Rotary - A Brief History Paul P. Harris, an attorney who wished
to recapture in a professional club the same friendly spirit he
had felt in the small towns of his youth, formed the world’s
first service club, the Rotary Club of Chicago, Illinois, USA,
on 23 February 1905. The name "Rotary" derived from the early
practice of rotating meetings among members' offices. Rotary's
popularity spread throughout the United States in the decade
that followed; clubs were chartered from San Francisco to New
York. By 1921, Rotary clubs had been formed on six continents,
and the organization adopted the name Rotary International a
year later. As Rotary grew, its mission expanded beyond serving
the professional and social interests of club members. Rotarians
began pooling their resources and contributing their talents to
help serve communities in need. The organization's dedication to
this ideal is best expressed in its principal motto: Service
Above Self. Rotary also later embraced a code of ethics, called
The 4-Way Test, t