Geographical History

      The first Rotary club in the world was organized in Chicago on February 23, 1905. The second Rotary Club was founded in San Francisco, California in 1908 and the New York City Club No. 6 was organized on August 6, 1909.
     From 1909 until 1912, Rotary had no form of divisional or district administration but at the August, 1912 Convention the United States Clubs were divided into divisions with an International Vice-President for each division. The New York City Rotary Club found itself in the “Eastern Division” consisting of the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. Within a year after the organization of this ‘Eastern Division’ several more clubs came into Rotary. Included were Albany Rotary Club No. 68 organized in April 1913 and Troy Rotary Club No. 122 in January 1914.
     At the January 1915 Convention the Constitution and By-Laws of the International Association of Rotary Clubs was amended to provide ‘Districts’ instead of ‘Divisions’. Albany and Troy found themselves in the Second District, which consisted of the states of New York and New Jersey. There were 12 New York Clubs and 4 New Jersey clubs.
     The Second District continued until July 1, 1918 when it was split-up and Albany, Troy and Schenectady Clubs went into the Third District which was described as follows: Eastern New York, that portion east of the 75th meridian, and Northern New Jersey, north of a line running due east beginning immediately south of Trenton.”
     The Third District continued until July, 1922, when the 29th district came into being, the boundaries of which were as follows: ‘That portion east of the eastern boundaries of the counties of Hamilton, Herkimer, Otsego, Chenango, and Broome and south of the northern boundaries of the counties of Warren and Fulton.’ In March, 1931, the colony of Bermuda was added.
     District 174 continued until July 1, 1937 when District 173 was established and the boundaries included the counties of Warren, Fulton, Washington, Saratoga, Schenectady, Montgomery, Schoharie, Albany, Rensselaer, Greene, Columbia, Sullivan, Ulster, Dutchess, Orange, Putnam and Rockland.
     District 173 continued until July 1, 1949 when a new District known as District 255 was established with no change in boundaries.
     District 256 was created on the same date (July 1, 1954) and included the counties of Greene, Columbia, Sullivan, Ulster, Dutchess, Orange, Putnam and Rockland. George Bagley was the first Governor of District 256 in 1954-55, Rotary International’s Golden Anniversary Year.
     District 721 was renumbered from 256 in 1957-8 and covered the same eight counties with Sam Scudder as District Governor.
     District 7210 was the result of existing Districts adding a ‘0’ to accommodate the addition of Districts throughout the world.

Information courtesy of District 7210 Web Portal