more than 1.2 million Rotarians in excess
of 31,300 clubs around the world all united under the motto "Service Above Self."
The other three gentlemen who were part of this first Rotary club were Silvester Schiele, a coal dealer and client of Harris', Gustavus H. "Gus" Loehr,
a Chicago mining engineer. The first Rotary meeting was held in his office at the Unity Building at 127 Dearborn Street in Chicago. The fourth member
of the original group was Hiram E. Shorey who was a merchant tailor in Chicago. Paul Harris named the new club "Rotary" because members met in rotations at their businesses. Soon after the first meetings, Paul became convinced that the Rotary club could be developed into an important service movement and strove to extend Rotary to other cities. By the end of 1905, the first club had 30 members. One of the members suggested a wagon wheel design as their emblem, notating "rotation". It was accepted by all, thus the cogwheel emblem now worn by Rotarians all over the world.
Paul Harris was born in Racine, Wisconsin, USA on April 19, 1868. He married Jean Thompson Harris (1881-1963) and they had no children. Paul worked as a newspaper reporter, a business teacher, stock company actor, cowboy, and traveled extensively throughout USA and Europe selling
marble and granite. In 1896, he went to Chicago to practice law. One evening, Paul was visiting a professional friend and after dinner, Paul's friend introduced him to various tradesmen in their stores. It was then that Paul conceived the idea of a club that could recapture some of the friendly spirit among businessmen is small communities.
The second Rotary club was formed in 1908 in San Francisco, California. After that others followed in Oakland, California; Seattle, Washington;
Los Angeles, and New York City. Rotary became international in 1910 when a club was formed in Manitoba, Canada. By 1921, the organization
was represented on every continent and the name Rotary International was adopted in 1922.
When President emeritus Paul Harris passed away on January 27, 1947, his dream had grown from an informal meeting to some 6,000 clubs. Since
then, Rotary has grown immensely, knowing that we were all brought together by Paul Harris' vision of service and fellowship.
The Paul Harris home is located at 10856 S. Longwood in the Beverly area of Chicago and he is buried at Mt. Hope Cemetery in Illinois. This home
is currently in the process of being renovated, December 2004. Please click on the link to see more information about this project,
Rotarians from around the world came together to celebrate 100 years of Rotary!! Our CENTENNIAL convention was held from June 18th thru June 22, 2005, at McCormick Place in the birthplace of Rotary - Chicago!!
Please visit the Paul Harris website.