Rotary Magazins

Wear this one on your lapel? From the March 1922 issue

Smallest City “on earth” with a Rotary Club, according to the Rotarian Magazine in 1922 when the club was formed. In 2005 the club reported a membership of 13.

I saw this fascinating piece about Donna in Texas. In District 1270 we have a club in HORNSEA which has a listed population according to their page of around 7,000 with a Rotary Club of 22+ and a newish club at EPWORTH is in a town of little more than 3,500…see the net for more!…with a club of 25 or so

There are probably others in Europe in smaller centres. The key word is ‘CITY’.

In Britain and much of Europe, a CITY is a large town with a charter and usually a cathedral. The charter to be called a city is the key issue; we don’t give them out willy nilly! Sometimes a university town may be created a city though it has no cathedral; Brighton was one recently if I remember correctly. This means that the definitions of towns, cities and villages must be established to give a level playing field!! It certainly would not be true that Donna is the smallest population centre with a Rotary Club though it could be true for the USA. In our case both Epworth & Hornsea are some miles from the nearest club so they are not suburbs of a major city.

Epworth incidentally is a tourist centre especially for Americans because it was the home of the Wesley family who founded Methodism. You should find plenty about it on the net if you have time.

Why not put out a note to ask people to write in with nominations for the smallest place with a Rotary Club?

Senior Historian Basil Lewis 10 November 2005