A BRIEF HISTORY OF PAUL HARRIS, THE MAN

The story starts one summer night in 1871. A 3 year old boy, his 5 year old brother and their father stepped off a train at Wallingford, Vermont, having made the long journey from Racine, Wisconsin. The young boys were being left in the custody of their paternal grandparents and young Paul Harris was destined to be raised by them in the Vermont valley some 9 miles south of Rutland.

Paul's father, having been given a drug store and house in Racine by his father, failed miserably at the business and was forced by his economic situation to break up his family, bringing his 2 boys to live in New England and keeping his infant daughter at home.

Paul's mother and father never were able to reunite the family for any significant period of time, and as unfortunate a circum-stance as that was for the family, it was undoubtedly a tremendously significant factor in the birth of rotary, for the warm, friendly atmosphere of the Vermont valley, and the strong New England values of his grandparents, influenced the development of Paul’s' character and nurtured the thirst in him for companionship, that drove him to form the first rotary club.

Paul Harris can perhaps be described as a New England Tom Sawyer, the leader of the "rapscallions", a rambunctious, fun loving, rascal who was anything but a scholar and who caused the townsfolk to remark that the Harris' had made a mistake taking in their grandson.  But Paul and his grandfather developed a strong respect and devotion for each other, and Paul’s grandparents and a New England upbringing developed in him the characteristics that are the underpinnings of the ideals of rotary.

Upon graduation from high school, and with his grand-father's urgings, Paul attended the University of Vermont in 1885.  He was expelled in his second year after being wrongfully accused of taking part in the hazing of a freshman. Subsequently in 1933 the university conferred on Paul an honorary doctoral degree.

In the fall of 1887 he entered Princeton University and while not distinguishing himself academically, he did get by, and continued to develop long lasting friendships and a keen interest in the social sciences.

While in his first year at Princeton, Paul’s grandfather died and Paul returned home to the valley and took a job with the Sheldon marble company in west Rutland for a year.

At Grandmother Harris' urging, Paul decided that it was time for him to make his own way in the world and enrolled in the university of Iowa law school. It was on his journey to Iowa that providence again intervened in the destiny of rotary history. Paul spent a week in Chicago and was deeply impressed with the people of that diverse city and he sensed that someday he would return to settle down.

A speaker at the commencement exercises upon Paul’s graduation, a lawyer who had graduated from Iowa law school a decade earlier, unwittingly was the next to have a profound impact on the destiny of rotary. He suggested to the graduates that they would be wise to go to some small town for 5 years to make fools of themselves, and then they should move to the city of their choice to commence a serious practice of law.  Paul had not yet satisfied his thirst for adventure and upon this suggestion he made up his mind - he would spend the next 5 years making a fool of himself, not in some small town, but he would see the world, and then would settle down in some city, perhaps Chicago, to begin a regular life practicing law.

And indeed that is exactly what Paul did.  He worked his way around the country and the world, enduring hardships that would make later challenges seem mild in comparison. But most importantly he studied people and made lasting friendships wherever he went.  He formed the ideals for human relationships which were to become the basis for the formation of his concept of the worldwide fellowship he would later found.

Five years after his graduation from law school, Paul settled in Chicago and began the arduous struggle to establish a law practice.  And three years later, the lonely, struggling young lawyer, who longed for the type of companionships that had marked his days as a boy in the Vermont valley that he so loved, invited three young business acquaintances - also all country boys - to his office to explain his idea of a different kind of businessmen's club, one in which the various businesses and professions of the community were represented. Rotary was born from this meeting on February 23, 1905.

We all know the story of the remarkable growth that occurred over the next 100+ years, over 1.2 million members, in over 30,000 rotary clubs in a 156 countries and geographical regions.

As we learn about the man, Paul Harris, we can begin to realize the vision that he had, and can begin to imagine the dedication of his followers who brought about that tremendous extension of Paul Harris' ideals.

But success did not come easily. Paul's attempts to share his dream by expanding rotary were often met by resistance within his own club.  He would hear "our club is just the right size", or "a new club would just weaken our club", or "we don't have the time to recruit new members and do all the other things we have to do.

But rotary had a high priority in Paul’s life and by selecting the right key people who shared his ideas and philosophies, a second rotary club was formed in San Francisco three years later in 1908, and the following year clubs were formed in Oakland, Seattle, Los Angeles, New York City and Boston.

In 1910 rotary became international with the formation of the Winnipeg, Canada club and the following year spanned the Atlantic when clubs were organized in Dublin, London and Belfast.

By its 10th anniversary there were 200 clubs and by its 25th anniversary there were over 150,000 members.  The growth was truly remarkable when you consider the state of communications and travel in those days.

Rotary's first service project was the construction of a public comfort station in Chicago’s city hall.  While not necessarily a memorable project, it was not without controversy. The Chicago association of brewers contended that every one of Chicago’s 6000 saloons offered public comfort conveniences for men, and the association of dept. Stores on state street contended that free accommodations in their stores were available for women. But the Chicago rotary club countered that public facilities should be available without a man having to buy a beer or a woman a dress, and the successful completion of that first service project laid the cornerstone for what was to become the foundation for this great organization.

Some of the history of rotary not only increases our rotary knowledge, but also, and more importantly, the heritage and philosophy of the organization helps us to better understand its role in society and our role in the organization.