The Story of Rotary in Paducah, KY

In 1915, the Rotary Club of Louisville sponsored the charter of the Paducah Rotary Club as the second club in Kentucky and 139th of the now more than 1.2 million Rotarians in 31,000 clubs located in 166 countries. The Paducah Club began with 55 men committed to service. Today the club has more than 200 members, more than 40 of which are women.

The early members met for dinner at the Palmer House but later moved to the Irvin Cobb Hotel, where it meets today. Members enjoy fellowship and song, and are entertained and informed by guest speakers ranging from politicians, university, business and industry leaders, and fellow Rotarians, to regional and local performing groups.

The Rotary Club of Paducah is part of District 6710, which is comprised of 60 clubs in 64 counties. Rotary members are busy people who fully and cheerfully accept the additional responsibilities of club membership.

The Story of Rotary International

Rotary International was formed on February 23, 1905 by Paul P. Harris, an attorney who met with other Chicago businessmen. He wished to recapture in a professional club the same friendly spirit he had felt in the small towns of his youth. The name "Rotary" derived from the early practice of rotating meetings among members' offices.

The popularity of Rotary 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.

Rotarians began pooling their resources and contributing their talents to help serve communities in need. This is best expressed in the motto: Service Above Self. Rotary also embraced a code of ethics, called the 4 - Way Test, that has been translated into hundreds of languages. For more history of Rotary International go to: http://www.rotary.org/aboutrotary/history/index.html