Club History

Though the years our club has been known as the Austin Lions Club, the Lions Club of Austin, and the Downtown Lions Club. In 1976, the name was formally changed to the Founder Lions Club of Austin. It is now known as the Austin Downtown Lions Club.

The club's origins are described by Past International President Julian C. Hyer in his book, Texas Lions, 1917-1967:

And speaking of Austin...The Austin Club is an interesting as well as an historic one dating far back into "the early days." It was organized in January 1916 by E. A. Hicks for Dr. Woods and it sent to the 1917 Convention at Dallas Harry Reasonover and W.A.L. McCormick. While seeking to evoke no controversy and settling nothing here, the San Antonio Club was organized prior to Austin, but some claim is asserted that the Bexar County Club was dormant for a time and had to be reorganized and that this makes Austin the "oldest continuing club." At any rate, the Austin charter reads January 18, 1916, which makes it two months older than the Little Rock charter, and the Arkansas club has long held itself out as the "oldest club in Lionism".

We still enjoy our status as the "world's oldest continuously operating Lions Club." But, we like to think that our efforts in community service are typical of Lions Clubs the world over. It's a story of stage shows, garage sales, rodeos, rose sales and other kinds of fund raisers. It's a story of answering the needs of the community and of disadvantaged groups and individuals. And it's a story of building and working with other Lions Clubs to promote teamwork in service.

Early service activities were predictably oriented toward the Great War in progress, such as the adoption of an 8 year old French orphan girl, sales of War Bonds, and fund raising for the Red Cross. Then in 1926 Helen Keller implore Lions to be the "Knights of the Blind" and gave direction to many future Lions service efforts. The Club instigated vision testing for Austin schoolchildren, and worked with other Austin Lions Clubs to form the Austin Lions Sight Conservation Committee and the Lions Indigent Vision Enterprise, which provide eyeglasses for needy children and adults, respectively. The Club also supports the Lions Eye Bank which makes cornea transplants possible, and the Texas Lions Camp in Kerrville Texas, which provides experiences in self sufficiency for handicapped and diabetic children.