History
Timeline
The Broadcaster, Plymouth Rotary Club’s weekly publication was started. Its style has been changed over the years, but still strives to keep members informed about club activities. The publication has also become the clubs printed history, detailing over 75 years of meetings.
The Mayflower Hotel was built in Plymouth. Every member of the club was a part of the committee put in place to raise enough funds to build the hotel. The entire sum of over $200,000 was subscribed to in just six hours.
Club president Father Frank LeFevre came up with the idea of making a member of the senior class at the high school a Junior Rotarian.
1940-1944
The Plymouth Rotary received outstanding international recognition for assistance given to Plymouth, England during the Blitz of WWII.
Rotary members held a fundraising campaign to raise $20,000 for a lighting system for the Plymouth High School football field.
1956-1957
The Plymouth Rotary Club joined with other clubs in the district to make the Crippled Children’s Home at Inkster possible.
The student loan fund that was started through the leadership of George A. Smith was enlarged and incorporated into the Plymouth Rotary Foundation.
Late 1950’s
The Plymouth Rotary Club started a picnic serving barbequed chicken and corn to assist members to become better qualified. The first BBQ’s were only for members and totaled about 150 people.
BBQ was turned into the Plymouth Fall Fest. The high point of the festival is chicken Sunday, with as many as 16,000 dinners being prepared and served. The BBQ has provided us with a steady source of income that has allowed us to do more for the community. Several years ago an annual golf outing was started which has grown in size each year. It now brings in almost as much as the chicken barbeque.
The club made another major contribution to Plymouth High School to upgrade the football fields lighting system.
Late 1970’s
Plymouth Rotary club invested $20,000 to create a small scale farm at the high school to expose youth in the community to some of the rural atmosphere.
Rotarians W.W Edgar, Ralph Lorenz, and Harold Guenther were instrumental in forming a group of Plymouth residents who visited Plymouth, England, where they were royally greeted by their English counterparts and by the Plymouth England Rotary Club.
Dick Hede award created to honor the best all around district.
To celebrate their upcoming golden anniversary, the Plymouth Rotary Club donated two kidney machines to St. Mary’s hospital
The Plymouth Rotary Club won the Hugh Archer award for best new project in the district. This award was named after the districts second Rotary International president.
Jack Tornga led a team of young professionals on a group study exchange to Taiwan.