Pres Ralph welcomed club member, Rachael Martin, to the podium to present a program in Ron Hanson's absence.
She showed a Power Point program she developed about the history of the Rotary wheel. Starting in 1905, when Rotary first began in Chicago, the first Rotary logo was a plain and simple wagon wheel. This symbolized that at first Rotary meetings rotated and were held at different members' businesses. The wheel got more fancy in 1906, and by 1910 was changed again to show that Rotary had grown to 16 clubs. Then came a time when each club had its own version of a wheel to suit their club. At the 1912 National Convention held in Duluth, they decided to create a universal design so all clubs had the same logo. A gear wheel in royal blue and gold was voted in. Some Duluth members thought the type of gear was impractical and proposed a change with more teeth and fewer arms, which was accepted in 1919. The Honolulu club proposed the next change in 1923, a notch in the center hub. Now the logo has changed again in 2013 to include the name Rotary next to the wheel. Will our pins change to show the 2013 logo? That's the short version of Rotary wheels, and that's the truth!
Excerpts taken from the Cloquet Rotary log, edited by Rachael Martin