The first Rotary Club was formed in the South Side historic Beverly Hills neighborhood of Chicago by attorney Paul P. Harris on February 23, 1905, Harris held the first meeting with three friends, Silvester Schiele, coal merchant, Gustave E. Loehr, mines engineer and Hiram E. Shorey, tailor. The members chose the name Rotary because they rotated club meetings to each member's office each week.

The National Association of Rotary Clubs was formed in 1910. The same year, Rotary chartered a branch in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, marking the first establishment of an American-style service club outside the United States. This was followed in 1911 by the founding of the first club outside North America in Dublin, Ireland.

During World War I, Rotary in Britain increased from 9 to 22 clubs and other early international branches were Cuba in 1916 and India in 1920.

In 1922, because branches had been formed in six continents,[8] the name was changed to Rotary International. By 1925, Rotary had grown to 200 clubs with more than 20,000 members.