“Can anything good come out of Chicago?”

         On the evening of October 5, 1916, club president Frank B. Miller and the members of the Greensburg Rotary Club were presented with charter number 250 by District 3 Governor, Stewart C. McFarland at a banquet at the Greensburg Elks. Six weeks later, the following item appeared in the December 1916 issue of the Rotarian.

“Greensburg, Pa.: This town now has a full-fledged International Rotary club. Thanks to the efforts

of Frank B. Miller, secretary-treasurer of the Keystone Coal and Coke Co., the new club was brought

into existence during the summer. Mr. Miller fell in love with Rotary in his travels and determined

to have one for the “old home town.” He is our president. At the October monthly dinner, District

Governor Stewart C. McFarland presented the club with its charter in the International Association.

The aims and ambitions of the Greensburg club are high. The members feel that the “field is white

unto the harvest” and we are getting busy. - E. Arthur Sweeney, Correspondent”

A decade earlier, Paul Harris and three of his friends, witnessing what Harris called the “fierce battle for civic righteousness” being waged in the corrupt city of Chicago at the turn of the 20^th century, conceived of the idea for an organization, composed of young business and professional men, that would bring the small town experiences and values of their youth to bear, on their professional and social interests and eventually pool their talents to selflessly promote the ideal of civic virtue in their community. On Feb. 23, 1905, something good came out of Chicago when the world’s first Rotary club was born.

Paul Harris, “Can Anything Good Come Out of Chicago,” This Rotarian Age, 1935

Frank Bott Miller (1877-1955) was a life-long resident of Greensburg. During his professional life, he served the Keystone Coal Company as treasurer and later, sales manager. He was the first president of the Greensburg Chamber of Commerce (1921); president of St. Clair Supply Co.; V. Pres. of the Seneca Coal Company until 1948; and an independent  coal broker until his death in 1955. He also served on the Boards of the Greensburg Y.M.C.A., Boy Scout Council and the Westmoreland Public Health  Assn.

Benjamin W. Kerr, the club’s first secretary, was Vice President of Railway and Industrial Engineering Co. (R.I.E.), an electrical products manufacturing company. Kerr was later promoted to general manager of the firm. In 1922, while still employed by R.I.E., he served as treasurer of the Pittsburgh-American China Company, a glass-tile and hotel china manufacturing company in Greensburg.

(Charter membership as submitted with application to International Association iof Rotary Clubs,  July 7, 1916)