At the time of this writing, Jenny and I are at the Zone 28-29 Institute in Chicago. On the previous Monday we toured the Rotary International Headquarters with a group. The headquarters is in an 18-story modern glass façade building in Evanston.
I was told quite a bit of the floor space is rented out to other businesses. I noticed TIAA-CREF for example with office space there.
While there we visited the President’s office on the 17th floor. It is an expansive office with book shelves full of memento’s given to the current Rotary President from Rotary Clubs and Districts around the globe. It is quite interesting and inspiring. The office itself has a large full glass wall overlooking Lake Michigan.
On the first floor of the Evanston International Office is a recreation of the office of Paul Harris. It contained an oak table and chairs where the originators of Rotary Met to discuss forming Rotary. There were several names floated before Rotary was selected including “Men with Friends”. Hmmm. Anyway, Rotary caught on as the founders rotated meetings between members.
Later that day we went to the home of Paul Harris and his spouse Jean Thomson Harris. The estate was called Comely Bank, named after a place dear to his wife in Scotland. He was 42 when they married and she was 14 years younger. She lived until 1963 which was well after her husband died in 1947. As I understand it, Jean moved back to Edinburgh Scotland after Paul passed away to be closer to her family. The house they lived in is currently being restored to its original state. We saw it basically stripped to the stud walls and rafters. As you can imagine new electrical wiring and plumbing etc. had to be installed. It should be quite interesting/nice when completed. Nearby is Paul Harris’s grave. His wife is buried in Scotland.