A century of Rotary in Canada

 

 

The Winnipeg club's first regular meeting was held in the Travellers Building (top). Bottom: Notable among the Rotarians at the 1929 International Goodwill Weekend in Winnipeg was Rotary founder Paul Harris (center).

I n the summer of 1910, Winnipeg businessman P.A.C. “Pac” McIntyre stopped in Chicago on his way home from a convention in Detroit.

There he visited a cousin, Will Lander, who was a member of a men’s business club called Rotary that had started five years earlier. Lander introduced his Canadian cousin to Paul Harris and Chesley R. Perry. McIntyre was so impressed with their explanation of Rotary – especially its early success in bringing together men from different trades and professions for the purpose of doing business – that he was inspired to call a meeting to organize a Rotary club in his hometown.

The story of that historic event is succinctly recorded on a plaque that was put in place only four years ago at the entrance to the former Birks Building at the corner of Portage Avenue and Smith Street: “On November 3, 1910, the first Winnipeg Rotary Club meeting took place in this building which was, at the time, the Y.M.C.A. building. A motion approved the formation of the Winnipeg Rotary Club – the first Rotary Club outside of the United States. In attendance were: P.A.C. McIntyre, William N. Brown, W.T. Pearce, R. Kershaw and A.W. Morley.”

Thus began what is now the 100-year journey of the Rotary Club of Winnipeg, known to Rotarians throughout the world as “the club that made Rotary international.” How fitting that the rapidly growing organization would have its Canadian roots in Winnipeg, which – as one of the few cities in North America that could rival the Windy City for its remarkable development (or for its wind) – was known at the time as “the Chicago of the North.”

The members set quickly to work. At a second meeting held only four days later at Morley’s office in the McArthur Building, attendance doubled and a president, George A. Kobold, was elected. At a third meeting a week later, club bylaws, modelled on those of the Rotary Club of Boston, were presented and approved.

In December, at the club’s fourth meeting, a letter from Perry, secretary of the National Association of Rotary Clubs, was read. “We have heard there is a new Rotary Club in Winnipeg,” the letter stated. “We want to know the names and addresses of the officers. We want you to affiliate with all other Rotary Clubs thru [ sic ] the National Association.” A separate correspondence from him read, “It is evident that this will now have to be the International Association.”

Winnipeg was known at the time as "the Chicago of the North."

The Winnipeg club did not vote to consider Perry’s recommendation until the following March, effectively delaying Rotary’s official claim of “international” status. At a June meeting, the club welcomed Arthur Sheldon of Chicago, who is credited with coining the first Rotary motto, He Profits Most Who Serves Best. The Winnipeg club declined an invitation to send a representative to the second Rotary convention in Portland, Ore., apparently because of financial considerations. In a letter to the club dated 1911, Harris, president of the National Association of Rotary Clubs, wrote, “I am sorry indeed that you cannot have one representative present at the convention. Many of your difficulties would vanish in the enthusiasm and exchange of ideas.”  

By year’s end, the Winnipeg club had 54 members and was formally affiliated with the national association. A suggestion that Harris be invited to Winnipeg was dropped because the club was unable to pay his expenses. When Harris signed the charter on 13 April 1912, Winnipeg officially became the 35th Rotary club. Had the affiliation been dated to when the club was first organized in 1910, it would have been the 17th, a bit of history that detail-minded Rotarians are unlikely to let anyone forget.

The Winnipeg club’s effect on the organization was swift. At the annual convention, in Duluth, Minn., in August 1912, Winnipeg club member C.E. Fletcher was given the honor of making the official motion that the name “National Association of Rotary Clubs” be changed to “International Association of Rotary Clubs.” Club president W.J. Clubb and member J.F.C. Menlove later served as vice presidents of the association.

Despite its early success, the fledgling Winnipeg club faced numerous growing pains. By March 1914, it had grown to 81 members, but 14 of them, including its founder, McIntyre, had their membership temporarily suspended for falling behind on their dues. The club did send two delegates to the 1914 convention in Houston, but it had to take out a $500 bank loan to do so.  

A significant development in Rotary and a noteworthy achievement for Canada happened in 1917, when E. Leslie Pidgeon of Winnipeg became the first Rotary president from outside the United States.

Eight years later, the Winnipeg club hosted Rotarians from Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and the western provinces in its first International Goodwill Weekend. The meeting was started to advance the fourth object of Rotary – the international understanding and peace initiative drafted by another Canadian, Halifax Rotarian Donald MacRae, in 1921, and ratified at the Los Angeles convention a year later. Harris attended the gathering when it was held in 1929 and spoke glowingly about it. In 1935, during the Winnipeg club’s 25th anniversary year, a Rotary club in Jerusalem offered this message of congratulations at the goodwill meeting: “Your Club set the Rotary Wheel in motion on a journey which shall never end until the desired achievement of world peace is accomplished.”