Rotary Brochure

Rotary Club of Joliet has been asteady source of assistance bothabroad and here in the Jolietarea for the past 100 years.

Today the club, which iscelebrating its centennial year,

has over 130 members and is part of RotaryInternational, a global service organizationwith more than 1.2 million members.Whilemuch has changed these past 100 years,Joliet Rotary’s commitment to “ServiceAbove Self” has remained a constant.

Humble beginningsBefore becoming part of Rotary Inter-

national, the Joliet Rotary Club existed asthe Study Club, formed in 1910 under theleadership of Joliet businessman George M.Lennon. A student at the Arthur FrederickSheldon School of Business, Lennon con-vinced Sheldon School to send a lecturerto Joliet every week to conduct classes inbusiness building, efficiency, and characterdevelopment.The members of the studygroup met each week and rotated the roleof leadership thus referring to themselvesas the Rotary Club.

The members of the Joliet Rotary Clubhad no idea that Rotary Internationalexisted until 1911.The shared name wassimply a coincidence.They attempted to

join Rotary Interna-tional and were firmlyrejected as RotaryInternational’s bylawsprohibited any clubbeing formed in acity with a populationof less than 75,000.

It was aroundthis time that a JolietRotary member,

Harvey Weeks, took over leadership of theclub and they launched the Joliet BusinessShow and Efficiency Congress from June11-14, 1913. It was a smashing success withboth the business world and the local com-munity.

Influenced by the unprecedented suc-cess of the Joliet Business Show, a delegatefrom the Chicago branch of Rotary Interna-tional, Chelsey R. Perry, attended the show.Blown away by the accomplishments andvibrancy of the club and the Business showitself, he immediately called for a RotaryInternational meeting in order to discussways that the gentleman of the Joliet StudyClub could be granted admission into Ro-tary. A new resolution was introduced thatamended Rotary International’s by-laws toinclude cities with a population of less than75,000 as eligible for membership.TheJoliet Rotary Club was officially acceptedinto Rotary Aug. 1, 1913 and inducted intoRotary International on Sept. 1, 1913. Har-vey Weeks became the first official JolietRotary president and Joliet became the firstRotary club from a city with a population ofless than 75,000.

Joliet Rotary’s legacyAll clubs under Rotary International

share the same mission: to serve their com-munity and those in need throughout theworld. In the years following its foundation,Joliet Rotary wasted no time establishingRotary Clubs in new territories and becom-ing deeply involved in the culture of Jolietthrough community service.Working withRotary International, Joliet Rotary membershelped found clubs in the following cities:Ottawa(1914); Morris (1915); Kankakee(1915); Streator (1919); LaSalle (1920);DeKalb (1921); Aurora (1923); Manteno

(1937);Wilmington (1938); and Lockport(1966).To the citizens of Joliet, though, thepresence of the Rotarians has always repre-sented some form of community service.

By 1913, three prominent Rotarians, AlOldhaver, Herb Spencer, and Art Mont-zheimer, were members of the JolietTownship High School Board of Education.With members on the School Board, the

Joliet Rotary members learned that theJoliet Township Band needed uniforms.Thus, their first community project was topurchase uniforms for the band.

The list of Rotarian accomplishmentscontinued; in 1915, the Joliet Rotary focusedits attention on efforts to convert the RowellAvenue Quarry. Members held variousfundraisers at the local high school and

Joliet Rotary marks 100 years of giving back locally, globally

DIDYOU KNOW ... the Joliet Rotary Club was officially accepted into Rotary Aug. 1, 1913, and inducted into Rotary International on Sept. 1, 1913.Harvey Weeks became the first official Joliet Rotary International president and Joliet became the first Rotary club from a city with a population of less than 75,000.

Acenturyof service

Service above self: Rotary International founder Paul P. Harris (far right) said, “Rotary brings men [and now women]differing in social status, religious beliefs and nationality together in order that they may be more intelligible to eachother and therefore more sympathetic and friendly.” Also pictured are the first members of Rotary (from left) GustavLoehr, Silvester Schiele and Hiram Shorey. They conducted many of the first Rotary meetings in Schiele’s businessoffice on Dearborn Street in Chicago. | SUPPLIED PHOTO

ROTARYCENTENNIAL

funded the construction of a beach, a bath-house, and 30 carloads of sand broughtdirectly from Lake Michigan. Joliet BeachClub was born.

