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Windsor Hotel where Jacksonville Rotary was founded

Founding of the Rotary Club of Jacksonville

FLORIDA'S FIRST CLUB

It Started With a Friendship

Paul P. Harris, the founder of Rotary, moved to Jacksonville in 1892 and took a job as a salesman in the marble and granite company. The business was owned by George W. Clark, a prominent local businessman who had many interests in the community.

Harris returned north a year later to continue his education and to pursue other interests. One of those interests was the founding of the first Rotary Club in Chicago. The year was 1905. Several years later Harris influenced the Chicago club to elect as honoary members George Clark and Jacksonville attorney David D. Doig. In the book Founder of Rotary full credit is given to the friendship and influence of Clark on Harris. Without that friendship, Jacksonville may not have joined Rotary's family so early.

1912
With only 40 Rotary clubs in the nation, and only New Orleans in the South, the Chicago club sent a prominent member to Jacksonville to assist in chartering a new club. On February 13, 1912, at the Windsor Hotel downtown at Hemming Park, 14 charter members met and officially organized. Those first members included:

  • George W. Clark, subdivision developer
  • David H. Doig, attorney
  • Loreh H. Green, marine and casualty insurance
  • George E. Leonard, real estate
  • H. B. Minium, wholesale meats
  • William Stinson, physcian
  • Billy Floor, hotels
  • Harry Hassan, fertilizer manufacturer
  • Charles H. Mann, hides and skins
  • Frank O. Miller, pianos and violins
  • Clifford A. Payne, fire insurance
  • H. E. Harkisheimer, wholesale butter
  • Arthur J. Doyle, adding machines
  • Herbert B. Race, classification unknown

George Clark was elected the club's first president and he served two years. Later he was named president emeritus. Clark remained active until 1928 when he was granted an honorary lifetime membership.

The club met weekly at the Windsor Hotel and later at the Aragon Hotel. Dues were set at $10 per year not including lunch. Lunch added another $15 per year to the cost of membership.