Rotary Club of Fort Mill

Rotary was founded on the basis of exchanging information with people in diversified careers, fellowship and community service, and encouraged friendship and mutual assistance. On February 23, 1905, Paul Harris, a Chicago lawyer, formed the first club with three other businessmen: Sylvester Schiele, a coal merchant; Gustavus Loehr, a mining engineer; and Hiram Shorey, a merchant tailor. Paul Harris named the new club “Rotary” because members met in rotation at their various places of business. Club membership grew rapidly, and grew from informal get-togethers to weekly lunch and dinner meetings. Soon Paul became convinced that the Rotary Club could be developed into an important service movement and worked to extend Rotary to other cities. In 1907, the first Rotary community project was undertaken – the establishment of public comfort stations in Chicago’s City Hall. From these humble beginnings, Rotary has now grown to the number one service organization on the entire world, with nearly 1.2 million members representing over 27,800 clubs in 156 countries.

The Rotary Club of Fort Mill held its first regular meeting May 8, 1991 at the Kings Castle, home of the Charlotte Knights baseball team. 36 charter members attended, and the first President, Elliott Springs Close, chaired the meeting. The Club received its charter on June 27, 1991. Since it’s founding, Club membership has grown to more than 80, and the Club continues to meet weekly at the Knight’s Castle.

The Club’s first major fund raiser was “The Haunted Castle”, a program for children and adults at the Club’s facility in the Knight’s Castle. This was a successful venture, and many local charities received financial assistance. In 2002, the Club began hosting an annual golf tournament and auction as the major fund raising activity.