Some 80 years ago, the impact of theGreat Depression could be felt in everytown across the country, including Joliet.Jobs were scarce, thousands of residentswere unable to pay their bills and taxes,and commerce had all but seized up.Teach-ers and public employees were being paidin tax anticipation warrants and teacher’sorders, but these warrants could not beredeemed unless taxes were paid. Jolietmerchants, who had been taking thesewarrants as payments for necessities, facedempty shelves with no cash to restock.

Several Rotarians, along with a few othermerchants from the area, formed the JolietClearing Association.This associationprinted script, which was redeemable forcash. Employees who received up to a thirdof their pay in script thought it wasworthless

and spent it as quickly as they received it,so business in Joliet improved very rapidly.Roughly a year later, the Joliet ClearingAssociation closed as the economy surgedonce more.The script was converted tocash with a profit of approximately $1,000.This amount was then divided betweenlocal charities.

Other accomplishments include thefollowing: the foundation of the JolietChamber of Commerce and Industry; theprocurement of Higginbotham Woods forcity park property; and the supplying ofWorld War I soldiers with shoes and otherequipment.

Providing financial assistance for groupsand foundations has always been anotheraspect of the Rotarians’ pledge to commu-nity service. Joliet Rotary’s Annual Raffle,launched in 1984, has raised over $1 millionfor various charities around Joliet. Joliet Ro-tary has funded everything from camps for

both the Boy Scoutsand the Girl Scoutsand sports facilitiesfor theYMCA, tohouses for Habitatfor Humanity.Theyhave made manysubstantial dona-tions to the follow-ing:Will-GrundyFree Clinic; the D-FY-IT drug testingprogram; Easter

Seals;The Salvation Army; United CerebralPalsy;The Humane Society; Joliet Area Hos-pice; Lamb’s Fold; Morningstar Mission; andthe Senior Services Center. Annually, theJoliet Rotary provides scholarship fundingfor senior students at Joliet Township HighSchool and Joliet Catholic Academy.

About Rotary InternationalRotary International (RI) is the world’s

first nonprofit service organization. As of2012, there are over 34,000 Rotary Clubs allover the world with over 1.2 million mem-bers. Rotary International was foundedin 1905 by Paul P. Harris, a lawyer fromChicago.

Rotary clubs exist to help better theworld. Since the foundation of RotaryInternational in the early 20th century, theseclubs have provided assistance to those inneed through the donation of money andresources, community service, and scholar-ships. Rotarians have been trailblazers ofmany humanitarian programs, most notablythe PolioPlus Program, a program boastingthe promise to eradicate the devastatingdisease throughout the world once and forall.

To this day, through the efforts of RotaryInternational, UNICEF, CFC, and WHO,more than two billion children have beenimmunized against the polio virus, whichhas reduced the disease by more than 99%worldwide since 1985.

Sponsored by Joliet Rotary

THE OBJECTOF ROTARYThe object of Rotary is to encourage andfoster the ideal of service as a basis ofworthy enterprise and, in particular, toencourage and foster:

FIRST: The development of acquaintanceas an opportunity for service.

SECOND: High ethical standards in busi-ness and professions, the recognition ofthe worthiness of all useful occupations,and the dignifying of each Rotarian’soccupation as an opportunity to servesociety.

THIRD: The application of the ideal ofservice in each Rotarian’s personal, busi-ness and community life.

FOURTH: The advancement of interna-tional understanding, goodwill, and peacethrough a world of fellowship of businessand professional persons united in theideal of service.

THE FOUR-WAY TESTOf the things we think, say or do:

1) Is it the TRUTH?

2) Is it FAIR to all concerned?

3) Will it build GOODWILL andBETTER FRIENDSHIPS?

4) Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

Past meets present: (Left): Pictured are the original members of the Joliet Rotary Club and organizers of the 1913 Business Show and Efficiency Congress. (Above): Agroup of Rotarians attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Rotary Club of Joliet Playground at Guardian Angel Community Service in Joliet in 2010. | SUPPLIED PHOTOS