Club History

A Newnan Club, Since 1924

On January 17, 1924, nineteen business and professional men of Newnan met to organize a Rotary club. The Rotary Club of West Point sponsored them, under its president Rube Jennings, and they applied to Rotary International for a charter.

The charter was granted on February 29, 1924. Those nineteen became the charter members of the Rotary Club of Newnan.

The Charter Members

• Henry Arnall, Jr. — Retail Farm Supplies
• Rufus Askew — Retail Automobile Accessories
• Woodie Barr — Railroad Transportation
• Walter Boone — Retail Dry Goods
• Percy Bramblett — Wholesale Groceries
• Guy Cole — Engines, Boilers and Tanks
• Chauncey Durden — Minister
• Myron Farmer — Physician
• Tom Farmer — Lawyer
• Tom Fisher — Fire Insurance
• Tom Goodrum — Trust Company
• Lewis Hill — Cotton and Yarn Manufacturing
• Joe Hollis — Wholesale Hardware
• Cliff Kersey — Retail Ladies' Ready-to-Wear
• J. Red King — Retail Druggist
• Dan Manget — Cotton Factory
• Robert Mann — Hosiery Manufacturing
• Tom Parrott — Capitalist
• Garnet Reynolds — Retail Furniture

Their first officers were Tom G. Farmer, Jr., president; Dan T. Manget, vice president; B. Cliff Kersey, secretary and treasurer; Robert S. Mann, assistant secretary; and Tom S. Parrott, sergeant-at-arms.

Rotary in 1924

The club was one of 47 in District 39, which covered the whole of Georgia and Florida. By the club's own records, Rotary then counted 1,778 clubs and 99,700 members across 24 countries, organized into 41 districts spanning the United States, Canada, Mexico and Cuba. Clubs in Britain and Ireland operated under their own association.

Today the Rotary Club of Newnan is one of 68 clubs in District 6900, which covers western Georgia and the Atlanta metro.

Where We Meet

The first members met Fridays at noon at The Virginia Hotel. In 1953 the club moved to the Newnan Country Club, where it still meets — though the day changed along the way. Meetings are now Wednesdays at noon, finishing at one.

The Peptarian

At that very first meeting, Tom Parrott suggested the club call its weekly bulletin the Peptarian. It has been published every week since. Members now receive it by email as the ePeptarian.

What the Club Built

Much of what this club started has outlasted the people who started it.

• The Rotary Cup. Awarded since the 1930s to an outstanding graduating senior at each of the county's six high schools — Newnan, East Coweta, Northgate, Heritage, Trinity Christian and Central Christian. Faculty select the winner on leadership, citizenship and scholarship. Each receives an engraved silver Rotary Cup and a monetary award.
• Georgia Rotary Student Program. The club has sponsored international scholars since 1952, beginning with a student from Korea. Students from 35 countries have been hosted since.
• Two clubs chartered. Carrollton in 1936 and Peachtree City in 1968.
• Independence Day fireworks. The club has sponsored and produced Newnan's Fourth of July fireworks for nearly forty years.
• The Tour of Coweta. An annual cycling event out of the historic Newnan train depot, with rides from 27 to 100 miles. It funds the club's community grants to local nonprofits.
• Memorial Day. Each year the club sets about 110 crosses in downtown Newnan, honoring the fallen from World War I to the present.
• Interact. The club sponsors Interact clubs at Newnan High School and East Coweta High School.

The Frank Hudson Memorial Golf Tournament was held for many years in memory of Frank Hudson, who died at a club meeting while giving his Rotary talk.

Firsts

Women joined the Rotary Club of Newnan for the first time in 1991, when Joe MacNabb sponsored Lynn Smith for membership. The club's first husband-and-wife members followed in 1995, when Richard Brooks joined his wife Donna.

The roster still carries second, third and fourth-generation descendants of charter members.

The Club Today

Seventy-one active members meet every Wednesday at noon. The club serves through all five Avenues of Service — Club, Vocational, Community, International and Youth — and counts many Paul Harris Fellows among its members.

The club marked its centennial with a gala on February 29, 2024.

In August 2026, Rotary International named the Rotary Club of Newnan a recipient of its Club Excellence Award for the 2025-26 year.

Records do not survive for every one of these hundred and two years. The ones that do describe a club that kept showing up.

Past presidents of the Rotary Club of Newnan are listed on their own page.