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A Brief Club History
In October 1925, a group of Coronado businessmen met at the Blue Lantern Cafe in Coronado to discuss forming a Rotary Club in their city. With sponsorship help from the San Diego Rotary Club, the Rotary Club of Coronado was chartered February 12, 1926, with 22 charter members. The first meeting was held at the San Diego Yacht Club, which at the time was located on Glorietta Bay. Later the club would move briefly to the Coronado Country Club and in 1930 settled into its current home, the Hotel Del Coronado. During those early days at the Del, the meeting room was the Silver Grill, now known as the Coronet Room, one of our regular venues to this day. From 1926 to 1941, meetings occurred on Fridays, but members then voted to change to Wednesdays; and from 1941 to the present, that has been the rule. The first president, W.A. Lambert, was an electric light and power manager who helped increase the membership to 28 in that first year. It has grown steadily ever since from that original group. In 1951 on the 25th anniversary it had grown to 68; in 1961 it stood at 104; by 1976 at the 50th anniversary it was 115; and today, heading into its 75th anniversary, membership is at an all-time high of 200. Today's numbers reflect the great leadership enjoyed by the club, including contributing an impressive five district governors over the past 32 years. Coronado has now produced the 2001/2002 district governor-elect for our District 5340.
In the earliest days our dues were $25 per year, until the Great Depression took its toll and probably led to their reduction between 1932 and 1937 to $18. By 1938 the annual levy had recovered to $20 and remained there through the 1950s. Obviously, we have not been immune to the inflation that gripped the country since that time, given today's dues. In 1961, the total club budget was $10,000. In 2000/2001, the club's operating budget alone was $73,000, with an additional $70,000 pledged towards our local Foundation to provide for humanitarian causes. A casualty of the Depression was the original newsletter, "The Corotor," published between 1928 and 1932, until it became too costly and was discontinued. Not until 1937 was it resurrected as "The Corotator" as it continues to be known today. Beginning in 1999, "The Corotator" was sent electronically to its members with Internet access. In 2000, the Rotary Club of Coronado unveiled its first website to the world. Always civic and service oriented, the Rotary Club of Coronado has an enviable record of local and international accomplishment. The club established Rotary Park in 1930 and as recently as 1995, the club spearheaded replacement of the masonry bench and installation of lighting. One very long-standing program that exists today is the Christmas Santa Claus gift deliveries which our club assumed from the police and firemen in 1956. The annual Pancake Breakfast, originally held on Mother's Day at the Woman's Club, was begun in the 1960s. Other more recent community efforts have been our Flags On The Avenue program, begun in 1995, which places 180 American flags in the Orange Avenue median on major American holidays; strong support for local substance abuse programs; an annual Senior's Fair; a Career Day at our high school; the development of a junior wheelchair tennis camp; and endorsement of Camp Able, a local program that provides water-oriented activities for children with a variety of disabilities, and much, much more. Please refer to our Programs page for a brief overview of them. In the international area, Coronado Rotary has been very active as well. A strong supporter of the Rotary Foundation, by 1960 our membership had attained 200% status, meaning it had contributed twice the annual allotment of $100 for each member to the Foundation in memory of Rotary InternationalŐs founder, Paul Harris. One of our most successful and worthwhile endeavors is support of the Thousand Smiles Program established in 1986, which, literally, has given many of our neighbors to the south their lives back through surgeries to correct severe facial disfigurement. Our club has also, under the stewardship of one of our members, been in the forefront of the landmark Village Banking Program that has given hope and self-esteem to some of the poorest of the poor in underdeveloped countries. We were also over-achievers in the 1988 Rotary International campaign, Polio Plus, whose objective was and is to stamp out that dread disease worldwide. After achieving victory in the Western Hemisphere, the goal is now worldwide elimination of Polio by Rotary's centennial year in 2005.
A major milestone for the Coronado Club was our admission of women in the 1987/88 Rotary year. In 1995, we named our first female "Rotarian of the Year," and in 1999/2000, we had our first woman president. We currently claim 34 female members. |
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