Website by Vincent Coakley. All comments will be appreciated at vc@pcrbrotary.org or (914) 774 9878

 

Port Chester-Rye Brook Rotary Club

Our History Project:

The Port Chester-Rye Brook Rotary Club was chartered—as Port Chester Rotary Club— in 1921. This makes it one of the oldest clubs in the District and it is likely also one of the most historic.

Since the fourteen charter members held their first meeting in April 1921, attendance books have been meticulously kept by hand—and preserved—to this day. This careful maintenance of club records has been thanks to the constant attention of successive club secretaries, all the way down to our current secretary, John Dick.

John has been our Secretary since 1989 and his fastidiously maintained archives contain not only the complete attendance records of all meetings, but also the original sponsorship cards for almost every member, all the way from 1921 to the present.

With this in mind, John and I have recently set about establishing a database of all members since the club was chartered. Since it’s foundation, club membership grew—more or less in line with National Rotary membership trends—to peak in the mid seventies, and to slowly decline—again in line with the National trend—since that time. In the past several years, we’ve seen a stabilization of membership numbers. To date, basic information has been entered for some 482 members and includes most of the readily available information on those individuals, including category, admission date and sponsor.

Like many of our Projects, this is a work in progress. Many interesting items of information come to light and it becomes apparent that our Club records contain a body of information and documents that are a relevant part of Village history. This relevance is enhanced by the fact that, over the course of almost a century, our club members—prominent in the business, professional and political spheres of Village life—made their own mark on it’s development and growth, for better or worse.

In the compilation of personal records—and their publication—privacy is an important concern. The full database is not yet included here. As always, input on this and all other aspects of our History Project is encouraged from members and from all interested parties.

Please contact us regarding the History Project.