Club History

1916    Greenville Rotary club organizes; first in South Carolina.  Club #205 in RI.

1917    Rotarians’ first project: build Textile Hall

1917    Rotary and the Greenville News co-sponsor Christmas party for 20,000 soldiers from Camp Sevier at Textile Hall

1919    Rotary pledges fund-raising campaign for Furman gymnasium

1919    Dedication of Furman’s Manly Field, second Rotary fund-raising project

1920    Club commits $10,000 for Boys Work program

1922    Ground broken for Furman gymnasium; Rotarians raised $60,000

1923    Rotarian Pete Hollis named superintendent of new Parker School District

1924    Club votes to raise $5,000 for “Rotary Lake” at Camp Greenville

1926    At request of Rotary International, Greenville Rotary considers meeting weekly. Members vote “no”

1927    Greenville celebrates “Rotary’s Boys’ Week” with gigantic street parade

1934    First Rotary Christmas tree for destitute black children

1936    Greenville Rotary celebrates 20th anniversary; 8 original members present

1937    Club hosts all-day picnics for 600 underprivileged children in City Park

1938    Club wins second place in community service in world-wide Rotary International competition

1939    Club records 100 percent attendance

1940    Directors earmark $600 for Christmas baskets for needy black families

1941    Club celebrates 25th anniversary; 6 charter members present

1945    “Four Way test” introduced to Greenville Rotarians

1947    Greenville Rotary Foundation established

1948    Club raises $15,500 for a YMCA Health Center

1950    President John Plyler tells Rotarians that Furman will develop a new campus north of the city

1951    Club celebrates 35th anniversary at the Poinsett Hotel Ballroom; charter member Heyward Mahon speaks

1952    Club provides two fellowships for international students at Furman

1955    Speakers include “South Carolina’s most illustrious native son”,  former Secretary of State Jimmy Byrnes, and General Mark Clark, president of the Citadel

1956    Rotary lunch costs increase from $1.20 to a “staggering ” $1.50

1957    South Carolina Junior Senator Strom Thurmond addresses the club

1959    Rotary sponsors Poinsettia Classic Basketball Tournament

1960    Rotary Charities, Inc. begins

1961    Club sponsors Pleasantburg and Simpsonville-Mauldin Clubs

1962    Cuban Missile crisis. Only fatality is Greenvilian -- Major Rudolph Anderson, son of a longtime Rotarian

1963    100 percent attendance of 216 members

1965    Rotary Civic Chorale wows Rotary International meeting in Atlantic City

1966    Greenville Rotarians celebrate Golden Anniversary with banquet and pageant at Memorial Auditorium

1967    Contributions to Building funds for Red Cross, St. Francis Hospital, Salvation Army Boys Club

1970    Club takes over sponsorship and management of Singing Christmas Tree

1977    Club sponsors first Law Enforcement Day

1978    Members make downtown Greenville redevelopment a project

1979    Rotary gives $7,000 for scholarships at South Carolina colleges

1979    First Father-Son-Daughter Day

1980    Club provides funds for music instruction in Greenville schools, scholarship at Brevard Music Center, and scholarships for Singing Christmas Tree participants

1982    Club helps save Sirrine Stadium

1984    Club underwrites District Science Fair

1985    Singing Christmas Tree receipts $45,000

1988    First women members: Jeanet Dreskin and Virginia Uldrick

1988    Club makes $50,000 donation to Polio Plus

1992    Roper Mountain Holiday Lights begins

1996    Read to Me Program starts

1997    $20,000 sent to Rotary International for programs around the world

2001    85th Anniversary celebrated at the Poinsett Hotel ballroom  

2002    Club Membership exceeds 400 members under first woman president, Beth Padgett

2003    Club sponsors Greenville Evening Club

2004    Named Club of the Year by District 7750
Raised $250,000 to establish Rotary Family Literacy Center, club's largest fundraising project in history, in commemoration of RI Centennial