Club History
Our History
The beginning . . . The first step in the organization of the Rotary Club in Danville came on August 1915 when Larry Vaughn, Secretary of the Danville Chamber of Commerce received a letter from Chesley R. Perry, Secretary of what was then called the International Association of Rotary Clubs, asking for the names of men who might be interested in establishing a club in Danville.
The following from the eulogy of R. Allan Stephens, by Charles G. Atwood, before the Rotary Club of Danville July 27, 1942 gives the first account of the beginning of the Rotary Club of Danville. “Sometime during 1915 a young attorney of Danville, R. Allan Stephens, packed his grip for a trip to California. While enroute he came in contact with a gentleman who told him he was on his way to a Rotary Convention. So thrilled was this man on the ideal of Rotary, he went into detail in his explanation to this young attorney, as to how men of different vocations in life sit down once each week at luncheon together and became acquainted personally and by discussing the interests of each other they were not only able to benefit themselves but to benefit the interest of each other. That, in their interest to serve they themselves were benefited, and thereby promoting the thought, “He profits most, who serves the best.”
These ideals fastened themselves definitely in the mind of Stephens and when he arrived home he began calling on some of his friends telling them the story as he had learned it. As a result a group of interested men went to Terre Haute and visited Rotarians there.
Further assistance was given Stephens by Frank Wiles and Victor Yeommans who had learned about Rotary from this brother-in-law, Allen D. Albert, a native of Paris, Illinois, President of the International Association of Rotary Club.
Rotary came to Danville without the sponsorship of any other club. Widely divergent sources of information about Rotary caused R. Allan Stephens, Frank A. Wiles, and Victor Yeomans to come together September 18, 1915 to consider the possibility of organizing a Rotary club in Danville. Five days later these three men met with eleven others and unanimously agreed to go ahead with organizational plans. At another meeting on October 5, 1915 officers were elected: President Thomas J. Cossey; Vice-President Victor Yeomans; Secretary Louis J. Mardine; Treasurer Frank T. McKee; Sergeant at-Arms A. B. Bushnell. A charter was requested at that time.
The International Association of Rotary Clubs issued a charter to Danville on November 1, 1915. Thus ten years after Paul Harris founded Rotary in Chicago, Illinois the world’s first service organization, ROTARY, came to Danville. In addition to the five officers, the other charter members were: H. C. Adams, Henry P. Blasé, H. W. Cavanaugh, E. B. Coolley, Frank L. Davis, Edward L. Dowling, Walter J. Grant, J. W. Meitzler, Charles P. Nelson, W.A. Noll, Irving A. Sibley, Jr., Leonard F. W. Stuebe, W.A.VanValkenberg, L. M. Vaughn, G. Haven Stephens, R. Allan Stephens, W. H. Stephens, Frank A. Wiles, and H. C. Yelton.
At the time there were only twelve other Rotary Clubs in Illinois and only 187 others in the world. The Rotary Club of Danville became #188. A vigorous “every member get a member” campaign increased the membership to forty-nine by December 31, 1915.
There was a continued rapid growth. The roster of 1917 listed the names of ninety-one members.
