101. Scranton, PA,  Organized 3 May 1912

102. Evansville, IN,  Organized 9 Dec 1913

103. Chattanooga, TN,  Organized 2 Jan 1914

104. Macon, GA,  Organized 7 Jan 1914

105. South Bend, IN,  Organized 7 Jan 1914

Elected to membership 1 March 1914

Elected to membership 1 March 1914

Elected to membership 1 March 1914

Elected to membership 1 March 1914

Elected to membership 1 March 1914

"Some order had to be assigned and we can only assume it was chance. The organization date was irrelevant to Rotary purposes. Many clubs took longer to be ready to proceed to apply for Rotary International Association membership. Those clubs that were speedier in the process were not penalized by those who weren't."

(From the Rotary International Archives) Regarding membership in the Association, according to the Constitution & Bylaws in force in 1914 (text at this link)

"In the beginning, Rotary numbered the clubs in the order in which they became affiliated with Rotary International and they were assigned a charter number based on the date that they were elected to membership in Rotary International. After WWII in about 1951, Rotary stopped using the numbering system that it had before the war. Today's assigned numbers are for financial purposes and are not placed on the charter nor should they be considered for order of entry into Rotary International. After a club is terminated (for any reason) should they be re-affiliated within a year, they would retain their original charter date. If more than a year has passed, then they will receive a new charter date and the old affiliation will no longer count as to anniversary, etc."  Cyndi Beck, Rotary Archives

CHARTERING AND THE NUMBERING OF CLUBS

Officially a Rotary Club only moves from the 'interim' (provisional) stage to full membership when it receives its Charter. In the early period of Rotary, clubs had to apply for affiliation to the newly formed National (or from 1912, International) Association of Rotary Clubs. Sometimes because of administrative delays or even lack of knowledge of the correct procedure, some of Rotary's earliest clubs failed to be chartered for several months or even years after their inaugural meeting. Thus, Winnipeg was formed at a meeting on November 3, 1910, but did not receive its Charter until 1912.

A similar situation occurred with the clubs in Britain where news of their creation could take a long time to reach Chicago. Because there was occasionally some dispute about the amount of the affiliation fee, not all clubs joined immediately. This has led to discrepancies in the numbering of the clubs.