A Concise History
The Rotary Club of Wheeling 1915-2005 -
(from the 2005 membership directory)

The Rotary Club of Wheeling WV was chartered on May 5, 1915. This was ten years after the founding of Rotary in Chicago in 1905. Through the efforts of Paul Hemeyer, a prominent man in advertising, the Club was formed with 15 charter members and Charles J. Hunter as its first president.

The Wheeling Rotary Club has always been characterized by its membership of outstanding men, and now women, representing most of the major professions and occupations in the city. During its 90 years, the weekly meetings of the Wheeling Rotary Club have been known for their outstanding and well-known speakers, informative and inspiring programs, and good fellowship. One of the unique aspects of its pre-World War 11 years was the weekly performance of a "Wheeling Rotary" orchestra.

Wheeling Rotary has always been faithful to its motto, "Service Above Self." A major emphasis has been service to children and youth. The Club took the lead in establishing a clinic at Ohio Valley General Hospital, which evolved into the Wheeling Society for Crippled Children. Wheeling Rotary was instrumental in the development of the Area Boy Scout Camp and the entire Boy Scout program. In the late 1980's members contributed approximately $40,000 to "Polio-Plus," a Rotary International program to eliminate polio from the world. This emphasis on youth continues today with the Club's sponsorship of the Wheeling Skate Park, Hugh O'Brien Youth Scholarships, the Youth Exchange program and the reading program with Madison School.

The Wheeling Rotary Club's longest continuing project has been its work with "Blind Bowlers" for 45 years. Individual club members were also instrumental in organizing and developing Oglebay Institute over the years. As a matter of fact, members of the Wheeling Rotary Club have provided leadership to many charitable, educational, character-building and cultural organizations throughout our history.

The Wheeling Rotary Club has served its country well. During World War I, the old Stamm roadhouse at Wheeling Park was fitted with dining rooms and sleeping quarters, and Rotarians and their wives were on duty at all hours serving food and hot coffee to troupe caravans moving through Wheeling on Route 40. During World War II, the Club conducted a successful drive to purchase three fully equipped ambulanced for military use.

In 1915, The Wheeling Rotary Club was part of a huge District, stretching from Erie, PA to Johnstown, PA to Bluefield, WV to Zanesville, OH. The present District 7530 includes all the northern West Virginia with the Wheeling Rotary Club being the oldest club in the District. Over the years, Wheeling has contributed four District Governors. The Club has introduced Rotary to other communities by sponsoring the new clubs in Moundsville, New Martinsville, Weirton, and Ohio County.

The Wheeling Rotary Club's service extends around the world. In 1947, the Rotary Foundation was established to promote "International Understanding" by granting scholarships to bright and promising young people throughout the world. Wheeling Rotary has contributed generously to this program, and has sponsored Rotary scholars, hosted international students and businessmen and women.

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Dr. Fawcett's Notes on our history -

The first Rotary Club in the world was organized on February 23, 1905 by Paul P. Harris in Chicago, Illinois with the governing motto of "Service Above Self". The Wheeling Rotary club was chartered ten years later on May 1st, 1915. The Wheeling Rotary Club was the 155th club established. With over 28,000 clubs in over 154 countries around the world, the Wheeling Rotary club was one of the earliest.

Membership in Rotary from the beginning was formed on a unique plan of one active and representative man (and now woman) from each line of business and profession in the community. Meetings were scheduled weekly so members could become better acquainted with people they ought to know. The purposes are to develop wholesome fellowship, true and helpful friendships, and the stimulation of your desire to be of service to your fellow man and society in general. An essential obligation is to attend meetings regularly.

For the Wheeling Rotary Club there were sixteen charter members and they included:

Of that group, William F. Kennedy, Theophilus F. Bayha, and George J. Kossuth were considered "The Three Musketeers of Wheeling Rotary" for their involvement. Later that year and during 1916 the following members were added:

During 1917 and 1918 new members included:

During the 1920's many names, which will most likely be familiar to today's members, were added to the roster. These include:

A review of the Wheeling Rotary Club Roster and Directory of 1931 provides interesting insight. There were 131 members at that time, and they were divided into 24 Committees, which included:

One of Wheeling Rotary's earliest projects was the development of a Clinic for the care of Crippled Children. This was motivated and directed by Dr. Jacob Schwinn, and backed by Wheeling Rotary. Dr. Schwinn did a tremendous amount of work with crippled children during the 1920's because of the large amount of Polio in those days. It is interesting to reflect that Wheeling had a population of over 75,000 at that time. We are now down to less than half that number of people, with no Polio, but look at the size of the Wheeling Society for Crippled Children today. In addition to that project, Wheeling Rotary provided Christmas to all Wheeling orphans, helped with the blind, and many community service projects.

The tradition of service help by those early Wheeling Rotarians is carried on today by the current business and community leaders in Wheeling.

(The above historical information was culled from the archives of Dr. Alan Fawcett)

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