The Anniston Rotary Club had its embryonic inception in the director's room of the Anniston National bank in the fall of 1917. Dr. George Lang, then connected with the Presbyterian College, was the moving spirit of these first steps. The population of Anniston at that time was about 15,000 and the city was regarded by International as being too small to support a Rotary Club. However after several months a charter was granted on September 7, 1917. Tuscaloosa, Alabama was the Sponsoring Club. Dr. Lang was elected president and the first meeting was held in the Riser Café at Tenth and Noble. The first project of the club was to start a wood yard in west Anniston to furnish work for the unemployed. One of the historical highlights was when a delegation of Boy Scouts was sent to the International Jamboree in Holland in 1931. Our representation there was greater than that of any other city in the southern states. In 1936 Thomas G. Coleman led a movement to elect H.M. Ayers as District Governor, and during his tenure, Ayers organized eight new Rotary Clubs in the old 26th District before leaving for the International Convention in Nice, France. Dr. Houston Cole, a member of our club was elected District Governor while he was a member of the Tuscaloosa Club, and Dr. Lang then a member of the Tuscaloosa Club, was District Governor in 1950. Anniston's other District Governor's were Ralph Porch, elected in 1957; Ed Van Keuren elected in 1969; and John. R. Stewart elected in 1978.