Club History

Our club was chartered on October 1, 1916 so none of us today know the full story on how we came to be the 252nd club in Rotary. Fortunately, a document assembled in 1947 recounted the history of the club from its inception to that point. Combining the account of our formation with some historical […]

President Mark rang the opening bell ten minutes early to start an agenda-packed meeting. Tom Strode played The Star Spangled Banner and Fritz Seyferth intoned Advice From A Tree.  Shelley MacMillan led us in singing “Let There Be Peace on Earth”. President Mark welcomed guests and thanked the people who made the meeting run smoothly. […]

The Program Committee has been hard at work filling the dates between now and the end of the calendar year. Combining that listing with dates for known Club and District events, you can click here for a printout. Results from our club’s most recent Member Survey indicated that at least 3/4 of the respondents said […]

Wagar A. Glas, Club President in 1954-55, as a dedicated Rotarian attended several International Rotary Conventions. He brought back “The Shirt” from a Rotary International Conference in Hawaii.  He gave it to President Carl Gingles (1980-81), who passed it on to incoming President Russ Reister at the start of his 1981-82 term. Russ continued the […]

Following WWI Ann Arbor Rotary began sponsoring Rural-Urban Get-To-Gethers for representative farmers of Washtenaw County. They understood that agriculturists quite often feel their city cousins don’t know or care about rural problems. The Club sought to correct this misconception. Sometimes alone, and at times in cooperation with one or more other service clubs in the […]

During the years 1916 to 1947, Club membership grew from the original fifteen to 132 active and four honorary members. On average, ten new names were added each year to the roles with about half that number lost due to death or resignation. Time, circumstance and the 1988 inclusion of exceptional local women to Rotary […]

In the fall of 1920, the Principal of Perry School, Miss Carrie Dicken, sponsored continuing work to assimilate non-English speaking women of the city into local culture. That year, long walks to the school and weather conditions had been affecting attendance. This “Americanization Work” was made easier when Ann Arbor Rotary members put service above […]

In July of 1918, the Club voted unanimously by secret ballot to show its spirited sentiment in support of national prohibition during WWI. A determined faction in Michigan unsuccessfully attempted to nullify the Eighteenth Amendment with an amendment to the State Constitution permitting wine and beer. In February of 1919, a Club meeting theme, “The […]

Created and named in 1916 by the Club’s first secretary, Charles A. Sink, the Harpoon has had a continuous role chronicling Club history. The letterhead, conceived and drawn by past-presidents Shirley Smith and Wilfred Shaw, depicts a whale stabbed to the heart by a spear with it’s meaning revealed in a 1918 Harpoon by the following conversation […]

Are you curious about how the Rotary Club of Ann Arbor was started? Ever wondered about our great club’s past? Here begins a trip down memory lane, where we’ll be exploring some moments from our club’s past. Beginnings… The year was 1916. World War I was beginning its third year. Ford’s Model T had been […]