January 2, 2019

HISTORY OF THE LOUISVILLE ROTARY CLUB

Presented by Allen Gress for the

Louisville-Nimishillen Township Historical Society

January 8, 2019

​

Good Evening. Thank you for joining us for this program. I was asked to present the story of the Louisville Rotary Club . . . probably because I have been a member since the year 2000. Besides that, Ron & Betty know I am an easy mark. Thanks for my fellow Rotarians who gave up watching CSI tonight to be for moral support and to point out my mistakes. I hope that I can make this evening a enjoyable one for you.

​

Unfortunately, there are few records available for the first four decades of the club's existence. Of course, records were made, but over the years they either have gotten lost, disposed of or who knows what? The Historical Society has some information I used and I borrowed from Ken Smith's book Louisville. The Way It Was 1834-1990. Special thanks to Jerry Jackson, a former Rotarian, as was his father, Cy Jackson, and grand-father Cy Jackson, not to confused with Jerry's father, Cy Jackson, jr. the longtime dentist here. Our current club president, Wendy Jackson Harlen is the great-granddaughter of Cy Jackson one of the club's founders, making her the 4th generation of Jacksons as members of the Louisville Rotary Club. Jerry provided me some of his saved materials, which were very helpful.

​

The founding year for the Louisville Rotary Club was 1925, so this marks our 94th year of service to the community.

​

But first, a brief history of social and service clubs in American Society might be in order. Free Masonry, the Masonic organization, is the oldest society and dates its existence back to the Middle Ages of Europe. The first Grand Lodge was founded in 1717 in London, England. Before that, Free Masonry was a secret society. There was a Masonic Order in Louisville, which, unfortunately, disbanded 8 or 9 years ago. Are there any Masons here tonight?

The Elks was founded in 1866 followed by the Grange in 1867. The Grange is considered as the first of a kind . . . that being a service organization. The Nimishillen Grange closed its Grange Hall a few years ago, but to my understanding a small group of Grangers still meets and carries on their traditions. Any Grange members here tonight?

 

1

The National Rifle Association (NRA) was founded in 1870 and its first charter was the State of New York in 1871. As we all know, the NRA is still going strong.

​

The Knights of Columbus was founded in 1882 in New Haven, Ct. Does anyone know if the K of C is still meeting in Louisville? They used to have a building on off South Chapel Street where a ball diamond is today.

​

The Loyal Order of the Moose, founded in our sister city, Louisville, Kentucky, was founded in 1888. The Fraternal Order of the Eagles, founded in Seattle, Washington, in 1898 is still going strong in Louisville and meet in their nice building on the northwest corner of the Giant Eagle parking lot.

​

THEN came the Rotary Organization founded in 1905, the Kiwanis in 1915 and the Lions in 1916. The Louisville Kiwanis Club, founded in 1963, disbanded last year.

​

Oh, there are hundreds of organizations today, most focus on a specific goal or need. The American Red Cross, The American Cancer Society, sports teams clubs, Car Clubs, Card Clubs, collectors clubs, country clubs, stamp and coin clubs and don't forget book clubs or the American Legion, the VFW, and many organizations

Think of this " with the exception of the Masons, from post period from the Civil Was through the Roaring Twenties " that was the heyday of American social-service clubs. Some have survived into today's hectic times, some have not, but in all honesty, most clubs and societies that have survived are hurting for membership and financial support. Our world has changed and so has the need for social clubs, yet perhaps not so much for the services they provide.

​

What was there about this perio from the 1860s to the 1950s of American History that prompted the club movement? Think about this: Back then most Americans worked 6 days a week with no paid vacations; there was no television for entertainment, radio was just making a mark by 1920. Movie theaters just getting into the entertainment scene and then mostly in the cities. The population of America was shifting from rural to city-town living. Women's work kept them at home doing the washing, ironing, cooking, canning and child raising. The automobile didn't make an impact on living until after 1910. Following the Civil War, The Spanish-American War and WWII, got soldiers to feel a comrade with others . . . People are social and the need was there for social outlets. Church and social/service clubs provided that. I mentioned earlier that today social-service club membership is down and has been going down in the 21st century. How is the membership for organized religions? And so our world has changed.

