Rotary History

Experience a 360-degree view of the historic replica of Room 711

On 23 February 1905, Paul Harris, Gustavus Loehr, Silvester Schiele, and Hiram Shorey gathered at Loehr’s office, Room 711 of the Unity Building in downtown Chicago, for what would later be known as the first Rotary club meeting.

For the 1980 Rotary International Convention in Chicago, local Rotarians rented that same space and used period furnishings to re-create an early-20th-century office. When the Unity Building was set to be demolished in 1989, they dismantled Room 711 and arranged to rebuild it later at Rotary International World Headquarters just north of Chicago in Evanston, Illinois, USA. Today, guests who tour the building can still visit the room.