History of the Hagerstown Rotary Club

How and When It Started

During 1914, Christian G Triesler had the good fortune to attend a few Rotary Clubs meetings in Baltimore and serveral other cities. From those meetings he felt that a Rotary Club could be of much service in this area.

After receiving encouragement and assistance from the officers of the Baltimore Club, Mr. Triesler decided to interest some of his friends in helping to organize such a club in Hagerstown. A permanent organization was effected on January 14, 1915 with the following officers: Christian G. Triesler, President; L.H. Keller, Vice President; Gorman Bussard, Secretary; Nervin J. Brandt, Treasurer. The directors were: H. Lionel Meredith, Dr. Victor Miller, Thomas H. Porter, Samuel M. Shafer and Charles A. Ritchey. There were 40 charter members.

Immediately following the first meeting, application was made for affiliation with the "International Association of Rotary Clubs." Until the beginning of 1915, affiliation was restricted to clubs in cities of not less then 50,000 population. However, on June 15, 1915 the Hagerstown Club received the notice of its acceptance by the International Association.