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Rotary has a rich history of service to the local economy and the world!
1905 - First Rotary club organized by Paul P. Harris, a young attorney, in Chicago, Illinois, USA
1908 - Second club formed in San Francisco, California, USA
1910 - First Rotary convention held in Chicago; first club outside US formed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
1912 - Clubs formed in London, England; Dublin, Ireland; and Belfast, Northern Ireland.
1917 - Endowment fund, forerunner of The Rotary Foundation, established.
1917 - Rotary entered South America with a club in Montevideo, Uruguay.
1920 - Rotary entered continental Europe with a club in Madrid, Spain.
1921 - The Rotary Club of Bryan, Texas, was organized.
1922 - First Rotary club in Africa in Johannesburg, South Africa.
1926 - 1950
1932 - 4-Way Test 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.
1951 - 1975
1962 - First Interact club formed in Melbourne, Florida, USA .
1965 - Rotary Foundation launches Matching Grants and Group Study Exchange programs.
1976 - 2000
1978 - RI's largest convention, with 39,834 registrants, held in Tokyo.
1985 - Rotary announces PolioPlus program to immunize children of the world against polio.
1986 - Rotary grew to more than 22,000 clubs and the milestone of one million members in January 1986.
1987 - Rotary clubs began accepting women as members.
1989 - Council on Legislation opens Rotary to women; Rotary clubs chartered in Budapest, Hungary, and Warsaw, Poland.
1990 - Rotary Club of Moscow chartered first club in Soviet Union.
1991 - Preserve Planet Earth program inspires 2,000 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 - Present Day
2001 - 30,000th Rotary club chartered.
2002 - Centennial Projects defined.
2003 - Centennial Projects submitted.
2005 - Rotary International celebrates 100 years of service.