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First Club
With the founding of the Kiwanis Club of Detroit Number One, Michigan, in 1915, Kiwanians discovered they were having a good time and they could make a noise in the world, but not by scratching one another’s backs in business. They could do it by rendering important community service without thought of personal gain. Yet trouble loomed. The founding club of an organization faltered, -
Kiwanis was born
Kiwanis International was founded in 1915 by a group of businessmen in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The organization was originally called the Supreme Lodge Benevolent Order of Brothers, but changed its name to Kiwanis a year later. The name "Kiwanis" was coined from an expression in an American Indian language of the Detroit area, "Nunc Kee-wanis," which means, "we trade." -
First location
Until the first joint meeting of the early Kiwanis clubs in Cleveland in 1916, the “headquarters” of the organization truly was to be found in the clubs. -
Kiwanis motto
in 1920, something important crystallized for Kiwanis; something that inspired Roe Fulkerson, the gifted editor of the Kiwanis magazine, to propose two simple words—“We Build”—as the Kiwanis motto. -
Kiwanis Grows
By 1924, Kiwanis Club International (as the organization was called until the adoption of the Constitution and Bylaws at the Denver convention that year) had well over 1,200 clubs and almost 90,000 members. -
Kiwanis Great Depression
Even though the crash of 1929 and the Depression that followed had serious effects on Kiwanis, the headquarters was moved once again, this time out of the Loop and a number of blocks north to the “Magnificent Mile.” The McGraw-Hill Building at 520 North Michigan Avenue was selected as the site of the new headquarters of Kiwanis International. -
Kiwanis Begins Again
On March 1, 1931, work started in the new location, which required an annual rent of $5,700. For 24 years, the “K’s” on the windows of the building were seen by millions of passers-by. -
Kiwanis Final location
Groundbreaking ceremonies took place in the late fall of 1957. Construction began. The cornerstone was laid on June 29, 1958, coinciding with the Kiwanis International Convention in Chicago that year. Construction and the move from 520 North Michigan to 101 East Erie was completed on March 21, 1959. The dedication of the Kiwanis International Building took place on Sunday, October 25, 1959, just before the official opening of that year’s International Council. -
Present
Today, Kiwanis is a worldwide service organization of men and women who share the challenge of community and world improvement. -
New slogan
Today, Kiwanis has adopted a new slogan: “Serving the Children of the World.” The Kiwanis International Office received major attention when it erected the “Children of the World Garden” sculpture.
