Gustave Loehr
This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (November 2015) |
Gustave Loehr (1864–1918) was one of the four founders of Rotary International, one of the premier service organizations of the world. He was also the host of the first-ever Rotary meeting in Chicago in 1905.
Born in
On the evening of February 23, 1905, Harris and another friend, coal dealer Sylvester Schiele, met Loehr and merchant tailor Hiram Shorey in Loehr's office. There, Harris presented an idea—the formation of a businessman's club for social purposes. The other three men shared Harris' enthusiasm for the idea, and agreed to meet again two weeks later, when they would bring other friends.
The February 23 gathering is credited by Rotary historians as the first-ever Rotary Club meeting, and Loehr, like the others, holds a valued place in Rotary history.
Prior to the Unity Building's demolition in 1989, Rotarians painstakingly removed all fixtures from Loehr's old office and placed them in storage. The office was later reconstructed on the sixteenth floor of Rotary International headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, where it remains a memorial to the legacy of the first Rotary meeting.
Loehr died of
References
- ^ "The History of Rotary". Rotary Club Graz-Zeughaus. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
"Gustave Loehr: Rotary's Forgotten Founder" by Tom Emery (Carlinville, Ill.: History in Print, 2003).