A Lonely Paul Harris Starts Rotary

Paul Harris, the founder of Rotary, was from Vermont. After completing high school in Wallingford, he attended Black River Academy, Vermont Military Academy, and the Universities of Vermont and Princeton. Eventually he graduated from law school from the University of Iowa in 1891. He traveled for a time but eventually "hung his shingle" in Chicago in 1896.

Paul Harris as a young attorney in Chicago

Paul Harris was dreadfully lonesome, particularly on holidays and Sundays. He pondered the question of finding a way to increase his acquaintance with young men who had come to Chicago from farms and colleges and who knew the joys of friendliness and neighborliness without form or ceremony, but it took a long time for his thinking to produce results.

In his book My Road To Rotary, Paul Harris writes, "To me one essential was lacking, the presence of friends. Emerson said, 'He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare.' In my earliest days in my adopted city, I had neither the thousand nor the one."

"One evening I went with a professional friend to his suburban home. After dinner, as we strolled about the neighborhood, my friend greeted by name various tradesmen at their stores. This reminded me of my New England village. The thought came to me why not in big Chicago have a fellowship composed of just one man from each of many different occupations, without restrictions as to their politics or religion, with broad tolerance of each other's opinions? In such a fellowship could there not be mutual helpfulness?"

"I did not act upon my impulse at once; months and even years passed. In the life of great movements it is necessary that one man who has faith walk alone for a time. I did walk alone but eventually in February 1905, I called three young businessmen to meet with me, and I laid before them a very simple plan of mutual co-operation and informal friendship such as all of us had once known in our villages. They agreed to my plan."

"Silvester Schiele, my most intimate Chicago friend and one of the three who first met with me, was made our first president and has been a constant member. Gustavus Loehr and Hiram Shorey were the other two, but they failed to follow through. On the other hand, Harry Ruggles, Charley Newton, and others who were quickly added to the group with hearty zest joined in developing the project."

The first four Rotarians: Gustavus Loehr, Silvester Schiele, Hiram Shorey and Paul Harris.

"We grew in numbers, in fellowship, in the spirit of helpfulness to each other and to our city. The banker and the baker, the parson and the plumber, the lawyer and the laundryman discovered the similarity of each other's ambitions, problems, successes and failures. We learned how much we had in common. We found joy in being of service to one another. Again, I seemed to be back in my New England Valley."

"At a third meeting of the group, I presented several suggestions as a name for the club, among them Rotary, and that name was selected as we were then holding our meetings in rotation at our offices and places of business. Later, still rotating, we held our meetings at various hotels and restaurants. Thus we began as "Rotarians," and such we continue to be."

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