Magnolia Rotary History:

The idea of a Rotary Club for Magnolia was the "brain child" of three men - Oscar Moore, the local manager of the Arkla Gas Company, W.C. Blewster, president of the First National Bank of Magnolia and J.C. Hutcheson, a Magnolia druggist.

The Club was sponsored by the El Dorado Rotary Club, the officers of which who took the lead in the organization of the Magnolia Club were Harold Thurston, the El Dorado manager of the Arkla Gas Company and Lew Stephen, a life insurance company representative.

There was only one men's civic club in Magnolia at the time, that being the Lions Club, organized in
1932. Their membership in 1938 was around 25 to 30. The preliminary work for a local Rotary charter was started in November 1938, at which time a list of charter members was drawn up along with an application to Rotary International.