Brief histories of the "other 100th clubs" Clubs

Rotary Club of Evansville #102

Rotary International District 6580

HISTORY OF THE ROTARY CLUB OF EVANSVILLE

The Rotary Club of Evansville was chartered by Rotary International on December 18^th, 1913.  It was Charter #102.  Meets of the Club were and are held at noon (12:00 p.m.) every Tuesday, in downtown Evansville at the Historic Veterans Memorial Coliseum. 

The Roster read like a “Who’s Who” of Evansville’s businesses.  Today there are several direct descendants of original members.  John and Jim Beard are the grandson and great grandson of G.A. Beard. Robert Leich is the nephew of Carl Leigh.  Sam Clifford is the grandson of George Clifford.  Horace M. Lukens, III is the grandson of Horace M. Lukens, Sr.  Jim Schwentker is the grandson of John Andres.

All of the services that we have today were in place at the time of the first meeting of the Club.   Outstanding speakers inform and debate the questions of the day.  This purpose and intent remains with us to this day.

The Club has moved from time to time starting with the St. George Hotel to the Coliseum depending upon the size of the membership.  Today we have three hundred plus(300+) members.  In 1986 we took in our first female members, and we have had several ladies become presidents of the Club and look forward to having two more in 2006-2008.

The Club was and still is very active in civic and social affairs, with an emphasis on Community Service.  Our Club supports the Rotary Foundation Scholarship effort, and for may years we have awarded scholarships to college students.  We also grant scholarships to Youth Exchange Students.  Along with partnering with the Love Foundation for grants for the public and parochial school sector in the Vanderburgh County School system. 

As we have said so many times, we truly believe in “Service Above Self.”

The Rotary Club of Evansville has many functions during the year:

1. Public Forum

2. Rotary Youth Exchange

3. Rotary International Graduate Scholarship

4. Al Hollander Memorial Fund

5. Educational Enrichment

6. Mentoring Program

7. Speakers Bureau

8. Rotaract

9. Rotary Civic Award

Just to mention a few.