HistoryoftheLawrenceburgRotaryClub 1On the afternoon of Tuesday, August 19, 1947, twenty-twoLawrenceCountybusinessmenmetinthehotandmuggydiningroomoftheLawrenceburgHotelCoffeeShoptolistentoPulaskiandLewisburgRotariansdiscusstheprosandconsofstartinganewRotaryclubinLawrenceburg.

Rotary Club of Lawrenceburg meeting at the Round House Cafe -1947.

Atthatfirstmeeting,afterassurancesfromtherepresentativesofthe two neighboring Rotary clubs that they would sponsor theproposedLawrenceburgchapter, itwasagreedbyallpresenttostepoffonanewjourneyofcommunityservice.Twenty-onemensigned a charter request and seven men were immediatelyelectedbysecretballottoserveasthenewclub’sdirectors.Theseventhenmetinanotherroomofthehoteltoselectofficersfortheremainderoftheyearand,afterashortdeliberation,recalledthemainmeetingtoordertopresenttheirslate.

Rotary International District 676 Governor Mort Greenstonepresents club president, HiramHoltsford,with the club's charter -25September1947.

Not surprisingly, a young educator turned lawyer, HiramHoltsford, who also happened to be a member of MimosaMasonicLodgeandthelocalLionsClubandwasalsotheCityofLawrenceburg’sCommissionerofFinance,waschosentobecomethefirstclubpresident.Hiramwasfarfrombeingtheonlyprominentcitizenatthatfirstassembly. Others present included J. Robert Hood, whowouldserveas the club’s vicepresident.He is rememberedas ameek

and well-mannered insurance salesman and an aggressive realestatebrokerandauctioneerwhocameto lifewhenhesteppedupon the auction block. BobBelew and EddElderwere electedsecretary and treasurer respectively. Polk Hickman, F.F. Lockeand HobeWarrenwould serve as directors. Polk Hickmanwasthe secretary treasurer of Lawrenceburg Federal Savings andLoanandtheCityofLawrenceburg’smunicipalgovernment.F.F.Locke was the Law partner of Hiram Holtsford and a self-proclaimedhorsefancier.HobeWarrenownedtheBigRedStoreinAppletonandhadrecentlyopenedWarrenWholesaleGroceryCompany in Lawrenceburg. He also ran the mule barns inLawrenceburg and Minor Hill, and owned the Appleton cottongin.

LawrenceburgRotary’sfirst6clubpresidentsontheLawrenceburgSquarein1955celebratingRotary’s50-yearGoldenAnniversary.

The list continues with the elderly dentist A. G. Buckner—hiswife,Claire,hadpassedawayinmid-Marchattheageof72.ForDocBuckner,thefellowshipofRotarywouldhelpfillthevoidinhislifeleftbyherdeath.Dr.HaroldNance,ayoungandenergeticlocal veterinarian was there and, like Dr. Buckner, he woulddedicate the rest of his life to the fellowship and communityservicegoalsofRotary.BothDr.BucknerandDr.Nancewouldgoontoserveasclubpresidents.Dr.Nancewouldeventuallygarnerthedistinctionofbeingtheoldest livingchartermemberstillontheclubrosterat thetimeofhisdeath in2005attheageof94.Dr.W.O.Crowder,Jr.wasanotherchartermemberwhoalsoheldthedistinction,thoughnotorious,ofbeingthefirstLawrenceburgRotarian tobe terminatedby theboardofdirectors—acasualtyof the strict attendance requirementsofRotary.Hemissed fourconsecutivemeetings!Perhaps the names of some of the other charter members willringabell,namesofmensuchas:AndrewDugger,cashierattheFirstNationalBank;CharlesFreemon,ownerofFreemonFuneralHome;BossHolanderco-ownerofH&HElectricAppliances;andWilson Warren, Wendell Coffey, Harry Berman, Floyd Bloom,JohnCraft,MackRutherford,BenSmith,andBuddyRichardson.W.L.Gladishwasoneofthetwenty-twolocalbusinessmentherethatnightbutwouldnotbecomeamemberuntilApril the15th,1949—it just takes some folks a little while to make up theirmind. At that first meeting, the board of directors set noon onFriday as their regularweeklymeeting time—an hour and day

HistoryoftheLawrenceburgRotaryClub 2that has yet to be changed—and agreed on the LawrenceburgHotel dining room as their designated meeting place. Over theyears, as the club grew in size, itwouldmeet atmanydifferentlocations before finally settling into its own meeting spaces inRotaryParkin1994.ThefledglingclubreceivedtheirofficialcharteronSeptember3rdandsettheeveningofSeptemberthe25th,1947fortheirCharterNight celebration banquet. When that night came, over 200peoplewereinattendanceincludingWillR.Manier—PastRotaryInternational President (1936-1937).He spoke to the gatheringand congratulated them upon receiving their charter. Otherdignitaries from Rotary International were there as well, alongwith many Rotarians from all over Middle Tennessee—somepresentinggiftsofcongratulations.

