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HISTORIAN’S CORNER
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HIGHLIGHTS OF ROTARY IN CLIFTON SPRINGS
By Fred Gifford
General Information:
The club name Rotary was picked because members originally met in rotation at their several places of business.
Rotarians take part in community welfare, foster good citizenship, promote high business and professional standards, improve rural-urban understanding, advance international peace, understanding and good will.
1905 - Rotary founded in Chicago by Paul Harris.
1908 - 2nd Rotary Club formed in San Francisco.
1910 - First International Convention held.
1912 - Rotary takes on the name of Rotary International
1932 - The 4 way test is instituted.
June 3, 1933 - Rev. Boyd Little of the Clifton Springs Club of Businessmen invites the Rochester Inter-City Rotary Club to meet at the C.S. Sanitarium. Over 500 Rotarians representing 25 Clubs meet and encourage the formation of a Rotary Club here.
June 22, 1933 - 25 names are gathered and application is made to headquarters in Chicago for a charter.
July 7, 1933 - Word received approving application and first meeting held here. Officers as follows were chosen:
President, Boyd Little
Vice President, W. Malcolm Griswold;
Treasurer, Carl DeGraw;
Secretary, Adolph Hollander
Directors - Albert Bosshart, A.B. Dusinberre, Frank Gross
Sergeant-at-Arms: Frank Tomlinson
July 11, 1933 First luncheon meeting held at the Sanitarium
October 3, 1933 - Charter Night - largest gathering in the 28th District of Rotary. Some 629 sat down in the 3 dining rooms of the San. 37 clubs were represented headed by 102 members from the Rochester Club. Charter members were: Boyd Little, (Minister) Malcolm Griswold, (Telephone Co.) M.H. Stewart, Chester Hovey, (School Principal) Adolph Hollander, Luther Roper, (Druggist) Max Lindner, (San Treasurer) Richard Devereaux, (Book Store Owner) P. Artley Kemp, (Newspaper Publisher) David Rolfe, (Home Decoration Official) J.A. Banks, (Hardware) Hubert Schoonmaker, (San doctor) Lee H. Leland, (Manufacturer & Hardware Owner) Harry J. VanDyne, (Sanitarium Officer) James Quigley, (Milk Distributor) A.B. Dusinberre, (San doctor) Frank Gross, (Village Employee) Merwin Knauss, (Barber & Hair Dresser) George A. Durkee, (Village Employee) W.H. Holbrook, Arthur Keys, (Garage Owner) H.H. Griswold, (Telephone Co. President) Adrian S. Taylor, (San Doctor) Clifford Newland, (San doctor) R.T Hoffman and Albert Bosshart, Jr., (Jeweler).
November 11, 1941 - Founder of Rotary, Paul Harris, visits local Sanitarium for treatment and takes part in an inter-city meeting here on that date.
1936 - Club makes our first donation to the Rotary Foundation.
1938 - Clifton Springs Rotary hosts Rotary District Assembly.
1939 - Inter-City dinner held at the Sanitarium with Walter D. Head, President of Rotary International as guest speaker. New members officially received at that meeting were William Spencer (Education), Wilford Down (Banking), Harold Button (Coach), G.Edward Walters (Retailing), William "Doc" Salisbury (Veterinary Medicine), and Paul Newland, MD (Medicine).
1945 - Forty-nine Rotarians draft United Nations Charter.
1947 - Founder Paul Harris dies.
1949 - Clifton Springs Rotary hosts Rotary District Assembly.
Early 1950's - Began supporting the foreign student program.
1953-54 - Jack Loveless serves as District Governor.
Fall of 1954 - Jack Loveless appointed District Treasurer.
1956-57 - Under the presidency of John Fabrizi the club received an award for promoting the best project centered on the 4-way test. It held a Four Way Test Week involving the local churches, schools and businesses.
1961 - We instituted a high school scholarship award based on need and merit to promote continued education following graduation.
1962 - First Interact Club organized nationally.
1968 - Phelps and Clifton Rotary Clubs were hosts at the District Conference held at the Concord Hotel in the Catskills.
1970 -72 - Pledged $10,000 towards the new hospital by raising a thousand dollars a year for ten years.
1973 - Clifton Springs Rotary celebrates its 40th Anniversary - 1st Paul Harris Fellowship awarded to Jack Loveless.
1977-78 - Howard Smith serves as District Governor
1985 - Polio-Plus drive begins nationally to eradicate polio worldwide.
1989 - Rotary International invites women to membership - Locally Jean Day became our first woman member.
1990 - First Rotary Club formed in Moscow.
1995 - Completed the new bandstand in Clifton Springs Village Park at a cost of between $35,000 and $40,000 dollars, Park renamed in honor of Malcolm Griswold.
1998 - Celebrated clubs 65th birthday and Mal Griswold's 95th year.
1999 - International Study for Peace formed.
2001 - The 30,000th Rotary Club was chartered - Lower park re-named in honor of John Brown.
2004 - Our last Charter Member, Malcolm Griswold, passed at the age of 100.
2005 - Rotary's 100th year is celebrated and we will gather locally on February 23, 2005 to commemorate the event.
List of a few of our major area projects over the years:
-- Sponsored a Boy Scout troop and helped raise a cabin for meetings
-- Began an annual Christmas Basket project for the needy
-- Provided staff yearly for hot dog stand at local carnivals and YMCA support
-- During World War II, provided funds to send the Clifton Springs Press, our weekly newspaper, to all servicemen and women.
-- Raised money for the new hospital and bandstand
-- Supported the Rotary Foundation
-- With other clubs we have contributed to the Camp Onsewaya for handicapped children.
This is just a partial list as the club, over the years, has promoted and supported many such projects. If you think of any other major ones, please let me know so we can add them to this brief history.
Every year numerous requests are received from local civic and other institutions for financial support of special projects. The value of these gifts of support run from a few hundred dollars to several thousand.
Our most successful source of income during recent years has been the annual Rotary Calendar sales.
We are deeply indebted to the Ontario Telephone Co., Inc. of Phelps and Clifton Springs who have published our weekly Rotary bulletin known to most of us as "The Sulphur Smell" since our founding. We also owe a debt of thanks to the Clifton Springs Hospital Administration and staff who have provided this club a meeting place since its inception in 1933 and provided the members of Rotary and their guests with a tasteful luncheon in support of our weekly meetings.
(Fred Gifford, Clifton Springs Rotary Historian - January 25, 2005)
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