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First Clubs of each Country

 

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FIRST IN EACH COUNTRY

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The following 1list shows the first club in each of Rotary's geographic regions and countries based on current boundaries. The date following club name is the admission (charter) date into Rotary. Another club might have been first in a particular region, but due to boundary changes it is no longer in that geographic region. Also, when some of these clubs were admitted, they were not the first club in a geographic region, but became so when their portion gained independence. [ ] indicates the original name of the geographic region and/or city on the charter. Club names are the names of the current clubs as some have changed over time.

 

If your club's history is missing, please send your history today from our "Comment" page www.historycomment.org Please include the link to your website history page and a contact for confirmation. Also see the RI Archives Terminated Clubs file.

 

TRANSLATIONS www.historytranslation.org (and every page of RGHF can be translated, using the Google Tool above. Once you translate this page, every page there after will be translated)

 

Chinese French German Spanish Swedish Presidents's themes in multiple languages

The history of RGHF in multiple languages

District Histories in multiple languages

First Clubs of Countries in multiple languages

Regional histories in multiple languages

 

Rotary Year/RIP

Region & Club Charter Inactive Readmitted Notes

1905

USA Chicago 23 Feb 05 ROTARY/One

1906

1907

1908

1909

191011 Paul P. Harris

191112 Paul P. Harris

Canada, Winnipeg 13 Apr 12

191213 Glenn C. Mead

England, London 1 Aug 12
Scotland, Glasgow 1 Apr 13
Ireland, Dublin 1 May 13
N. Ireland, Belfast 1 May 13

191314 Russell F. Greiner

191516 Allen D. Albert

Cuba, Havana 1 Jun 16 31 Jan 79
Hawaii Honolulu 1 Jun 16 USA Statehood 21 Aug 59

191617 Arch C. Klumph

191718 E. Leslie Pidgeon

Wales Cardiff 1 Nov 17
Puerto Rico San Juan 1 Jun 18

191819 John Poole

France Allied Rotary Club of France forerunner of Paris Club
Uruguay Montevideo ESP & EN 1 Feb 19 2Tree
Philippines Manila 1 Jun 19

191920 Albert S. Adams

China Shanghai 1 Oct 19 31 Dec 43

27 Mar 46

15 Oct 51

2Tree Provisional Jun 01
Panama Panama City 1 Nov 19 2Tree
India Calcutta 1 Jan 20 2Tree
Argentina Buenos Aires (ESP) 1 Apr 20 2Tree

192021 Estes Snedecor

Spain Madrid (ESP & EN) 1 Jan 21 19 Jan 40 6 Jun 77 2Tree
Australia Melbourne 1 Apr 21 2Tree
France Paris 1 Apr 21
Japan Tokyo 1 Apr 21 2Tree
Mexico Ciudad de Mexico 1 Apr 21 2Tree
New Zealand Wellington 1 May 21 2Tree

192122 Crawford McCullough

S Africa Johannesburg 1 Jul 21
Newfoundland St. John's 1 Jan 22 Province of Canada 31 March 1949
Norway Oslo 1 Jun 22
Peru Lima 1 Jun 22 2Tree
Denmark Copenhagen (DA) 3 Aug 22
Netherlands, The Amsterdam 29 Jan 23
Brazil Rio de Janeiro 28 Feb 23 2Tree
Channel Islands Guernsey 3 Mar 23 [British Isles]

192324 Guy Gundaker

3 Belgium Ostende (FR) 29 Aug 23
Italy Milano (IT) (EN) 20 Dec 23
Isle of Man Douglas 2 Jan 24 [British Isles]
Bermuda Hamilton 15 Mar 24
Chile Valparaiso 15 May 24 2Tree
Switzerland Zurich 23 May 24

192425 Everett W. Hill

Alaska Ketchikan 22 Apr 25 Statehood 3 January 1959
Guatemala Ciudad de Guatemala 11 May 25

192526 Donald A. Adams

Austria Vienna 19 Oct 25
4 Czech Republic Praha 1 Nov 25 24 Jan 49 8 Jun 90 [Prague, Czechoslovakia]
Portugal Lisbon 23 Jan 26
4 Hungary Budapest 20 Feb 26 30 Jun 42 1 Jun 89
Sweden Stockholm 20 Feb 26 2Tree

