About the Auburn Rotary Club:

Founded in 1927, the Auburn Rotary Club is composed of more than 125 local professionals and retired community leaders from all backgrounds. Our official designation is Club 4065 in Rotary District 6880 .

The Auburn Rotary Club regularly meets each Thursday at 12 p.m. central time at the Auburn University Club 1499 Donahue Drive in Auburn, Ala. A schedule of upcoming meeting programs and other club events (some of which might replace our regular meeting activities) is available on our Programs page.

Our club is under the direction of nine-member board of directors. Five of these positions the club directors oversee the club's specific program areas. Each program area is then made up of committees that carry out the club's annual programming, which includes our various community and international service activities.

History:

The Auburn Rotary Club was formally accepted by Rotary International on May 28, 1927, following formal action taken on May 12 to apply for a charter. At the time, Rotary International consisted of 2,665 clubs representing 40 countries. Professor James Thompson of the University of Alabama, a past Rotary district governor and member of the Tuscaloosa Rotary Club, was commissioned to present the charter to the club.

Charter Formally Presented

The charter was formally presented to Dr. B. B. Ross, the director of the new club, at a special occasion held on July 7, 1927, at Auburn University's Smith Hall. This appears to have been a grand event, with Rotarians coming from clubs in Opelika, LaGrange, Columbus, EufaulaS and West Point, as well as the officers from the Auburn Lions Club.

The Auburn Rotary Club's founding officers were: R. Dimmitt (president; dean of students at Alabama Polytechnic Institute), Wilbur Hutsell and R. C. Brown (vice presidents), C. A. Baughman (secretary), and Dr. Frank Parker (treasurer). Other foundation members were: Fred Allison, Dr. Spright Dowell, J. F. Dugtar, Rev. J. R. Edwards, M. T. Fullan, M. J. Funchess, C. L. Hare, Rev. A. B. Hay, J. T. Hudson, H. A. Jolly, C. A. Jones, H. D. Jones, Zebulon Judd, J. T. Kennedy, Felton Little, W. L. Long, J. S. McAdory, Rev. W. H. McNeal, H. M. Martin, W.D. Martin, D. B. Morey, J. M. Robinson, B. B Ross, W. W. Ross, J. R. Rutland, B. L. Shi, Hugh Tamplin, A. L. Thomas, S. L. Toomer, and C. S. Yarbrough.

Club's Roots Founded in Community Service

While the Auburn Rotary Club formally began in 1927, its story actually began in 1921 with the formation of the Auburn Villagers Club. The Villagers Club was organized by Bishop W. G. McDowell, and was composed by the president and a number of deans and other faculty members of Alabama Polytechnic Institute as well as leading business and professional men of the city. During its six years of existence, the club worked jointly with the Lions Club to improve streets, telephone services and education, and to organize the Auburn Chamber of Commerce. The presidents of the Villagers Club were: W. G. McDowell and C. I. Hare (1921), W. G. McDowell and C. A. Baughman (1922), S. L. Toomer and B. B Ross (1923), H. M. Martin and C. S. Yarbrough (1924), Major J. E. Hatch and B L. Shi (1925), J. M. Robinson and H. A. Jolly (1926), and R. Dimmitt (1927).

On March 27, 1927, the Montgomery Advertiser reported on a brilliant celebration for St. Patrick's Day attended by 150 people, including club members, wives and guests in the Smith Hall banquet room. Even this close to the Villagers Club joining Rotary, the newspaper article notes that the club had been invited to join various national and international organizations, but the members had decided to retain its local character; it was felt that this perhaps made it unique in America.

Apparently, this was an issue being debated in the club, because another newspaper article dated May 28, 1927, reports that on March 29, members of the Villagers Club met with L. E. Brubaker, governor of District 26 of Rotary International. Following this meeting, C. R. Summers of the Opelika Rotary Club was appointed to make a survey of the Auburn situation. This resulted in Professor C. A. Baughman, secretary of the Villagers Club, being appointed the organizing chairman by Harry H. Rogers of Rotary International in early May 1927. Once the formal application was sent to the Opelika Rotary Club, they "released the area," which led directly to the formation of the Auburn Rotary Club.

It is interesting to note the committees of the newly formed Rotary Club included both Boys Work and Girl Scouts, Crippled Children, Business Methods, Public Schools, Civics, Fire, Rural-Urban, Community Service, and other Rotary-related committees.