How Rotary came to Dickinson
The First 50 years...

     The story of Rotary coming to Dickinson according to charter member Duane Heaton was that after the Armistice in 1918, there was a letdown on any new community efforts as everyone was turning back to normalcy.  The Commercial Club that had been organized in 1906 by Dr. Stickney folded because of lack of interest and lack of funds.  In 1920, much talk was on reactivating the commercial Club especially by men who had been very active in it previously and also active in every fraternal and church organization.

Nearly all of them had been guests of Rotary clubs during their business travels and were much in favor of establishing a Rotary club in preference to a Commercial Club.  As Duane told it, there was a tremendous difference, since Rotary was composed of men of different faiths, different businesses, different nationalities, with different problems; meeting, eating and singing together, forming new friendship and relaxing while helping each other in their problem, and working together for the good of their community and all mankind and bound together by the Golden Rule.

Members of the Bismarck Rotary Club, which was chartered March 24, 1920, had been suggesting that Dickinson deserved a Rotary Club, and at the first organizational meeting held in the Merchants National Bank, Nov. 20, 1920, President Fred Conklin of the Bismarck Club explained the precepts, aims and obligations of Rotary.  A board of directors was elected from the original 10 men with Roy Baird elected president, Fulton Burnett vice president, and Duane Heaton secretary, along with directors Wise Richards, Walt Blume and Frank Ray.  The Club was officially organized the evening of Dec. 20, 1920 in the Oddfellows Hall by Ray Bergeson acting as District Governor, James Kayes representative and Fred Conklin inspired the 20 charter members in attendance with his talk on the obligations of a good citizen to his home, his community and his God.

The club was chartered as Club No. 820 on Feb. 1, 1921, by Rotary International and the Club was on its way with tremendous enthusiasm with many activities suggested for its starting projects.  The first was that nearly the total membership went to the legislature in Bismarck and asked for almost a half million dollars for building at the new Dickinson Normal school which was holding classes on the third floor of the Elks building.  They succeeded in getting about half of the money.

many, many projects were suggested in the new, young club and the activities tackled were many like subsidizing entertainment at the county fair, selling and taking tickets, buying 46 acres of land south of Medora for a scout camp, promoting better roads, better farming and irrigation, cleanup week, boy medical clinic for 14 and 15 years olds teaching them about the birds, bees and VD's by Dr. Nachtwey; attending the first Rotary conference ever held in North Dakota at Fargo when the Club was just one month old and taking  their Rotary Ann Band along.  Hauling the school athletic teams to other towns before the schools got busses, furnishing trophies to the teams, and feeding them after the seasons were over; father and sons and father and daughters dinners; ladies night banquet; entertained the new teacher each fall until Rotary stopped it; printed the weekly Branding Iron missing just a few issues before 1928; fund raising venture like the Hospital Charity Ball that netted $3,700; raise money for the nurses revolving loan fund; established two Western Scholarships for high school graduates entering college; furnished two $350 boats for the Boy Scouts at Lake Tschida; furnished a stoke patients special wheel chair to St. Joseph's Hospital.

Supported the Rotary Foundation and became a 300 percent Club and also a friend of Rotary, contributing a dollar a year per member to the Foundation.  Sponsored a foreign student to our college nine years in a row, and have a plan to continue to do so.  When Dr. Stickney, founder of the first commercial Club, returned from was service, he organized a Chamber of Commerce in 1924 and the Rotarians backed him almost 100 percent and 29 Rotarians have headed the Chamber as president since 1924.

the 1947 Rotary group picture shows the club members growing bears and planning Dickinson's Diamond Anniversary Jubilee with Past President Frank Hallowell overall Jubilee chairman and Bob Coutts Pageant chairman, and with every Rotarian a member of the many committees.

Extended Rotary to Bowman and its charter was presented to them September 14, 1968, by District Governor Ed Larson of Fergus Falls.  Past Governor Charlie Whittey gave the main address, Past District Governor Max Moore introduced the special guests. Past District Governor Milt Kvikstad presented the fellowship gifts from other clubs.  The organization meeting was put on by past presidents Oscar DeLong, Pete Hinrichs with Bob Coutts the District governor's special representative.

For fifty year the Dickinson Rotary Club has been dedicated toward achieving the goals of Rotary, service about self for the good of all.

Another 25 year of involvement

What has the Dickinson Rotary Club been doing the last 25 years? Plenty.

We're still doing Community Service:

Locally we had donated and served the Dickinson Dinosaur Museum, Prairie Outpost Park (the gazebo was built by us), the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation, Dickinson Hockey Boosters, D.S.U. Foundation, Trinity High School Foundation Chamber of Commerce, Elder Care, Dickinson Arts Council, Performing Arts Camp, Chatauqua and Jaycees Feed the Needy.

Internationally, our projects include PolioPlus (there are now 144 countries polio-free), 3-H (Health, Hunger and Humanity), Atui Dental Clinic, Rotary Foundation.

District-wide we have hosted Group Study Exchange teams from Korea, Scotland, Mexico, China, and Turkey. One of our members, David Barry, led a team to Mexico. And in 1992, we hosted 398 Rotarians and guests for the District Conference.

Service to youth is an ongoing commitment for the Dickinson Rotary Club. When young people need a helping hand, Rotary is there. We sponsor scholarships for students from Dickinson High School, Trinity High School, D.S.U. and from foreign countires. Business Challenge, Boys State, Girls State get our support, as do the hockey program, Class A & B track, Teen Center, After Graduation Party, After Prom Party, Drug Awareness Program, Close Up, Operation Aware, Miss Teen ND, Child Care, Newspapers in Education.

Every week you'll find high school and university students at our meetings. We've hosted exchange students from Sweden, Brazil, China, South Africa, Finland, Chile, Switzerland. We have sponsored Dickinson students in Austria, Sweden, Germany, and Japan.

At the District Conference, our students have won the 4-Way Test and Drug Prevention essay contests.

How are we doing? Our membership has increased 34% since 1971. Of our 86 members, 25 are Paul Harris Fellows.

And, oh yes, in 1988 we had our first female member.

Rotary is vigorous, enthusiastic, and vibrant in Dickinson in 1996, our 75th anniversary.

Officers in 1996
Merry Johnston.............................................................President
Guy Moos ..........................................................President-Elect
John Studsrud ......................................................Vice President
Linda Steve ................................................................ Treasurer
Ernie Strube ................................................................Secretary

Directors:
Dick Harsche, Jim Stolt, Lyle Brudvig, Muriel Dossinger, Doug Murphy, Paul Steffes