District Legacy

"Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" - Harry M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.

"Everything that can be invented has already been invented." - Charles H. Duell, Director U.S. Patent Office, 1905.

"Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote." - Grover Cleveland, 1905.

"There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom." - Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize in physics, 1923.

"Heavier-Than-Air flying machines are impossible." - Lord Kelvin, President, Royal Society, 1895.

"Babe Ruth made a big mistake when he gave up pitching." - Tris Speaker, 1921.

Lucky for us and millions of others throughout the world, Paul Harris was not a "Nay" sayer. Paul took action on his vision and built an organization for the future.

The year is 1905. Teddy Roosevelt is president of the U.S. More than 100 motorcars are displayed at the New York Auto Show with prices ranging from $400 for a runabout to $8,000 for a richly upholstered 40 horsepower limousine. Oklahoma is admitted to statehood, with New Mexico and Arizona as the only territories remaining. In Indiana, Lew Wallace, author of "Ben Hur", is dead at the age of 71. And in Chicago, the vision of a young lawyer, who felt lost and alone in the sprawling city, becomes reality.

On a cold, windy Thursday night, 23 February 1905, Paul Harris and three friends meet to discuss an idea of Paul's to recapture some of the friendly spirit that existed among businessmen in small communities. The three men - Silvester Schiele, a coal dealer; Gustavus Loehr, a mining engineer' and Hiram Shorey, a merchant tailor - meet in Gus Loehr's office - room 711 of The Unity Building at 127 North Dearborn Street. As you know, from this meeting came the world's first service club - Rotary - and as the saying goes "The rest is history".

The founding four were of U.S., German, Swedish and Irish ancestry, representing Protestant, Roman Catholic and Jewish faiths. There is no evidence to suggest that Paul planned this diversity, but as products of the American Melting Pot, they were fitting representatives of the international organization they brought into being.

A fifth member, Harry Ruggles, a printer, was soon enlisted, and the group organized as The Rotary Club of Chicago. The first roster indicated a membership of 30, with Silvester Schiele as president. Paul Harris declined any office and did not become its president until two years later. Harry Ruggles was the man who began the custom of group singing. In 1907, the first community service project -- a public comfort station -- was installed near city hall.

Paul was often asked if he thought -- on that cold, wintry night of 23 February -- that Rotary would grow into the international service organization that it has become. Perhaps his best answer was given shortly before his death in 1947: "No. I did not in 1905 foresee a worldwide movement..when a man plants an unpromising sapling in the early springtime, can he be sure that someday here will grow a mighty tree? Does he not have to reckon with the rain and the sun -- and the smile of providence? Once he sees the first bud -- ah, then he can begin to dream of shade ."

It didn't take long for the tree to bud and the shade of Rotary to spread. Three years after Chicago, a second club was founded in San Francisco and the following year, three more were started. By 1910, there were 16 clubs with 1,500 members scattered across the U.S. Rotary became international in 1911 with a club in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and at the 1912 convention in Duluth, Minn fb1 esota the "National Association of Rotary Club" gave way to the "International Association".

The year is now 1913 -- both New Mexico and Arizona are states, having been admitted on January 6, and February 14, 1912 respectively. Woodrow Wilson is president. In California, Richard Nixon is born. Financier J.P. Morgan is dead at age 76 and in New York, Harriet Tubman dies at age 92. In Washington, congress passes a bill to impose a graduated income tax, but congress promises that it will be limited to a maximum six percent on those making above $500,000 per year. In Indiana, The Rotary Club of Terre Haute becomes the first club in what is now District 6580. The second club to be chartered was Evansville in 1914, and Vincennes and New Albany came on board in 1915.


These four clubs were followed by Princeton and Bloomington in 1918; Madison, Washington, Franklin, Seymour, and Bedford, in 1919, which -- with five new clubs -- remains the best year ever for extensions in our district. 1920 gave us Greensburg and Jeffersonville, and Mitchell was organized in 1922. Two years later in 1924 we gained Sullivan, followed in 1925 by Columbus, and in 1926 by Bloomfield and Linton. Next came Rising Sun in 1933, Aurora in 1936, Brazil in 1937 and Corydon in 1939.

In our first 26 years, from 1913 to 1939, we gained 22 Rotary clubs. In the next 26 years we added only two -- and only one of these, Salem, chartered in 1954 remains today. (on 8 March 1955, West Terre Haute was chartered with 28 members. Thirty-three years later, on 22 March 1988, it became a casualty. West Terre Haute, to this date, is the only club from our district to have lost its charter.)