​

I follow Leopard sports and attended a home varsity basketball game recently. There is, of course, a student section that was filled with perhaps (I didn't count) about 150 students. Maybe a few more, maybe less. But the student population of the high school is over 1,000. Where were the remaining 800 or so kids? When I was in high school, everyone went to the games; they were the social highlight of the week, the entertainment of the week, the social event of the week. Today the kids have their electronic devices for entertainment. They have FaceBook, Twitter and others for social contact and interaction. So the world has changed.

 

Rotary's history.

​

The 1st Rotary Club was formed when a 37-year-old attorney, Paul Harris, organized a meeting of three men, business acquaintances, in the Unity Building on Dearborn Street in downtown Chicago on Feb. 23, 1905. One of the three members was a tailor and the other a coal merchant. They chose the name Rotary because, in the beginning, the club weekly meetings rotated to each other's offices. But within a year, the meetings became so large it was necessary to find a regular meeting place.

Within the next year or two, clubs were formed in San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angles. The National Association of Rotary Clubs was founded in 1910, and during that same year, a club was founded in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada, the beginning of the organizations internationally. In a few more years, there were clubs in London, Dublin, Ireland, and in Cuba and the Philippines by 1919 and India in 1920

By 1922, their name was changed to Rotary International and by 1925; there were 200 clubs with more than 20,000 members. Today, there are 34,282 clubs in over 200 countries and territories boasting a membership of 1.22 million members. Rotarians gather weekly for breakfast, lunch or dinner to fulfill their guiding principle "Service above Self." The idea is to develop friendships as an opportunity to serve, not only in words but also through exemplary dedication, awareness of the dignity of all people and the respect of human rights. The Rotary Clubs are open to all people regardless of race, color, creed, religion, gender or political preference.

The Rotary 4-Way Test is repeated at the beginning of each meeting

​

Of the things we think, say or do . . .

Is it the truth?

Is it Fair to all concerned?

Will it build goodwill and better friendships?

Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

The Louisville Rotary Club

​

The Louisville Rotary Club was officially founded in October of 1925. In the formative stages, meetings were held on the front porches of homes and the men brought their own lunches as they discussed the need for a service organization. Those first 8 members were: And many of their names will be familiar to those of you who have been around here for a while: Frank. E. Clapper, Chauncey Hudson, William Smith, Jay Shoemaker, George Roemer, Wendell Montgomery, Richard Wolf and Marion Myers.

On the evening of August 24, 1925, the men met with a group of Canton Rotarians held in the Louisville Bank, which eventually became the Harter Bank & Trust Company. The old Harter Bank building now houses Rea's Jewelry store.

​

The men met for a second time on Aug. 31 and then again on Sept. 8. It was decided to form a Rotary Club. One of their first decisions was to set the club's annual dues at $20 with an initiation fee of $25. It was obligatory for the certification ceremony to have a dinner meeting with several hundred expected guests.  Eight new names were added to the list of prospective members: Ulysses Yoder, Charles Montgomery, Isaac Stoner, Cyrus Jackson, Dennis H. Callahan, Wilford Janson, George Thurin, and William Gilbert.

The next and final organization meeting was held in Paradise Church on Sept. 22 with 12 Canton Rotarians and 16 men from Louisville. Four additional names were added before the certification ceremony: Charles Dwyer, Fred Lawrence, Harry Kroft and Homer Kroft. Frank Clapper was elected as the club's first president. The banquet, with over 300 attending, was held Oct. 6 in the Paradise Church Fellowship Hall. An hour before the dinner, visiting guests and Rotarians led by a marching band from Minerva, paraded through the business district on their way to Paradise Church. Following the meal, Rotary District 21 Governor Leonard T. Skaggs of Youngstown addressed the crowd, discussing what Rotary was all about and made the formal presentation of the Club's Charter. The Louisville Rotary Club was born. Representatives from Canton, Akron, Youngstown, Columbiana, Kent, East Liverpool, Massillon, Millersburg, Carrollton, Sebring, Dennison, Barberton and Warren attended the dinner.

