Durham Rotary Club

The Downtown Durham Rotary Club was organized in November 1915 as the first civic club in Durham; became the first chartered Rotary Club in Durham in January 1916 with sponsorship from the Rotary Club of Raleigh; and was the fourth chartered club in North Carolina, following Raleigh, Charlotte and Asheville. It has subsequently sponsored and helped organize three of the 4 other clubs in the Durham/RTP area. The downtown club meets each Monday at 12:30 pm at the downtown Durham Marriot at the Civic Center. Rotary is an organization of business and professional leaders united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards, and help to build goodwill and peace in the world. Paul P. Harris formed the world's first service club, the Rotary Club of Chicago, Illinois, USA, on 23 February 1905. The name Rotary is derived from the early practice of rotating meetings among members’ offices. Today there are approximately 1.2 million Rotary club members of more than 30,000 Rotary clubs in 163 countries.