192627 Harry H. Rogers

Colombia Bogotá 13 Jan 27 2Tree
Finland HelsinkiHelsingfors 26 Jan 27 2Tree Also Rotary in Finland 2649
Costa Rica San Jose 8 Mar 27 (history needed)
El Salvador San Salvador 15 Apr 27 (history needed)

192728 Arthur H. Sapp

Ecuador Guayaquil 13 Jul 27
Bolivia La Paz 12 Aug 27
Germany Hamburg 8 Oct 27
Korea  Seoul 10 Nov 27 31 Dec 40 15 Mar 49 [Keijo, Chosen, Japan]
Pakistan Lahore 7 Dec 27 [India]
Paraguay Asuncion 16 Jan 28 (history needed)
Indonesia Yogyakarta 12 Apr 28 31 Dec 43 Jogjakarta, Indonesia 31 July 1957 27 April 1961 readmitted 7 December 1970; Djokjakarta, Java, [Netherlands East Indies]

192829 I. B. Tom Sutton

Greece Athinai 30 Jan 29 [Athens]
Israel Jerusalem 11 Mar 29 [Palestine]
Egypt Cairo 11 Mar 29 [United Arab Republic]
4 Yugoslavia  Belgrade 8 Apr 29 31 Dec 41 1 May 92 Yugoslavia, Federal Republic of
Nicaragua Managua 16 May 29 (history needed)
4 Romania Bucuresti 20 May 29 31 Dec 41 1 May 92 [Bucharest]
Honduras Tegucigalpa 4 Jun 29 (history needed)

192930 M. Eugene Newsom

Sri Lanka Colombo 24 Aug 29
Belize Belize 12 Sep 29 4 Jun 30 31 Jul 57 [British Honduras]
Luxembourg Luxembourg 24 Sep 29
Burma Thayetmo 30 Sep 29 31 Dec 43
Burma Rangoon 27 Nov 29 31 Jan 79
Malaysia Seremban 4 Dec 29 [Federated Malay States]
Algeria Algiers 19 May 30 1 Jan 80 2 May 92
Morocco Casablanca (FR) 19 May 30
Zimbabwe Harare 27 Jun 30 [Southern Rhodesia Salisbury]

193031 Almon E. Roth

4 Estonia Tallinn 2 Aug 30 10 Oct 40 1 Mar 91 2Tree
Singapore Singapore 11 Aug 30 [Singapore, Strait Settlements, Malaysia]
Kenya Nairobi 11 Sep 30
Thailand Bangkok ไทย 28 Nov 30 [Siam]
Hong Kong Hong Kong 20 Feb 31
Poland Warsaw (En) (Po) 19 Mar 31 10 Oct 40 1 Jun 89
Taiwan Taipei 中文 28 Apr 31 31 Dec 43 11 Jun 48 [Taihoku, Formosa, Japan]

193132 Sydney W. Pascall

Lebanon Beyrouth 2 Feb 32 [Beirut]
4 Danzig, Free City of 193132 inactive during WWII; now Gdansk, Poland (history needed)

193233 Clinton P. Anderson

4 Latvia Riga 7 Apr 33 10 Oct 40 1 Feb 92
4 Bulgaria Sofia 25 May 33 7 Apr 41 1 Oct 91 Also see an article on early history in Bulgaria

193334 John Nelson

4 Lithuania Vilnius

14 Nov 34 6 Nov 92 [Kaunas, Lituania was first club in country from 14 November, 193410 October 1940, but was not the first club to be granted readmittance in the 1990s]
Iceland Reykjavik 31 May 35

193435 Robert E. Lee Hill

Tunisia Tunis Doyen 14 Feb 36 30 Jan 60 11 Sep 69 (history needed)

193536 Ed. R. Johnson

Fiji Suva 26 Mar 36
Sarawak  Kuching 10 Jun 36 State of Malaysia since 1965

193637 Will R. Manier, Jr.

Netherlands Antilles Curacao 2 Apr 37
Monaco Monaco +Fr 3 Jun 37 Incomplete

193738 Maurice Duperrey

Venezuela Caracas 8 Oct 37 (history needed)
Syria Damascus 26 Jan 38 24 Jan 69
Bangladesh Dhaka 26 Feb 38 [India]
Sudan Khartoum 27 Jun 38 (history needed)

