Two Pekin service clubs to mark their centennials
Two of Pekin’s community service organizations – the Pekin Rotary and Pekin Kiwanis clubs – will reach their centennial milestones this month.
Undaunted even by COVID-19, during this time of “shelter in place” and quarantines both clubs have conducted their regular meetings online using the Zoom app.
Enthusiasm for social clubs and service organizations was very high in Pekin in 1920, only two years out of the First World War. Several social clubs then active in Pekin (such as the Tazewell Club) no longer exist, but the Pekin Rotary Club and the Pekin Kiwanis Club, which both were christened in the spring of 1920, are still going strong today.
The Pekin Rotary Club – one of tens of thousands of clubs that belong to Rotary International – was organized in April 1920, and held its first meeting Wednesday night, May 12, 1920. Consequently, Pekin Rotary is able to boast that it is the longest serving community organization in Pekin.