Rotary Milestones:
1905
First Rotary club organized in Chicago, Illinois, USA
1908
Second club formed in San Francisco, California, USA
1910
First Rotary convention held in Chicago
1912
The Rotary Club of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, becomes the first club outside the United States to be officially chartered. (The club was formed in 1910.)
1917
Endowment fund, forerunner of The Rotary Foundation, established
1932
4-Way Test formulated by Chicago Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor
1945
Forty-nine Rotarians help draft United Nations Charter in San Francisco
1947
Rotary founder Paul Harris dies; first 18 Rotary Foundation scholarships granted
1962
First Interact club formed in Melbourne, Florida, USA 1965 Rotary Foundation launches Matching Grants and Group Study Exchange programs
1978
RI's largest convention, with 39,834 registrants, held in Tokyo
1985
Rotary announces PolioPlus program to immunize all the children of the world against polio
1989
Council on Legislation opens Rotary membership to women worldwide; Rotary clubs chartered in Budapest, Hungary, and Warsaw, Poland, for first time in almost 50 years
1990
Rotary Club of Moscow chartered first club in Soviet Union
1990 - 91
Preserve Planet Earth program inspires some 2,000 Rotary-sponsored environmental projects
1994
Western Hemisphere declared polio-free
1999
Rotary Centers for International Studies in Peace and Conflict Resolution established
2000
Western Pacific declared polio-free
2001
30,000th Rotary club chartered
2002
Europe declared polio-free; first class of 70 Rotary Peace Scholars begin study
2003
Rotarians raise more than US$118 million to support the final stages of polio eradication  | 
Paul Harris - Founder