District Train Trip: Tour of One Rotary

Center and Paul Harris Home and Gravesite

By Trip Participant Gail Hoffman with Photos Courtesy of Tom Lane

On July 25, 34 of us left Durand for the train trip to Chicago. District

Governor Pat Post planned a wonderful Rotary-related itinerary for us.

We arrived in Union Station and took a chartered bus ride up the beautiful

Lake Shore Drive to Evanston, the home of One Rotary Center. After a quick

lunch, we were greeted by staff who provided not only a tour of the Center but

also educational sessions on relevant Rotary topics.

Since 1987, One Rotary Center has been the world headquarters of Rotary International. It employs more than 500 staff

members who support Rotarians’ efforts to make the world a better place. Rotary owns the building, currently occupying floors

11, 14-18, and parts of the first and third floors as well as the lower level. The rest of the space is rented, providing revenue for

Rotary.

On the first floor, we were able to visit Room 711, a replica of the room where the first Rotary club meeting took place on

February 23, 1905. It was the office of Gustavus Loehr in the former Unity Building in downtown Chicago. He was joined by three

others: Silvester Schiele, Hiram Shorey, and Rotary founder, Paul Harris. We were also able to see the Paul Harris Statue, a fiber-

glass rendition created by Kimihiko Morioka of the Rotary Club of Tokyo Keihin, Tokyo, Japan. Kimihiko traveled to Rotary’s world

headquarters to present the statue to Rotary in 1993.

The 17th floor was our next stop. Here we able to tour the Arch Klumph

Society Gallery. Rotary established the Society in 2004 to recognize donors who

contribute $250,000 or more to The Rotary Foundation. The society is named in

honor of Rotary’s 1916-17 president, Arch C. Klumph, who proposed an endow-

ment “for the purpose of doing good in the world” at the 1917 Rotary Convention.

You can use a kiosk to view photos, biographies, and videos of Society members

and find their portraits in the gallery.

On to the 18th floor… an attractively designed space complete with expansive windows that houses the Office of the Presi-

dent, Boardroom, and West Atrium. The view alone of the Chicago skyline was incredible! Our guide mentioned that Rotary

Presidents spend about 25 percent of their time in Evanston, and the rest their time traveling the world on Rotary’s behalf. The

President of Rotary International is elected by Rotarians and leads an elected Board of Directors. Rotary uses a process designed

to elect presidents and directors that results in a diverse group of experienced senior leaders.

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The Boardroom offers an attractive environment for RI

Directors, RI Trustees, and various Rotary committees to meet.

The Directors and Trustees usually meet here twice a year. Their

other meetings are held off-site, in conjunction with Rotary’s

Internal Assembly and Convention. The West Atrium offers an

opportunity for visitors to explore Rotary’s history. It also serves

as an informal gathering area during Board, Trustee, and

committee meetings.

After our informative tour, we settled into a conference room to listen to Rotary-related presentations. Staffers provided

three informative sessions on membership development (very timely, as August’s theme is membership development), district

and global grants, and donor encouragement. We learned that Rotary is working hard to increase club flexibility and develop

membership leads through social media. The grant information was a good reminder about the process for both district and

global applications. The last session encouraged us to remember that it is not always about the numbers, but also about the

face and the story showing how and where Rotary is “doing good in the world” (Summarized from tour information provided by

staffers at One Rotary Center, Evanston, Illinois).

We left on the bus for the trip from Evanston back to downtown Chicago. After checking in to our Marriott Fairfield Inn, we

regrouped for dinner. Some of us walked, some of us took a cab; and we gathered at Shaw’s Crab House for a delicious dinner

and great camaraderie. The crab cakes were delicious!

On Wednesday, July 26, some of us enjoyed a later start to our day

compared with yesterday, complete with a continental breakfast at the hotel.

We boarded a bus for south Chicago to tour the Paul Harris home. Our bus

driver had us amazed with his expertise in maneuvering the narrow, crowded

streets as we traveled the neighborhoods to the Harris home. We were met by

a passionate Rotarian who provided an interesting, informative tour of the

grounds and the home

The story about how this house came to be the Harris’ home is fascinating. Walking on a well-kept street one winter day,

Paul Harris stopped to watch children sledding down a rare, for Chicago, hill. It reminded him of his own boyhood in Vermont.

He decided that if he ever were to own a home, it would be on top of that hill on Longwood Drive. His dream became reality

when he and his wife Jean bought a stately Tudor-style home on that same street. They named it Comely Bank after the street in

Scotland on which Jean grew up.

For almost 40 years, they hosted Rotary meetings and entertained visiting dignitaries in the home. They planted trees, which

are still surviving, in their friendship garden and proudly displayed items collected from around the world. We saw pictures of

where the world’s early Rotarians met. It was in the home’s basement where the friendships were fostered on which Rotary was

built and thrives on today.

(

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After Paul passed away in 1947, Jean sold the home and returned

to Scotland. The house had two more owners before Rotary

bought it in 2005 for US $550,000 with plans to preserve it as a

living monument to our founder. Restoration is underway to

restore this piece of Rotary history to the way it was in the 1940s.

A high tech addition will allow it to serve not only as a museum but

also as a gathering place for Rotarians and other visitors from

around the world. You can learn more about the restoration and

ways to support by going to the website www.paulharrishome.org

(Paul and Jean Harris Home Foundation, 525 W. Monroe Street,

Suite 2360, Chicago, Illinois, 60661 USA).

Our bus driver then

took us to Mount Hope

Cemetery, Chicago, to

view the Paul P. Harris

Memorial and Walk-

way. We saw Paul’s

grave as well as that of

his good friend and

early Rotary founder,

Silvester Schiele, and

learned that Jean had

been buried in Scot-

land, where she had

spent her youth.

We stopped for lunch at the Horse Thief Hollow Brewery, an appropriate

restaurant for a group of our size. We were later dropped off at Union Station,

in time for our 4 pm departure back to Durand.

The train trip to Chicago and Rotary-related activities were

certainly worthwhile! District Governor Pat Post’s careful

planning paid off for the 34 of us who were able to take the “All

Aboard Trip” to the World Headquarters of Rotary International,

the Paul Harris home, and the Paul Harris Memorial and Walkway.

In our short visit, we were offered so many opportunities to learn

more about how Rotary is able to make a difference in the lives of

so many, and about the man whose vision started it all!

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