​

The population of Louisville was 1,838 then. In 1925, there was an electric trolley car that left for Canton every 15 minutes during the day; there was no home mail delivery, residents picked up their mail at the post office. The village had just 8 streetlights, but neither a traffic signal nor a stop sign in all of Louisville; the boys dammed up the Nimishillen Creek for swimming holes, and there was a yearly community picnic, climaxed with a baseball game between the north side and south side businessmen each summer. A tolling church bell announced the death of a parishioner . . . That was the kind of village that now had a Rotary service club.

In the next 2 years, new Rotary Clubs were established in Wadsworth, Uhrichsville, Ravenna, North Canton, Waynesburg, Cuyahoga Falls, and Canal Fulton.

​

As today, there was always a shortage of cash for activities and schemes for fundraising. Early on, if a member missed a meeting or was late, he was also fined but the offender was allowed to choose whether he should pay his fine or take his luck on the wheel of chance much like a roulette wheel. where he might be freed of the fine or have to pay 3, 5, or 10 times the fine. Is this gambling? It must have been a man thing to bet on your luck at the wheel. This certainly added some fun to the meetings.

​

The club took seriously the idea that singing was an essential part of each program and from the beginning, singing has been religiously observed. They used to have a piano accompanist at the meetings; sometimes the wives or daughters of members. Singing is still a part of our ceremonies today thanks to Mark Sigler. But, back then there were no Beetles songs! Okay, that's an inside joke.

The club's first regular meeting location was the Miller's restaurant located on the west side of N. Chapel St., the 2nd business north of Main Street. But members complained about the lack of privacy in the restaurant, so two years later, the club moved to the basement Fellowship Hall of Paradise Church where the women of the Ladies Aid Society, as a fundraiser, served the meals. Rotary met in Paradise Church until the Great Depression depleted the membership to the point it was not profitable for the church to serve the meals. For the next 3 years, the club met in private homes. When the club once again gained adequate membership in the late 30s, the club moved to the basement of St. Louis School and continued to meet there until 1943. Then they moved back to Paradise Church.

5

There the members began inviting guests for programs. But by the late 60s, a problem arose, a problem that could not be tactfully resolved. Following their meals, many of the men would light up their cigarettes and cigars. Well, the church trustees would have none of that and outlawed smoking in the church. But the men sneaked their smokes, were found out, and were forced to find another location to meet.

Over the past 93 years of the club's existence, the club has met in Paradise Church four different periods the late 1920s through about 1937 the 1943 through the 70s and from 2009 to the present. Virgina Peters, Gail's mother, was a cook during the 1960s.

As time went on, the club met in the Eagles building for breakfast. Rotary moved to The Main Street Restaurant for Wednesday luncheons until the restaurant closed in 2003. Meetings were then moved to Phil's Place on Columbus Road for about two years until the Fireside Restaurant opened in the old Main Street Restaurant in March of 2005. About 2006, it was back to Paradise Church.

 

Projects

​

The year was 1926 and one of the club's first independent projects of record was interviewing The East Ohio Gas Company and pressed for the company to extend natural gas services here. Also, the members looked into the idea of new gas street lighting system for the business district to be financed by local assessment. Both projects became realities. The Rotarians went to work, clearing a space in front of City Hall for a public park and the club purchased park benches. On March 6th, the club sponsored the first community-wide father-son banquet attended by more than 300 persons. In the following year, 1927, the club put a fundraiser minstrel show held in the high school auditorium. For the first time that year, the club sponsored the high school football banquet. The Great Depression dropped the membership to 11 and the club seemed headed for extinction.

Those were the beginnings of many community service projects the Rotary Club has given to the Louisville community there were way too many to list, but I would like to highlight several projects that have signifance to our community's history. Perhaps the most visible project that still stands today as a part of the community's heritage was a statue of honor for those who had permanent residence in the village and township when they enlisted in the Armed Services and were killed while in the service of their country. That dates back to 1930. Today, we refer to it as the Doughboy Statue.

