HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Gustave Loehr (1864–1918) was one of the four founders of
Rotary International Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, prof ...
, one of the premier service organizations of the world. He was also the host of the first-ever Rotary meeting in Chicago in 1905. Born in
Carlinville, Illinois Carlinville is a city and the county seat of Macoupin County, Illinois, United States. It is also the home of Blackburn College, a small college affiliated with the Presbyterian church, and the former home of Prairie Farms Dairy. As of the 202 ...
, Loehr moved to Chicago in 1886 and briefly attended Lake Forest College before embarking on a career as a mining engineer. His office was located in Room 711 of the
Unity Building The Unity Building, in Oregon, Illinois, is a historic building in that city's Oregon Commercial Historic District. As part of the district the Oregon Unity Building has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places The National ...
on North Dearborn Street in the Chicago Loop, where he made many acquaintances, including Paul P. Harris, an attorney. He also became a member of a
Masonic lodge A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...
. On the evening of February 23, 1905, Harris and another friend, coal dealer Sylvester Schiele, met Loehr and merchant tailor Hiram Shorey in Loehr's office. There, Harris presented an idea—the formation of a businessman's club for social purposes. The other three men shared Harris' enthusiasm for the idea, and agreed to meet again two weeks later, when they would bring other friends. The February 23 gathering is credited by Rotary historians as the first-ever Rotary Club meeting, and Loehr, like the others, holds a valued place in Rotary history. Prior to the Unity Building's demolition in 1989, Rotarians painstakingly removed all fixtures from Loehr's old office and placed them in storage. The office was later reconstructed on the sixteenth floor of Rotary International headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, where it remains a memorial to the legacy of the first Rotary meeting. Loehr died of
Bright's Disease Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that are described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. It was characterized by swelling and the presence of albumin in the urine, and was frequently accompanied b ...
on May 23, 1918 in Chicago and is buried in Carlinville City Cemetery. On July 21, 2004, members of the Carlinville Rotary Club dedicated a new graveside memorial at Loehr's burial site to honor his contributions as an original founder of Rotary International.


References

"Gustave Loehr: Rotary's Forgotten Founder" by Tom Emery (Carlinville, Ill.: History in Print, 2003). {{DEFAULTSORT:Loehr, Gustave 1864 births 1918 deaths People from Carlinville, Illinois Rotary International leaders Deaths from nephritis