07/25/2026
Rotary service projects date back over 100 years. We carry that “service above self” legacy today, working hard to make our communities a little better, one service project at a time.
Do you know? Early on, Paul Harris realized that Rotary needed a greater purpose. While Harris served as President of the Chicago Rotary Club in 1907, the club initiated its first public service project, the construction of public toilets in Chicago. This step transformed Rotary into the world’s first Service Club. The club calls a meeting of civic organizations to establish a committee for installing city comfort stations, or public toilets, to improve sanitation.
It was this same concept of promoting business which led to the first community service project of the original Chicago Rotary Club. In their effort to promote more business, the members decided to construct these toilets because of the great need.
Over a 100 years has passed since that initial installation and you can still see on my below picture that I took in 2017 the faint outline on the side of the building of where the comfort station once stood.