In 1935, the club donated $120 for the construction of tennis courts for the Broad Street Park (now Ajancic Park). It was Rotary's money and support that initiated the annual football banquet and the club's money and brawn that built the shelter at Waterworks Park. Rotarians exerted pressure in Washington to get congress to build the post office on E. Main St. in 1940.

​

No history of the club would be complete without the story of a past institution, the annual Rotary Show even though the shows sometimes were foolish, but always a lot of fun. There was no Canton Players Guild, no Louisville Community Players, not television then so Into that vacuum stepped the Rotary Shows. For more than a decade it was THE annual affair with no problem selling tickets. It was a moneymaker for the club and a unifying stimulant for the club, a source of boundless fun and pleasure for all who partook. The townspeople loved it. The shows consisted sometimes as minstrels, sometimes as plays, staged sometimes 2, sometimes 3 times. The first of the series was a production entitled Minstrel Mimics, Feb. 7 & 8, 1927. Every Rotarian participated. In 1928, it was Minstrel Echoes, in 1929 the Rotary Frolics, and 1930 Listen Ladies. Then the effects of the Great Depression interrupted the shows. In 1934. The club did a play The Hotel Mortgage and netted a profit of $306.94. The next play was in 1938 and in 1940 a play titled The Night of January 16th, featuring a simulated murder trial. Other plays followed in 1941 and 42. After those, there were a series of minstrels until 1958 when the programs were discontinued. I remember the filled auditorium. (Show Programs)

So if they were so successful, way were they discontinued?

​

This period the mid-1950s was the beginning of the Civil Rights movement of the 60s . . . Brown vrs. The Topeka Baord of Education 1954, the showdown at Little Rock High School 1957, and I have to wonder if this Civil Rights awakening was a factor? Can you imagine such a show today? White persons parading with black faces? How un-PC.

By then there seemed to be a declining interest in the plays and some Rotarians disliked the concept of obtaining advertisers for the program which seemed like a hold-up of advertisers and not in line with the image of Rotary.

We are fortunate tonight to have a member of the 1957 show, my wife Gail was one of the Rotary Rocketts that performed in the minstrel that year..

I asked her to share her memories but she declined. Her picture is in the program twice. The programs are property of the Historical Society and can be viewed in the History building showcases. Anyone else here who remembers the shows? I do. I remember the blackened faces for some of the skits. The programs, which sold for ten cents, listed Cy Jackson as general chairman, Jim Mottice, Herm Phillimore, John Jackson, Russ Yoder, Frenchy Bresson, Paul Kerstetter as active participants. Do the names sound familiar?

Here is a listing of the services made possible with the show's proceeds: trophies for the debate teams, send boys to Boys State, helped Little League baseball program, provided radios for Molly State patients, bought rain coats for the Junior Police (Remember Junior Police crossing guards?), gave money to LHS band, sponsored the annual football banquet, sent CARE packages, gave funding to the Boy Scouts and Junior Achievement, gave a Christmas Party for handicapped children, built shuffle courts at the Broad Street Park and helped fund repaired seats for the football stadium.

To replace the money made by the minstrels, the club began its barbecue chicken dinner held at the pavilion in Waterworks Park (now Constitution Park). By 1959, club dues were increased to $45 And now the majority preferred to work less and pay more. Sound familiar?

The Louisville Eagles Club was founded in 1935 and in 1945; the first Girl Scout Troop was organized here. In 1947, the Louisville Ministerial Association was formed and it still meets monthly. The Louisville Chamber of Commerce was begun with C.Q. Zahner its first president. The next year, 1948, the Louisville Recreation, the bowling alley, opened. It just closed this past year. There were 160 businesses in Louisville. In 1952, the Louisville Lions Club was organized.

Two notable events occurred in 1953. First, the State of Ohio made Constitution Day a holiday and Louisville held its first Constitution parade. There were 24 units in the parade. In August of 1953, a fire ravaged the H-P Products building. I was 13 years old at the time and I was there. It was an event I will never forget.