The Lawrenceburg Rotary Club began in the dinning room of theLawrenceburgHotellocatedonthesoutheastcorneroftheSquare.

The new club immediately became involved in communityservice. They raised and donatedmoney to the CrippledAdultsHospital inMemphis, installedHealth Stations in each school inthe County, erected $1,200 worth of playground equipment atRosemont Elementary School, and initiated a Rat Eradicationcampaigntoeliminatethecity’sburgeoningratpopulation.

TheLawrenceburgRotaryClub'sfirstmajorcommunityproject-RatEradication,1948.

The next year they expanded the Rat Eradication projectcountywide. Local businessesdonated to theproject andmanypeople volunteered to help. The Future Farmers of Americaorganized‘RatPatrols”tocollectthedeadanddyingrodentsforsanitarydisposal.

THERATPATROL-LawrenceCountyHighSchoolFutureFarmersofAmericavolunteertohelpcollectdeadrats,1948.

In 1950, the Lawrenceburg Rotary Club entered into anagreement with the City of Lawrenceburg and the LawrenceCountyFairandParkAssociationtobeginproducingthecountyfair.TheLawrenceCountyParkandFairAssociation,whichwasa private enterprise, was wanting to dissolve the corporationbecauseof thehigh taxes that the annual productionof the fairrequiredbutdidn’twanttoseethefaircometoanend.TheCitywantedtodevelopthefairgroundsintoapublicparkbutdidnothavethemeanstopayforthe land,andtheRotaryClubneededanannualfundraiserandproject.

FairviewParkin1950.TheparkwaslaterrenamedRotaryPark.

It was agreed that the Lawrence County Fair and ParkAssociationwouldsellFairviewParktotheCityofLawrenceburgfor a sum of $57,000 and that they would give the rights toproduce the fair to the LawrenceburgRotary Club. TheRotaryClubwas then toenter intoacontractwith thecity to lease theparkfortwo-weeksoutoftheyearfor$3,000(theamountoftheannual land payment per year) and that they would agree tocontinuetoproducethefairforaperiodof20years.Duringtheremainderoftheyear,theCityofLawrenceburgwouldmaintain

HistoryoftheLawrenceburgRotaryClub 3theparkandmakeitavailabletothechildrenofthecommunityforfree.Notonlydidtheresultingagreementsatisfyallparties,itturnedouttobeoneofLawrenceburg’sgreatestassetsandcontinuestobetoday.

RotaryParkEntrance,1979.Attheleftofthepicturearethenewlycovered grandstands and to the right is the Rotary Ticket Office,which was replaced with a new two-story block building in 2002.Thegrandstandswerereplacedin2014.

TodaytheLawrenceburgRotaryClubcontinuesthatlegacyandisinits66thyearassponsoroftheMiddleTennesseeDistrictFair.Since 1950, the Rotary club has expanded the footprint of thepark, made numerous improvements to the park grounds,installed modern lighting, and added new buildings andentertainmentstructures.

1952 - Disabled American Veterans food booth at the MiddleTennessee District Fair. Many civic organizations in the countybenefiteachyearbyhavingboothsattheMiddleTennesseeDistrictFairthatservesastheirmajorfundraisersfortheyear.

On March 9, 1990, the Lawrenceburg Rotary club admitted itsfirst female members, Jane Jennings, a soon to be prominentattorney inLawrenceburg,TennesseeandPollyPowellMarsh,alocalCPA. Theywere inducted into theranksofRotarybyclubpresident David Allen. Less than two years later, Margaret

Weathersbecamethethirdfemalemembertojointheclub–herdad, Paul Norwood,was also a Rotarian. Margaret became thefirst female club president in 2005, and Polly Powell Marshbecamethesecondin2008.

On March 9, 1990, Polly Powell Marsh (L) and Jane Jennings (R)were inducted as the Lawrenceburg Rotary Club's first femalemembersbypresidentDavidAllen.

Throughouttheclubshistory,manyprominentmenandwomenhave served asmembers andmanynotable people have visitedtheclubasguestspeakers.

Pictured (L-R) are Lawrenceburg Rotarian and TennesseeCommissioner of Safety, Greg O'Rear; Tennessee Speaker of theHouse, Ned Ray McWherter; club president and District Attorney,BobGay;andGentryCrowell,Tennessee’sSecretaryofState.

Fromtheverybeginning,theLawrenceburgRotaryClubhasleadthe way in community service and each successive generationhasbuiltuponthatproudheritage.Ifwecould summarizeRotary’sgoals intoone simplephrase, itwouldbe“ToDoGoodInTheWorld”andthemenandwomenoftheLawrenceburgRotaryClubhaveunquestionablydonethatalltheseyears.