History

The Young Men's Business League existed in Temple in 1916 when they became interested in a Dallas meeting to form an organization of civic clubs, the meeting that would lead to the founding sessions for Lions Clubs. George M. Cunningham was one of the Temple organizers along with H. K. Orgain and W. J. Bassett. The Temple Lions organization effort that began in 1916, came to fruition on November 1, 1917. Other charter members of the Temple Lions Club were Dr. J. M. Woodson, B. A. Hodges, J. C. Mitchell, John A. Cole, Dr. O. F. Gober, H. P. Robertson, Jr., W. E. Willis, W. F. Lucas, Andrew McBeath, H. L. Daily, W. O. Cox, P. L. Downs, Sr., W. W. Clement, Dr. J. M. Murphy and W. H. Knickerbocker.

Some club records show that Col. Downs was the first president of the club, but the newspaper of the day listed Robertson as the first man to serve as president. See the web page which lists the Past Presidents of the Temple Lions Club.

Early Club minutes document that the members were interested in community cleanliness and appearance, patriotism and high ideals for the membership.

The first projects were to support the sale of "Liberty Bonds" and to assist with record-keeping on the draft of men into military service. Temple Lions staged a "Victory Sing" for the community morale in the early days of World War I.

"City Beautiful" was a project begin in February 1918 and the Club inspired the townspeople to haul off 319 truckloads of trash from the downtown section in the first campaign.

Other projects in the formative years were sponsoring a "Manual Training Department" at Temple High School and sponsoring a carnival with profits directed to the YMCA and the Band Parents Club.