Tell the story. But Rotary has a role here, too.

Members of Rotary realizing how valuable H-P was to the community began a bond drive to help fund the company's rebuilding. And the community responded. It is not clear how much funding was provided, but the company did rebuild and as we all know, the 3-generation H-P Products Company is a viable, growing business appreciated by residents.

In 1955, Rotary began sponsoring the Junior Achievement program.

In 1961, Rotarians Thomas Edwards III, Grant Mooth and Melvin Bixler created the Louisville Scholarship Foundation. That foundation is still thriving and gives out over one million dollars in scholarships each year to worthy LHS graduates. The Rotary still gives funds to keep it strong.

In 1963, the local Kiwanis Club was organized. Unfortunately, it disbanded last year. But also that year, another notable event occurred. The Board of Education hired Ken Smith as a history teacher; play director, student council advisor and 9th grade basketball coach. Ken, stand up and be honored.

In 1965, the club sponsored its first pancake breakfast, a community tradition that still goes on. This year, the breakfast brought in about $1,500 for the club to turn over for community projects.

In 1971, Meals on Wheels was organized in town. Rotary has contributed to their operation many times and a number of Rotarians have volunteered to deliver meals. In 1975, Rotary celebrated its 50th anniversary.

In 1978, Rotary members established a Haunted House as a fundraiser. The house was next to the Dairy Queen on W. Main St. Jim Edwards, one of our oldest members, remembers the Haunted House well. Jim, tell us about that project.

Jim speaks.

Jim, what other memories do you have of those years? As a side note, it should be mentioned that in 1990, Tom Edwards Ford became Jim Edwards Ford.

In 1982, Bob Dalsky was a Rotary Scholarship recipient and went to Africa to study. The next year, 1983, a donation from Rotary was used to restore the WWI memorial. I might add, in 2017, another Rotary donation will be used to refurbish or replace the memorial. Several Rotarians have been active in completing funding for that project.

In the 80s, the club built the gazebo on the downtown square, and Rotarian Jim Edwards and his family donated the clock on the square in 2003. The club has painted and renovated the gazebo several times. I need to tell you that Jim Edwards led the volunteers who installed the clock and I spent one day helping. (Tell story of Jim painting the Gazebo's roof.)

In 1960, there were 43 active members in the club. But the early years of the 21st Century were hard years for the club, as membership dropped to only 8. Today we have 34 members, but not all are active.

One of our projects was the Metzger Park bathroom a $75,000 project that took two years to complete with the help of many community businesses.

My favorite Rotary project is the sponsorship of foreign exchange students and we have sponsored at least one student, sometimes two, for nearly 30 years. Along the way, a number of LHS students have spent a year abroad. We couldn't have done this without the help of many host families. Of course, you are all well aware of the flag-leasing project that is now in its 8th year. It really supports most of our projects these days.

​

A brief listing of other projects:

​

Sponsorship of the downtown Farmers Market

Support with funding for the Community Cupboard

Funds for the Louisville Scholarship Foundation

YMCA Strong Kids program

Louisville Library for various projects

Louisville Constitution Parade sponsorship

Meals on Wheels

Sent Shelter Boxes for victims of earthquakes in Haiti and Japan

Maintain a mile of Nickelplate walking trail

Operated Punt, Pass & Kick program until it was cancelled by the national     organization

Donated over$15,000 to Rotary International's Polio Plus program

Annual speech contests for LHS students

Constructed new benches for North Nimishillen School.

New sound system for the YMCA

Donated $5,000 for heating the new Historical Building next door.

Moved 89 St. Joseph Hospice patients from their old facility to St. Joseph's   Care Center

Built shelter in Constitution Park

The H-P bond drive

Presented two awards to outstanding LHS band members; paid for plaques for outstanding alumni in the Hall of Achievement.

 

Louisville Rotary still meets in Paradise Church each Wednesday noon. Our club is affiliated with the Rotary International District 6650 encompassing east central Ohio. Visitors, and friends like you, are welcomed to attend.