Orange Rotary Club

History:

On July 1,1810 the Spanish Government granted to Antonio Yorba and Juan Pablo Peralta the Rancho Santiago De Santa Ana which included what is now the City of Orange. Jose Antonio Yorba, son of the original grantees, cultivated the site which was to become Orange. Then in 1870-71 the original town site of Orange was laid out by two Lawyers, A. B. Chapman and Andrew Glassell. In 1907, another lawyer, Paul Harris by name, formed the first Rotary Club back in Chicago, Illinois. So, what about Orange?

Well, there is a certain charm about how things used to get done around here, how things first began. Take the Rotary Club for instance. Leon O. Whitsells, the first vice-president of Orange Rotary, is credited with the best version of how this club started. He said, "Bill Hart, Justus Craemer, Clyde Newton and yours truly, met on the corner in front of the jewelry store on the plaza in Orange (Harry Huff Emporium) and discussed the desirability of establishing a Rotary Club of Orange. It being the day of the weekly meeting of the Santa Ana Rotary, we invited ourselves to the meeting in Santa Ana and talked with the Rotary scout for the district, who was manager of the local telephone company. l can't remember his name at the time (it was Earl Morrow) and we hurriedly made up a list of charter members.

He sent in our application with his recommendation and in due time we received our charter. Frank Drumm was elected president, and as I recall, l was elected vice president. Several of us usually met in Clyde Newton's office a day or two before each meeting and cooked up something for the meeting to make things interesting. Orange Rotary soon had the reputation of being a live wire club."

The street corner meeting recalled by Leon was some time prior to October 27th, 1921, when a meeting was held in the Trinity Parish house and twenty-three Orange business men met with delegations from Rotary Clubs of Santa Ana, Anaheim, and Long Beach, and it was decided to organize a Rotary Club in Orange. On November 3rd 1921 twenty-five charter members met for permanent organization. The first slate of officers were Frank Drumm, President, Leon O. Whitsell, vice president, John R. Porter, treasurer, Clyde F. Newton, secretary, and for directors: Frank Henderson, William O. Hart, and Hugh Thomson.

Mac O. Robbins, past president of the Santa Ana club, charged the officers, explaining their duties and responsibilities. William H. Spurgeon, jr., then president of the Santa Ana Club, gave the inaugural address, and Orange Rotary Club was underway. The third club in the county after Santa Ana and Anaheim, and number 1038 in the Rotary world.

Our charter was dated December 1st, 1921. Our Charter Night was January 31st, 1922, and that meeting was held in the basement of the City Hall. Earl Morrow had a leading part in this meeting, and until the day of his death, one of his greatest joys was the fact that he was considered the father of Orange Rotary.