Parkersburg Rotary Club History

• The club was organized March 2, 1938 and chartered by R.I. on March 8, 1938 with 16 charter members.
• Sponsor club: Cedar Falls.
• Charter year president: Dr. W.L. (Doc) Hanson.
• 1940 Club President, Dan J.P. Ryan served as District 597 Governor in 1945 and also served as club secretary for 19 years.
• Member Peter Olthoff’s personal “seed contribution” resulted in him becoming the club’s first Paul Harris Fellow in 1986. Since then, the club has collectively contributed over $16,000 to The Rotary Foundation as of 2005, resulting in a total of 18 Paul Harris Fellows for the club to date.
• The club has been an annual collective contributor to District 5970’s District Conference “Duck Race” Foundation fund-raiser for at least 12 years and was a winner of a Paul Harris Fellowship in 1994 and again in 1995.
• The club’s first female member joined in 1991 and she served as club president in 1993.
• The club’s first Paul Harris Fellowship awarded to a female member was in 2003.
• The club has been an annual contributor to Aplington-Parkersburg’s “Dollars For Scholars” college scholarship program for the past 15 years.
• The club developed 2 community parks in 1984 and in 2003.
• The club’s primary and on-going Community Service projects are public area tree planting, blood donation drives, and yearly free Christmas tree pick-up and re-use for fish and wildlife habitat.
• The club’s first International Service project began in 2002 with the acquisition of 12 used anesthesia machines donated by University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, which we crated and shipped to Honduras, Argentina, and Uganda - completed in 2005.
• The club has hosted and sponsored over a dozen Rotary International exchange students over the years.
•The club created and hosted a Halloween haunted house October 27 & 28, 2006 at the Parkersburg Historical Society's C.C. Wolf mansion. The proceeds of about $1300 were donated back to the Historical Society for continued maintenance and repairs to the mansion and we anticipate for this to be a ongoing event in the future as well.