The Rotary Club of Windsor (1918)
Club History Page
Our Club is Located in Windsor Ontario Canada
Welcome to The Rotary Club of Windsor (1918) Club History Page.
The first Rotary club in the Windsor area was established after much the
same kind of informal discussion that preceded the
founding of Rotary in Chicago nearly 13 years earlier.
It was early 1918. The Great War was still months away from ending, but
the Rotary movement was starting to sweep North America.
From its modest beginnings, Rotary was expanding rapidly. Nearby, there
were clubs in London and Detroit.
Three prominent citizens of what were then the Border Cities decided there
should be a a service club here too. Clarence H. Smith hosted a meeting on
the balcony level of Smith's Department Store in downtown Windsor. He,
Dr. John D. Coleridge and Alex Peddie discussed the formation of some sort
of men's organization.
On their way out of the store they met Harry J. Neal, President of the
Neal Banking Company on Salter Avenue, a man who had business connections
in London. Harry Neal knew favorable things about the Rotary movement
through these connections. All the Border Cities were hearing good news
about the Rotary Club of Detroit.
All of this came together as the genesis of the Border Cities Rotary Club (named that in deference to the members from Walkerville, Sandwich and Ford City). The Club was also called the Rotary Club of Windsor, and exclusively named that after the amalgamation of Windsor with Sandwich, Walkerville and East Windsor in 1935.
Harry Neal would later be referred to as "the inspirational father" of
Windsor Rotary. He became its first president, taking office after the
Charter arrived from Rotary International in the first month of 1919.
The Windsor Club was constituted by the president of the Detroit Rotary Club.
The first meeting was held at the Essex Golf and Country Club on Prince Road.
Their Charter was received on April 1, 1919 at a meeting in the Mandarin Cafe.
The Club started having weekly luncheon meetings in the Board of Trade Office over the former Woolworth Building at what is now Ouellette and University Avenues (formerly London Street).
Rotary's aim of promoting closer acquaintance among members took a novel
twist in Windsor. Each new Rotarian was initiated by becoming a
once-a-week table waiter for his fellow club members. This duty lasted for
the newcomer's first year.
The Rotary Club of Windsor has changed meeting places and offices several
times.
The Prince Edward Hotel opened in 1922, and Windsor Rotary moved there for
its gatherings for nearly the next half century, moving out only when the
hotel closed its doors in Canada's centennial year, 1967.
Since then, Windsor Rotarians have met at the former Seaway Hotel, the Ramada Inn (formerly the Holiday Inn of Windsor), and now the Caboto Club.
The Windsor Rotary office has been, at various times, located in business
premises, in St. George's Church in Walkerville, in the Bartlet Building,
in the Prince Edward Hotel, in the Canada Building, the
Windsor Utilities Commission Building at 787 Ouellette Ave. and now at The Children's Safety Village.
The Rotary Club of Windsor and its members and particularly its presidents,
have been leaders in the important work of inspiring Rotary to organize in
other communities.
In 1924 the Windsor Club sponsored the Amherstburg Rotary Club and eleven
years later in 1935 did the same for the Essex Rotary Club.
The Windsor St. Clair Rotary Club officially came into existence on November 20th, 1975. Its charter night was January 26th, 1976. Today, the club maintains an average membership of 40 men and women. The Windsor-St. Clair Club has a record of achievements which could do credit to a club several times its age.
The increasingly popular Ganatchio Trail was established and
enthusiastically supported with funding by the Rotary Club of Windsor-St.
Clair.
The club also raised thousands of dollars for the Heart and Stroke
Foundation with its television auctions. It also supports the Riverside
Community Centre, Club Riverside Minor Baseball, and it has pledged $50,000
to the planned arena-sportsplex in the Tecumseh area.
The Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland was formed in 1981. For some time, members of Windsor Rotary had felt that South Windsor, with its growing population of business and professional people, would be a logical locale for a new Rotary organization.
This proved to be true, as approaches by Windsor Rotarians to prospective members of a new club in the area generated considerable interest and enthusiasm.
Windsor-Roseland held its first meeting as a provisional club on
January 13th, 1981, and the charter was awarded on the 11th of June in
that same year. This new club has an average membership of about 40.
Windsor-Roseland has devoted its community service activities to a
diverse and and varied selection of interests. Its well-known and well-
supported annual "Lobsterfest" raises thousands of dollars for various
charitable causes.
Windsor-Roseland paid for playground equipment at Benson, Brock
St. Angela and Marlborough schools.
Windsor Roseland also co-sponsored the Roseland Celebrity Golf Classic
for several years.
The club's current enthusiastic thrust has been to impart Rotary's
Four-Way Test to area grade school students. Youngsters in grades one
through five are being particularly encouraged to consider this Rotary
program, and consider whether they "pass the test" consistently.
The Rotary Club of LaSalle is the newest Rotary organization in the Windsor area. It's major fund raising project is "Art in the Woods".
All this is another in a long list of proofs that Rotary clubs, large
or small, involve themselves for good in all segments of the community
and the world in so many different ways .. including helping new clubs
get a start, and supporting them until they are able to repeat the
process themselves in the future.
A Century-Plus of Rotary History! 1.3 million Rotarians around the world meet every week in over 31,000 different Rotary Clubs around the world.
The "History of Rotary" Project web site Rotary has to provide history as a resource for all of its 30,000 clubs. In the age of the world-wide web, the "History of Rotary" Project web site should be a repository of all definitive answers.
Women in Rotary - (1987-2007) the first 20 years
the Duarte case How women became legally entitled to join Rotary Clubs
the Jean Harris history Rotary Global History - Women in Rotary
Rotary Global History Fellowship (RGHF) is on Facebook
Club History Committee
Windsor Rotary Projects Page
Last Revised: June 27, 2009