On February 23, 1905, a Chicago lawyer, Paul P. Harris, called three friends to a meeting. He wanted to share his idea about a club that would promote a sense of fellowship among members of the business community. It was an idea that grew from his upbringing, where community spirit had been an essential part of village life.

Paul Harris was born in Racine, Wisconsin, on April 19, 1868, but moved at the age of three to Wallingford, Vermont, to be raised by his grandparents. In the forward to his autobiography My Road to Rotary, he credits the friendliness and tolerance he found in Vermont as his inspiration for the creation of Rotary.

Trained as a lawyer, Paul gave himself five years after his graduation from law school in 1891 to see as much of the world as possible before settling down.

During that time he traveled widely, supporting himself financially with a variety of jobs. He worked as a reporter in San Francisco, a teacher at a business college in Los Angeles, a cowboy in Colorado, a desk clerk in Jacksonville, Florida, a tender of cattle on a freighter to England, and as a traveling salesman, covering both the U.S. and Europe.

Sticking to his five-year plan, he settled in Chicago in 1896, and it was there on the evening of February 23, 1905, that he met with three friends to discuss his idea for a businessmen's club. This is widely regarded as the first Rotary club meeting.

Harris met his three friends, Sylvester Schiele, Gustavus Loehr, and Hiram Shorey, in Loehr's business office in Room 711 of the Unity Building in downtown Chicago to discuss Paul's idea - that businessmen should get together on a regular basis both for camaraderie and to enlarge their circle of business and professional acquaintances. Their discussions led to the idea of a men's club, which would meet weekly.

The difference with this club would be that each business and profession would be represented. Although the four businessmen didn't decide then and there to call name themselves the Rotary club, their get-together was, in fact, the first meeting of the world's first Rotary club. As the group continued to meet, adding members as often as they could, they rotated their meetings among the members' places of business. This rotation was designed to acquaint members with one another's vocations and to promote each business. The name of Rotary was chosen to reflect this custom.

Once the club name had been agreed upon, the members decided that they needed some form of club emblem. One of the new members suggested a wagon wheel design - a precursor of the familiar cogwheel emblem now worn by Rotarians around the world.

By the end of 1905, the first Rotary club had 30 members. The second Rotary club was formed in 1908 half a continent away from Chicago in San Francisco, California. Before long a third club popped up in Oakland, California. Others followed in Seattle, Los Angeles, New York City and Boston.

Rotary became an international organization in 1910, when a club was formed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. That year, when the National Association of Rotary Clubs held its first convention, Paul Harris was elected president, which he held through 1911. After his two terms, and as the organization's only president-emeritus, Paul continued to travel extensively, promoting the spread of Rotary both in the U.S. and abroad.

Paul was a prolific writer, writing several books about the early days of the organization and the role he played in it. These include The Founder of Rotary, This Rotarian Age and his autobiography, My Road to Rotary.

Amazingly, by 1921 the organization was represented on every continent, and in 1922 the name Rotary International was adopted. As Rotary grew, its mission expanded beyond serving the professional and social interests of club members.

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 principal motto: Service Above Self. Rotary also later embraced a code of ethics, called The 4-Way Test, that has been translated into hundreds of languages.

An endowment fund, set up by Rotarians in 1917 "for doing good in the world," became a not-for-profit corporation known as The Rotary Foundation in 1928. Today, contributions to The Rotary Foundation total more than $80 million annually, supporting a wide range of humanitarian grants and educational programs that enable Rotarians to bring hope and promote international understanding throughout the world.

As it approached the 21st century, Rotary worked to meet the changing needs of society. In 1987, women were admitted for the first time - there are now more than 100,000 women in its ranks throughout the world.

Following the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Rotary clubs were formed or re-established throughout Central and Eastern Europe. There are now approximately 1.2 million Rotarians, members of more than 30,000 Rotary clubs in 164 countries.

Paul Harris died in Chicago on January 27, 1947.

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