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The Rotary Club of Dallas, Pa History
The Rotary Club of Dallas was chartered on March 3, 1927 at the Raub’s Hotel on the corner of Lake and Church Streets in Dallas, Pennsylvania. That year, three service organizations were founded at the hotel, including the Dr. Henry M. Laing Fire Company, the Dallas Rotary Club, and the Mount Greenwood Kiwanis Club. The first secretary of the Dallas club was James F. Besecker who owned the Ford dealership and Mobil Gas Station that stood in front of the Raub’s Hotel.
For almost a century, the club has welcomed new members from the Back Mountain. The club sponsors more than two-dozen charitable projects, including the annual Children’s Christmas Shopping Spree. Signature projects founded by or participated in by the Rotary Club of Dallas throughout the years include: the founding of the Luzerne County Fair; the establishment of the Back Mountain Memorial Library and the annual auction; student exchange program; the annual children’s Christmas shopping spree for children in the school districts of Dallas, Lake-Lehman and Northwest; book scholarships for college-bound high school seniors; dictionaries for third-graders in the region; assistance to the Back Mountain Food Pantry and the Salvation Army; the annual charity golf tournament; the annual Wine and Brew Festival; Christmas luncheon; gift bags for Dallas Senior Center members; town clock in the center of Dallas; and Christmas decorations at the Highway 309/415 triangle in Dallas. Each year, the Rotary Club of Dallas honors civic leaders and club members for their service in Northeastern Pennsylvania at the Club’s Charter Night with the presentation of the Paul Harris Fellow Award for Service Above Self.
Rotary International was founded in 1905 by Paul Harris as the world’s first all-volunteer service organization. The Rotary Club of Dallas meets every Thursday evening at 6:30 PM at the AppleTree Terrace at Newberry Estate.
Raub’s Hotel on the corner of Lake and Church Streets in Dallas, photographs from the early 1900s. The Dallas Rotary Club (Rotary Club of Dallas) was chartered there on March 3, 1927.
Dallas Rotary Club member and Paul Harris Award recipient Ed Roth in 1940.
Back Mountain Memorial Library Auction with Congressman Daniel Flood. Congressman Daniel J. Flood. Congressman Flood (1903–1994) is pictured at the Back Mountain Memorial Library Auction in Dallas. He represented Pennsylvania’s 11th District in the U. S. House of Representatives from 1945 to 1947, 1949 to 1953, and 1955 to 1980. He was on the House Appropriations Committee, developed the Luzerne County interstate system, and sponsored the 1961 Area Redevelopment Act and the 1969 Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act. (Courtesy of the Back Mountain Memorial Library.)