193839 George C. Hager

Cyprus Nicosia 22 Aug 38
Aruba Aruba 10 Dec 38 [Netherlands Antilles]

193940 Walter D. Head

Senegal Dakar 10 Jul 39 [French West Africa]
Guam Guam 30 Aug 39

194041 Armando Pereira

194142 Tom J. Davis

194243 Fernando Carbajal

Dominican Republic Santo Domingo 18 Feb 43

194344 Charles L. Wheeler

194445 Richard H. Wells

194546 T. A. Warren

194647 Richard C. Hedke

Macau  Macau 16 Jun 47

194748 S. Kendrick Guernsey

Ã…land Islands Mariehamn 13 Nov 47 [now part of Finland]

194849 Angus S. Mitchell

Taiwan Taipei
Tanzania DaresSalaam
1 Oct 48
25 Jan 49
Now China
[Tanganyika]

194950 Percy Hodgson

195051 Arthur Lagueux

195152 Frank E. Spain

China  Nanking 24 Jan 52

195253 H.J. Brunnier
 

Sabah  Kota Kinabalu 24 Nov 52 State of Malaysia since 1965
Vietnam Saigon 23 Jan 53 31 Jan 79 (history needed)
Namibia Windhoek 31 Mar 53 [South West Africa] (history needed)
Zambia Ndola 22 Jun 53 [Northern Rhodesia]
Suriname Paramaribo 21 Jul 53
Brunei Belait 11 May 54 15 Apr 57 22 May 65 originally Belait District
Turkey Ankara (Tur) 23 Mar 55
Democratic Republic of Congo Kinshasa 13 Apr 55 [Leopoldville, Belgian Congo; Leopoldville, Zaire] (history needed)
Malawi Blantyre 30 May 55 [BlantyreLimbe, Nyasaland](history needed)
Ethiopia Addis Ababa 1 Jun 55 (history needed)
Angola Luanda 23 Sep 55 (history needed)
Iraq Baghdad 11 Jan 56 26 May 59 (history needed)
Netherlands New Guinea 195556 now part of Indonesia (history needed)
Swaziland Manzini 25 Jan 56 [Bremersdrop, Swaziland]history needed
Burundi Bujumbura 1 Mar 56 [Usumbura, RuandaUrundi](history needed)
Jordan Amman 13 Apr 56
Iran Tehran 20 May 56 11 Nov 82 (history needed)
Cote d'Ivorie Abidjan 11 Jun 56 [Ivory Coast](history needed)

195657 Gian Paolo Lang

Cambodia PhnomPenh 15 Apr 57 26 Feb 77 1 May 95 (history needed)
Cameroun Douala 17 Apr 57
Central African Republic Bangui 17 Apr 57 (history needed)
Liechtenstein Liechtenstein 10 May 57
Uganda Kampala 20 May 57
Guadeloupe PointeaPitre (FR) 28 May 57 (French West Indies)

195758 Charles G. Tennent

Martinique, FortdeFrance Nov 1957 (history needed)
Belize Belize 7 Jul 57 [British Honduras]
Trinidad & Tobago Port of Spain 10 Aug 57 [British West Indies]
Papua New Guinea Port Moresby 19 Sep 57 [Papua]
Virgin Islands St. Thomas 2 Oct 57 [Charotte Amalie, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands](history needed)
Chad N’Djamena, ChariBaguirmi 5 Dec 57 [French Equatorial Africa  FortLamy](history needed)
Eritrea Asmara 18 Dec 57 31 Mar 79 24 Sep 97
Congo, Republic of the Brazzaville 6 Jan 58 [French Equatorial Africa](history needed)
Laos Vientiane 14 Jun 58 31 Jan 79 (history needed)
French Guiana Cayenne 17 Jun 58 (history needed)

195859 Clifford A. Randall

Ghana Accra 24 Oct 58 (history needed)
Madagascar Antananarivo 30 Oct 58 [Tananarive, Malagasy](history needed)
Nepal Kathmandu 13 Apr 59
Guyana Georgetown 20 May 59 [British Guiana]
Jamaica Kingston 18 Jun 59 [West Indies Federation]
Ryukyu Islands 195960 (history needed)
French Polynesia Papeete, Tahiti (FR) 22 Jul 59
San Marino San Marino 18 Mar 60
Yemen Aden 24 May 60 30 Mar 72 (history needed)