After West Terre Haute, it wasn't until 1965 that we started to add additional clubs with North Vernon, followed by Greenwood in 1966. However a period of eight years elapsed until Bloomington North in 1974. Five years later in 1979, Terre Haute South was admitted. The eighties with two clubs, Martinsville in 1980 and Seymour Noon in 1985 and the nineties with three -- Evansville A.M. in 1990, Brown County in 1992 and, our newest club, Clarksville in 1995 brings us to our present number - 32.

When the Terre Haute club was formed, Indiana was in what was called the Central Division. It wasn't until the Rotary year 1915-16 that clubs were first grouped into districts, and all of Indiana was assigned to District 8. In 1918-19 our district number was changed to 11, and John Napier Dyer of the Vincennes club was the first district governor. He went on to become a director and vice president of R.I.

In 1922-23, our district number was changed to 20. Frank Hatfield of the Evansville Club was the second district governor from the current clubs and the first governor of the new district 20. In Rotary year 1937-38 our district number was changed to 155, and on 10 May 1938 Indiana was first split into three districts 154, 155 and 156 from north to south. Paul Crim of Evansville in 1938-39 was the first district governor of District 156 with 21 clubs.

We were to see two additional number changes before we arrived at our current 6580 designation in 1991-92. In 1049-50 district 156 became 226 and in 1957-58 district 226 was changed to 658. Lynn Stewart of Columbus in 1949-50 not only was the first governor of District 226, he also was the first half of our only father/son governor team since his son, Bob Stewart, served as governor in 1979-80. The first governor of District 658 and our present District 6580 were both from New Albany: Bernard Webb, 658 in 1957-58, and Don Sodrel, 6580 in 1991-92.

Terry Frey is the 65th man to serve as district governor. Peggy Peter in 1999-2000 will be the 68th governor, but the first female. Of the 64 past district governors, 42 are deceased and eighteen continue to be members of clubs in our district. In addition to John Napier Dyer, two other PDGs went on to serve at headquarters: A.E. "King" Cole from Bloomington, governor of District 20 in 1937-38 subsequently served on the Rotary board and V. Dewey Annakin of Terre Haute, governor of District 226 in 1950-51, became a vice president of R.I.

Including Terry Frey from North Vernon, 24 clubs have provided district governors. Bloomington leads the way with 9, followed by Evansville and Terre Haute with 6 each and New Albany and Vince a45 nnes with 5 apiece. Eight clubs have yet to provide a DG, with Jeffersonville, chartered in 1920 and Rising Sun chartered in 1933 being the two oldest. The newest club to provide a governor is Martinsville, chartered in 1980 -- Of course they gave us "Conan The Rotarian".

Clubs in our district have been generous supporters of our Rotary Foundation. As of 31 December 1996, we had a total of 982 Paul Harris Fellows, 148 Sustaining Members and 92 Benefactors. At last years international convention in Calgary, PDG Bill Cunningham was one of only 31 DGs honored for achieving 75 new Benefactors. All time giving in our district is about $1.3 million.

Governor Terry has asked us to honor our legacy. At the end of Rotary year 1912-13 -- when a group of men with vision were taking action in Terre Haute to build for the future by starting the first club in this district -- there were 50 Rotary clubs with a total membership of 5,000. By the year 1915-16 when clubs were first grouped into districts, there were 20,700 members in 186 clubs. Today there are almost 1.2 million members in 28,284 clubs in 155 countries grouped into 518 districts.

Paul Harris obviously had much more than a vision. Honor our legacy by inviting someone to join your club. Remember you are here because someone cared enough to ask you to join. Honor our legacy by supporting our foundation -- PDG Orphie Bridges did. From Columbus, Orphie served as our 55th governor in 1986-87, when I was my club president. Long before he became governor, through his love for our foundation and his action and vision, his club led the way in foundation support.

Honor our legacy, and men of action and vision like Orphie, by becoming a Paul Harris Fellow and a Benefactor. Honor our legacy by supporting the Four Avenues of Service. Honor our legacy by attendance at district meetings and district conference. Honor our legacy by living the Four Way Test. Honor our legacy by helping build the future with action and vision. Honor our legacy and show the world that District 6580 Rotarians care by attending the 1998 international convention in Indianapolis. See you there!!

Donald L. Sodrel, PDG 1991-92
Presented at District 6580 Conference, 27 April 1997

Information and research obtained from:
Rotary International Archives
1996-97 Official Directory
"Focus on Rotary" RI No 991-EN
"Historical Review of Rotary" RI No 334-EN