It's a Celebration!

Kiwanis began in Detroit, Michigan in January of 1915.  The name Kiwanis comes from two Indian words, “Ki” or “Kee” and “Wanis”, meaning “We Trade”.  Today the Kiwanis motto is “We Build”. 

Our club was the third club chartered in the Minnesota District and the 33rd club to be chartered in the entire Kiwanis International Organization.

Our first meeting was held on Tuesday, October 10, 1916 in room #700 of the Holland Hotel.   Thirty-five members were in attendance.  The guest speaker at that first meeting was Kiwanis National Organizer A. S. Browne of Buffalo, New York.  Mr. Browne took the floor and gave an outline of the history of the Kiwanis Club and its principles.  

Ninety years later, we still meet at the same location, but where the old Holland Hotel stood is now the Radisson Hotel.  We meet at the Radisson every Wednesday at noon.

Calvin How, Jr. was the first president of our club, and it was under his administrationthat we secured 100 charter members.
Our club officially organized on January 30, 1917, and we received our charter on February 26th of that year.

Our second president was Isaac Lewis, and it was under his leadership that we dropped the mercenary slogan “We Trade” and adopted our inspiring motto, “We Build”.

N. Frank Russell served as our third and fourth president and presided through 1918 and 1919.  During his administration, the club raised and contributed over $3,000 to the War Relief Work.  Three thousand dollars may not sound like a lot of money, but $3,000.00 in 1918 had the same purchasing power as $38,904.38 in 2005.  That’s quite a  contribution!

Citation:  Lawrence H. Officer and Samuel H. Williamson, "Purchasing Power of Money in the United States from 1774 to 2005," Measuring Worth.Com, August 2006.

In 1920, Anton I. Ahlen became the fifth president.  Under his administration, we held free band concerts that took place in the parks of Duluth throughout the entire summer of 1920.  The $7,500 needed to provide the concerts was raised through two dances, which were held at the Armory by our Kiwanis club.  Our club also enjoyed its greatest growth during Anton Ahlen’s term as the membership swelled to 225 members.

James Ray Stack became the sixth president in 1921.  Mr. Stack was the head of our first Community Fund Drive.  In later years this money-raising drive was renamed, and you probably know it as the United Way of Greater Duluth.

R. Armistead Grady was elected Secretary of our Kiwanis Club in 1921.  In December of 1946, 25 years later, we found quite a lengthy tribute to him.  Every book tat we looked in, every ounce of history we turned up all included the same name: Armistead Grady.....

Governor Attends Momentous Occasion

This past weekend, I attended a milestone for Region 3 and for our Minnesota-Dakotas District when the Kiwanis Club of Friendly Duluth celebrated their 90th Anniversary as a Kiwanis Club.   They were the third club chartered in MN-DAK and just the 33rd club to be chartered in the entire Kiwanis International organization.

What a wonderful, impressive night it was -- an elegant party in the gracious old Kitchi Gammi Club of Duluth.  We felt the warmth of our Kiwanis family with the attendance of many members and many guests --quite a few from many miles away.  There was a time of gathering -- a time to greet old friends and meet new ones, a time to absorb the history and pictures of times past.

The dinner was superb and the organization of the program, the flowers, the banners and the special awards showed the hours of planning and preparation that had gone into making this more than a special night!

We were treated by a Boy Scoup troop who presented the colors through a series of flags from the inception of our nation.  How very impressive and humbling to see the development of our country through those flags and what they meant to our young nation.

Words of greeting from several guests were given and there were many presentations and special awards made:  a special Key Club Presentation to the outstanding Key Clubbers present, an address by the Andrew Reardon scholarship recipient, an outstanding history presentation in video, and the very moving award received by the elderly daughter of a long-time past significant club member.

At the end of the evening a special floral bouquet was give to Carol Lilyquist-Snoeyenbos, daughter of President Don Lilyquist.  Carol had organized so much of the evening, and it was a triumph indeed.  What a night!  What a proud night for a 90-year-old club, still going strong and a vibrant part of our Kiwanis family.

Congratulations and Happy Birthday to all!