The Cocoa Rotary Club received its charter at a banquet in the New Indian River Hotel on the evening of February 9 in the year 1924, during Florida's pre-depression boom days. At that time, Rotarianism itself was still a "teenager," having been started just 19 years earlier by Paul Harris.

In the year 1905, Einstein described his famous "theory of relativity," which opened the door to the incredible power of nuclear energy - a force that men today are looking to as a means of overcoming the "energy crisis" of the 1970's. On February 23 of that same year, Mr. Harris founded, Rotary - the first civic club ever organized - in Chicago. The Rotarian Magazine noted a similarity to the 1905 efforts of Einstein and Harris. "For 69 years, Paul Harris' personal 'theory of relativity' has been responsible for unleashing an equally incredible amount of energy - not by splitting the atom but by uniting men in improving the quality of life for their fellow men worldwide."