196061 J. Edd McLaughlin

Gabon Libreville 18 Nov 60 (history needed)
Reunion SaintDenis 17 Feb 61
Somalia Mogadiscio 17 Feb 61 15 Sep 72 (history needed)
Nigeria Kano 28 Apr 61
Mali Bamako 31 May 61 Incomplete
Bahamas Nassau 19 Jan 62
Haiti PortauPrince 22 Jan 62 (history needed)
New Caledonia Noumea 26 Feb 62 (history needed)
Barbados Barbados 7 Mar 62 [British West Indies]
Zanzibar 196162 (history needed)
Sierra Leone  Freetown 17 Mar 63 (history needed)
Liberia Monrovia 25 Jan 64 (history needed)
Mozambique Lourenco Marques 10 Jun 64 9 Nov 76 See Mozambique Maputo, 1 June(history needed)

196465 Charles W. Pettengill

Mauritius Port Louis 9 Nov 64

196566 C. P. H. Teenstra

Bahrain Manama 13 Sep 65 (history needed)
Benin Cotonou 9 Oct 65 [Dahomey](history needed)
Grand Cayman Cayman Islands 8 Nov 65 [British West Indies]
Comoro Islands Moroni 8 Dec 65 (history needed)
Gibraltar Gibraltar 5 Apr 66 (history needed)

196667 Richard L. Evans

Saint Lucia St. Lucia 21 Jul 66 [British West Indies](history needed)
Rwanda Kigali 14 Dec 66 (history needed)

196768 Luther H. Hodges

Niger Niamey 31 Jul 67
Djibouti Djibouti 16 Sep 67 [French Territory of the Afars & Issas]
Malta Malta 6 Oct 67
Republic of Sikkim 196768 now part of India(history needed)
British Virgin Islands Tortola 5 Jan 68 (history needed)
Faroe Islands Tórshavn 25 Jan 68 [Denmark](history needed)
Northern Marianas Saipan 16 Feb 68 [USA Trust Territory of the Pacific]
Togo Lome 16 Feb 68 (history needed)
Kabul 8 Mar 68 31 Jan 79 28 Mar 03
Tonga Nuku'alofa 29 May 68 (history needed)

196869 Kyoshi Togasaki

Grenada Grenada 23 Aug 68 (history needed)
Libya Tripoli 24 Aug 68 29 Oct 70
Cook Islands Rarotonga 5 Feb 69 (history needed)
Seychelles Victoria 28 Apr 69 (Mahe)

196970 James F. Conway

Saint KittsNevis St. Kitts 11 Jul 69 [West Indies Associated States]
American Samoa Pago Pago 29 Oct 69
Montserrat Montserrat 23 May 70 [British West Indies](history needed)

197071 William E. Walk

Samoa Apia 28 Sep 70

197172 Ernst G. Breitholtz

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 5 Aug 71 [British West Indies]
Botswana Gaborone 16 Jan 72
Vanuatu PortVila 14 Jun 72 [New Hebrides]

197273 Roy D. Hickman

Antigua and Barbuda Antigua 10 Sep 72 [West Indies Associated States]
Norfolk Island Norfolk Island 17 May 73

197374 William C. Carter

Dominica Dominica 1 Jul 74 [British West Indies] (history needed)

197475 William R. Robbins

197576 Ernesto Imbassahy de Mello

197677 Robert Manchester II

Republic of Transkei 197677 originally part of South Africa(history needed)
Lesotho Maseru 18 May 77 (history needed)

197778 W. Jack Davis

Andorra Andorra 17 May 78
United Arab Emirates Dubai 9 Jun 78 1 Nov 87 3 Mar 02
Anguilla Anguilla 15 Jun 78

197879 Clem Renouf

Mauritania Nouakchott 31 Jan 79 (history needed)

197980 James L. Bomar, Jr.

Gambia, The Banjul 7 Aug 79
Greenland Nuuk 6 May 80 (history needed)

