Rotary is an organization of business and professional persons united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world. Founded in Chicago by Paul Harris in 1905, Rotary is the world's first service club. Today there are more than 46,000 clubs compromised of over 1.4 million members in more than 200 countries and geographical areas. Due to Rotary's efforts, more than 1 billion children have been immunized against polio.
January 6, 1926 marks the date a small group of Turlock business and professionals met at Kline's Candy Kitchen on E. Main Street to organize the first service club in Turlock. Thirty-one members of the sponsoring Modesto Rotary Club were in attendance, as R.F. Wells, a lumber dealer, was named president. The twenty founding members included druggist Lew Boies, farmer Fred Geer, jeweler Charles Lundahl, and physician H.E. Meyer. The official charter for the club is dated February 15, 1926.