| 1905 |
First Rotary club organized in Chicago, Illinois, USA. |
| 1908 |
Second club formed in San Francisco, California, USA. |
| 1910 |
First Rotary convention held in Chicago. |
| 1912 |
The Rotary Club of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, becomes the first club outside the United States to be officially chartered. (The club was formed in 1910.) |
| 1917 |
Endowment fund, forerunner of The Rotary Foundation, established. |
| 1932 |
4-Way Test formulated by Chicago Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor. |
| 1945 |
Forty-nine Rotarians help draft United Nations Charter in San Francisco. |
| 1947 |
Rotary founder Paul Harris dies; first 18 Rotary Foundation scholarships granted. |
| 1949 |
Rotary Club of Dar es Salaam charters as first Club in Tanzania. |
| 1962 |
First Interact club formed in Melbourne, Florida, USA. |
| 1965 |
Rotary Foundation launches Matching Grants and Group Study Exchange programs. |
| 1978 |
RI's largest convention, with 39,834 registrants, held in Tokyo. |
| 1985 |
Rotary announces PolioPlus program to immunize all the children of the world against polio. |
| 1989 |
Council on Legislation opens Rotary membership to women worldwide; Rotary clubs chartered in Budapest, Hungary, and Warsaw, Poland, for first time in almost 50 years. |
| 1990 |
Rotary Club of Moscow chartered first club in Soviet Union. |
| 1990-91 |
Preserve Planet Earth program inspires some 2,000 Rotary-sponsored environmental projects. |
| 1994 |
Western Hemisphere declared polio-free. |
| 1999 |
Rotary Centres for International Studies in Peace and Conflict Resolution established
|
| 2000 |
Western Pacific declared polio-free
|
| 2001 |
30,000th Rotary club chartered
|
| 2002 |
Europe declared polio-free; first class of 70 Rotary Peace Scholars begin study
|
| 2003 |
Rotarians raise more than US$118 million to support the final stages of polio eradication |
