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The Rotary Club of Hilo was chartered on December 1, 1920.  Our club was the second Rotary Club established in Hawaii.  The first was the Rotary Club of Honolulu, which sponsored the establishment of our club.

Since the charter of our club, five members have served as District Governor.  They were Carl S. Carlsmith (1939-40), Dr. Leslie Weight (1950-51), Dr. William Bergin (1961-62), William "Babe" Chillingworth (1970-71) and Randy Hart (2022-2023).

The first President of the Rotary Club of Hilo was Carl S. Carlsmith.  In the second year of the club's existence, Carlsmith served as Secretary and Editor of "The Spoke," the club's first weekly newsletter.  The name of the newsletter was soon changed to the "Lava Flow", the name it still bears today.