Bedlam may be in more than 90 years of service
Weatherford Rotary Club President Nate Downs recently has taken on a project to digitally archive the old club records, many of which were found in the old Rotary Hut, detailing the club’s long history of service in the community.
During a recent Rotary meeting, he shared some of his findings along with information from the Rotary Golden Anniversary special section of the Weatherford Daily News, which was published April 25, 1975.
The Weatherford Rotary Club’s first meeting was April 27, 1925, with 13 men present – Rivers Randle, Dr. Jay Gordon, Bill Wheeler, Harvey Thacker, Henry Browning, Clarence McCormick, Gene Howell, Roy Everett, Gene Forbes, Arthur Galloway, Mike Solloway, Wes Shaw and Harry Dray. Dr. Gordon was chosen to serve as the club’s first president.
Rotary met in the basement of the Methodist church, which sat where the First National Bank and Trust Co. of Weatherford is now.
In 1928, the club organized and sponsored the Weatherford Boy Scouts Troop, which now is one of the oldest continuously registered troops in the “Last Frontier Council.” This was the first major project taken on by the Weatherford Rotar Club.
That same year, the club also sponsored work with disabled children and a “back to school campaign.”
In 1931, the Rotary Club organized the cemetery association, centralizing the community cemeteries and creating the Greenwood Cemetery.
“At that time, lots of small communities — most of which don’t exist anymore — had a church and a school, and sometimes they were the same thing,” Downs said. “They would just bury their dead around there. This (the association) was a way to organized it and bring it together.”
With a decade under its belt, the Weatherford Rotary Club took on several projects in 1935. Members organized two rural libraries, began a Boy Scouts troop for the underprivileged, helped immunize Weatherford against diphtheria, provided Christmas baskets for the needed and organized the Rotary Anns.
Women were not allowed in the Rotary club until 1988, so the Rotary Anns were a way for women to be involved with the club.
Downs said the Weatherford club also ha a men’s quartet which would perform at various places.
In 1938, the club sponsored a disabled children’s clinic and hosted an international service essay contest. The following year, members helped to raise funds for an iron lung at Western Oklahoma Hospital and sponsored several projects with the Weatherford FFA.
During World War II, the club hosted scrap metal collections and war bond events. It also repaired the runway at Weatherford Airport and hosted a pilot training in partnership with SWOSU.
Also during the 1940s, members set up a wolf hunt raffle, assisted with organizing the local Girl Scouts organization and providing insecticide spraying for the entire community.
The 1950s was a busy decade for the Weatherford Rotary Club as they took on several projects to beautify the city and their meeting space.
Greenwood Cemetery was rebuilt and cleaned up, city streets were improved and additional playground equipment was provided to the park.
The club raised money to move the old “Missouri School” into town, where it was bricked and fully furnished.
“The Missouri School, which sat 5 miles outside of town, was going to be torn down. To prevent this, the club raised money and moved the building to Clark Park,” Downs said.
For many years it served as the meeting place for the Rotary Club, scouts and other civic or youth groups. The club outgrew the “Rotary Hut” in less than a decade and moved meetings to the Mark Restaurant. However, many other local groups continued to use the buildings though the 1990s.
During the 1960s, Rotary sponsored a youth health checkup clinic, FFA events and new street signs for the city. They also donated $3,000 to what would become the Weatherford Regional Hospital.
Rotarian Don Kelley began the flag program in 1966 to raise funds for future civic projects. At the time, it was the club’s only way to make money outside of dues. For $12 a year, club members would place American flags for program members during relevant holidays such as Independence Day, Labor Day and Memorial Day. Downs said current rates are $25 a year.
During the early 1970s, the Rotary club built two picnic pavilions in Rader Park as well as made a large donation to the Cardiac Unit to what is now Weatherford Regional Hospital.
Downs said there is a large gap in the records from 1973-93, when the club built a Gazeebo at Means Park. Records for the late 1990s projects also are sparse.
It picks back up again in 2005 when the old “Rotary Hut” was officially retired and a new scout facility built at Clark Park. The Rotary Amphitheater at Rader Park was built in 2013 followed by the concession stand in 2018.
The club secured grant funds for playground equipment at the Action Associates women’s shelter in 2016 and sponsored the Dr. Ken Rose playground at Crowder Lake last year.
Current annual projects for the Weatherford Rotary Club include:
• $1,500 donations to both the scout groups in Weatherford
• two $1,500 SWOSU scholarships to Weatherford graduates
• $1,000 to the annual SWOSU SAGE STEAM Camp
• Between $1,000-$1,500 to the annual YMCA campaign
• $750 each for local students chosen to attend Rotary Youth Leadership Association Camp
• $7,500 for the Fourth of July celebration
• $10,000 or greater to the local D.A.R.E. program through the Heartland Cruise and Car Show
Downs said he also is looking into future projects for the club. One area he would like to focus on is giving some love to Means Park. He said the pavilion is in need of repair or replacement, especially since it has the Weatherford Rotary Club’s name on it. The plaques dedicating Means and Clark parks also needs repair or replacement.