History:

On November 9, 1915 George W. Harris, the noted photographer of Washington, D.C., traveled to Durham. His enthusiasm led to the formation of the Rotary Club of Durham which was chartered on January 1, 1916 as club no. 196. Durham was the fourth Rotary Club chartered in North Carolina. The first District Governor of what is now District 7710 was M. Eugene Newsom of Durham who served in 1924-1925. Eugene Newsom then served as president of the Rotary International in 1929-1930 and much later in 1967-1968, Luther Hodges, then living in Chapel Hill, also served as the president of Rotary International. Thus, District 7710 can claim two very distinguished sons of Rotary. In addition, James M. Bates, Jr., Frank Jarman, H.C. Cranford, Jr.,, R. Haywood Hosea, and Art Christakos, all were District Governors of 7710 from the Durham Rotary Club. Joe Hackley, a former member of this club served as District Governor for 2002-2003.

Several projects throughout the years have been special for Durham Rotary including the formation of Rotary Park in Downtown Durham, the establishment of the Durham Rotary Community Fund, the buying and installation of an exercise course for the Lenox Baker Children's Hospital at Duke University and the successful Polio Plus campaign. The club has sponsored the construction of Habitat for Humanity housing and awarded thousands of dollars in scholarships for college-bound Durham students. In addition, Durham Rotary is the annual champion for the Salvation Army bell-ringing program at Christmas.

In tribute to the club's 75th anniversary in 1990, the club rehabilitated the band stand at Bennett Place, which had been given by the club to the City of Durham in 1916, at which time the structure was located in a downtown park.

Durham Rotary has sponsored and helped organize the other three clubs in the city: The North Durham, Southwest Durham, and Durham Sunrise.