History of The Rotary Club of Key West

The Key West Rotary Club was founded on April 1, 1916 (yes, on April fool's day!) by a group of businessmen in Key West. Our first club president was Jefferson Browne a lighthouse keeper.  Mr. Brown later became an attorney and future Supreme Court Justice for the Florida Supreme Court.  He also authored the book Key West The Old and The New published in 1913.

Our first informal meetings were held in a Duval Street store located between Front & Greene streets. In 1991 Wright Langley wrote a detailed history of our club which will be summarized in future pages of this web site.

Our club has a rich and proud history and we are excited to share this with you through this most modern of inventions; the Internet.