1905

Chicago attorney Paul P. Harris convenes the first Rotary meeting on 23 February in Room 711 of the Unity Building in Chicago. Harris envisions a professional club that brings together men from a variety of vocations. Gustavus Loehr, Hiram Shorey, and Silvester Schiele attend. The meeting sets the groundwork for the world's first service club: the Rotary Club of Chicago.

Read about the anniversary of the first Rotary club meeting

1907

The Rotary Club of Chicago performs one of its first acts of community service. The club calls a meeting of civic organizations to establish a committee for installing city comfort stations, or public toilets, to improve sanitation.

"In common with my fellow members, I had learned to place emphasis on the giving rather than the getting," Paul Harris later writes in his book This Rotarian Age.

1908

The second Rotary club, the Rotary Club of San Francisco, receives its charter on 12 November. Founding members Homer Wood, Chester H. Woolsey, and Roy R. Rogers attend the charter banquet. Club members elect Wood president, and he becomes known as the father of Rotary on the Pacific Coast.

Read about the 100th anniversary of the Rotary Club of San Francisco

1910

The National Association of Rotary Clubs of America holds its first convention in Chicago at the Congress Hotel, 15-17 August. Sixty registrants attend. Rotarians elect founder Paul Harris president of the association. Rotary comprises 15 clubs with over 1,000 members throughout the United States.

View a slideshow of images from 100 years of Rotary conventions

1911

Rotary launches The National Rotarian (later The Rotarian ) with Chesley Perry as editor. The first issue appears in January. The 12-page periodical includes an essay written by Paul Harris about the purpose of Rotary clubs, announcements of newly chartered clubs, and other club news items.

View a slideshow of past covers of The Rotarian