Texas Rotary History

ROTARY DISTRICT 5870 HISTORY

Rotary became a part of history back in 1905 when Paul Harris organized the first Rotary Club in Chicago. Seven years later, Rotary came to Texas when the Rotary Club of Dallas was chartered in April of 1912 as Club 39. Seven months later, the Rotary Club of San Antonio Rotary Club 52 and the Rotary Club of Houston Club 53, were chartered. The next year in May, the Rotary Club of Austin became the 63rd Rotary Club in the world. This was followed in June by Beaumont Club 72, Galveston Club 73, and Waco Club 74. In July, the Rotary Club of Fort Worth became Club 75.

By the spring of 1917, there were 100 Rotary Clubs in the world - 86 of them in the U.S.A. Â Fourteen were located in Canada, England, Ireland, and Scotland. It was the Rotary Club of Winnipeg, Canada which actually made "Rotary International" when it was organized in 1910. Until then, the parent organization with 16 clubs was called the National Association of Rotary Clubs. In 1910, it became the International Association of Rotary Clubs.

Rotary Districts were created by the International Association of Rotary Clubs in 1915, and the number 12 was designated for the first Rotary District in Texas. District 12 included all of Texas and Shreveport, Louisiana. The first Governor of the District was William "Billy" H. Richardson, Jr. who was a member of the Rotary Club of Austin. It is significant that Governor Richardson said on September 6, 1915 that "ten percent of the entire Rotary membership resides in Texas." The first District Conference of the District was held in Waco on November 1, 1915 in the rooms used by the Retail Merchants Association in the Amicable Building. Governor Richardson and delegates from 10 of the 13 Clubs in Texas attended, along with the International President who was from Minneapolis and the International 2nd Vice President, who was from Houston. Incidentally, the 1915 minutes of the Rotary Club of Waco indicate that the tickets for the informal banquet at the conference cost Waco Rotarians $1.00, and the delegates and international officers were guests of the club.

In 1917, District 12 was reduced to include only Texas, and there were 19 Clubs. The next year, Texas became District 18 and Dr. R. E. Vinson, President of the University of Texas, served as Governor of District 18 during 1919-20. 

In 1922, a lot of things happened at the Rotary International Convention. The Constitution and Bylaws were revised to require all Clubs which were organized after 1922 to adopt the new Standard Club Constitution. The name of the parent organization was changed to Rotary International. Our District was renumbered to District 13. Our territory consisted of all of Texas except for an area south of the eastern boundary of New Mexico. Texas had 83 Clubs.

With approximately 100 Rotary Clubs in the state by 1925-26, Texas became the site of three Districts; 41, 47 & 48. The northwestern part of the territory which included Waco and Austin became District 41. A Texas Rotarian, Harry H. Rogers of San Antonio, became the first Texas President of Rotary International in 1926-27. Texas had approximately 125 clubs with nearly 6,000 members.

Our district number changed to District 128 in 1937, and eleven years later was renumbered to District 131. During the next year, it became District 187. In 1958, it was changed to District 587.

All of the 491 Districts in the Rotary world were renumbered by Rotary International in 1991 to include a zero as the final fourth digit, making this District 5870. There are now ten Rotary Districts in the State of Texas. This includes 483 Texas Rotary Clubs and 527 Districts in the world with a total of more than 29,367 Rotary Clubs and some 1,188,000 Rotarians.

Kaye Boyd, District 5870 Historian

Note: This history was prepared by Kaye Boyd, District Historian and Executive Secretary of the Rotary Club of Waco, from records of the Rotary Club of Waco and Publications of Rotary International.

District Historian: The duty of the District Historian is to provide a permanent depository for all files and records of District 5870, Rotary International, with the exception of records pertaining to the two immediately preceding Rotary years, which shall be kept in the possession of the current District Governor. The files pertaining to the history and records of District 5870, Rotary International, should be maintained in the most useful form and in a permanent location, and should be kept in a current condition for use by the District Governor and any other interested and authorized persons.