198081 Rolf Klärich

198283 Hiroji Mukasa

198384 William E. Skelton

Burkina Faso Ouagadougou 1 Jun 84 [Upper Volta] (history needed)

198485 Carlos Canseco

198586 Edward F. Cadman

Guinea Conakry 26 Nov 85 (history needed)

198687 M. A. T. Caparas

Solomon Islands Honiara 27 Mar 87

198788 Charles C. Keller

Mayotte Mayotte 11 Mar 88 (history needed)
Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Pierre et Miquelon 23 Mar 89 (history needed)
Mozambique Maputo 1 Jun 90 [First club Lourenco Marques, 10 Jun 64 until 9 Nov 76](history needed)
Soviet Union Moscow 5 Jun 90 now Russia
Micronesia Pohnpei 15 Jun 90 (history needed)
Slovenia Ljubljana 1931/32 1941 29 Jun 90 (history needed)
4 Croatia Zagreb 29 Apr 29 1941 1 Jan 91 [Originally part of Yugoslavia] (Missing)
4 Slovakia Bratislava 1927 1939 1 Jan 91
4 Albania Tiranë 1 Mar 92 (history needed)
Cape Verde Praia 1 Apr 92 (history needed)
Guinea Bissau Bissau 1 Apr 92 (history needed)
Ukraine Kiev 10 Apr 92 (history needed)

199293 Cliff Dochterman

Sao Tome & Principe Sao Tome 1 Dec 92 (history needed)

199394 Robert R. Barth

Belarus Minsk 20 May 94 incomplete
Mongolia Ulaanbaatar 1 Jan 95
Macedonia  Skopje 26 Aug 31 1941 1 Jun 95 Former Yugoslav Republic

199596 Herbert G. Brown

Kazakhstan Almaty 24 Jul 95
Palau, Republic of Palau 1 Oct 95 (history needed)
Turks and Caicos Islands Providencials 1 May 96 (history needed)
Armenia Yerevan 13 Nov 96 (history needed)
Antarctica Base Marambio 13 May 97 Antarctica, Marambio
Georgia, Republic of Tbilisi 3 Dec 97 (history needed)
Moldova, Rep. of Chisinau 30 Apr 98

199899 James L. Lacy

Azerbaijan Baku 7 May 99 (history needed)
Kyrgyzstan Bishkek 13 Jan 99
4 BosniaHerzegovina Sarajevo 1931 1941 31 Aug 99 originally part of Yugoslavia
Liberia, Monrovia 08 Aug 00 (history needed)

200102 Richard D. King

World's first eClub 04 Jan 02
United Arab Emirates, Dubai 03 Mar 02 9 Jun 1978 1 Nov 1987

200203 Bhichai Rattakul

TimorLeste, Democratic Republic of Dili 20 Sep 02
Afghanistan 23 Mar 03 (history needed)

200304 Jon Majiyagbe

200405 Glenn E. Estess, Sr.

Tajikistan, Dushanbe 05 Apr 05
Equatorial Guinea, Malabo 16 May 05

200506 CarlWilhelm Stenhammar

Kosova, Peja 30 Jun 06

200607 William B. Boyd

200708 Wilfrid J. Wilkinson

200809 DK Lee

Kiribati, Kiritimati 11 Aug 08

200910 John Kenny

201011 Ray Klinginsmith

Doug Rudman USA, Basil Lewis UK, Greg Barlow Malaysia, and Jack M. B. Selway USA

 

1 Based on a list originally compiled by Cyndi Beck of the Rotary International Archives on 14 November 2002.


2 Friendship Trees, planted by Paul & Jean Harris during the 30's. They are shown, by continent, at friendshiptrees.org

 

3 This club was not the first club of Belgium but is recorded as a lower numbered club and thus first in the archives

 

4 Because of boundary changes resulting mostly from the second world war, some clubs appear in the various Balkan and Baltic lists under the name of their country at the time of inauguration, though subsequently they appear in a different country. One example is Cieszyn Zachodni founded in Poland in1932 but admitted as Cesky Tesin in Czechoslovakia, reverting to Cieszyn Zachodni, in Poland in May 1939. There are some cases of Rotary Clubs being labelled in more than one language. Thus, Timisoara in Romania is also shown in the RI files as Temesvar. The 'termination' list includes several such examples.


 

 

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