About the Noon Rotary club

We meet every Thursday at Noon, at the Center 714 South Main Street, Council Bluffs, Iowa.

History of the Rotary Club

In the summer 1913, Clyde Lyon, a young businessman of Council Bluffs was in Buffalo, New York on business. The fourth convention of the International Association of Rotary clubs was meeting there and greatly impressed him. "What is it?" he asked. He was told, "It is an organization for the prevention of that which is harmful in business and society; and the promotion of that which is helpful." He interested "Bert" Clark and Fred Hurd in starting a Rotary Club in Council Bluffs and in the Autumn of 1914 these three men held their first meeting in the Grand Hotel. They decided to call in three other men. At this same time, Carleton Woodward and Frank Bender, through Tom Kelley and other friends in Omaha, Nebraska, had become very much interested in Rotary. These two men wrote to the International office of Rotary in Chicago, asking for permission to organize a club in Council Bluffs. The letters from the two groups arrived Chicago at nearly the same time. They were advised to combine their efforts. A second meeting was held at the Grand Hotel and plans made to open the charter list. The members of the Omaha Rotary Club helped and at a meeting held Monday, February 8, 1915, thirty-one men pledged themselves to become charter members of the Council Bluffs Rotary Club. The first official meeting was held on Tuesday, February 23, 1915, when representatives of the Omaha Rotary Club officially installed the club with a charger membership of forty.

Of the 12 clubs and 2,500 Rotary members in the Omaha metropolitan area, the Rotary Club of Omaha is the largest, with 400 members. The membership of the club represents a significant cross-section of community leadership and possesses a strong commitment to the growth and welfare of our city.

That commitment is carried out by our members through a range of committees, each focusing on specific avenues of service. While our members and immediate community are an important part of the club's focus, our sense of community extends to the world at large through our international service committees.