In 1963, the Belleville Chamber of Commerce was started by Rotarian Ted Kuckelman. The following year saw the 25th anniversary of the Belleville Rotary Club celebrated at a gala dinner at Inn America in Ann Arbor. The speaker was Jim Wood of radio station WJR.
70's - PresentThe club held its first Harvest Ball social and fund raiser in the fall of 1973. This continued as a successful and important event for many years. Spring 1975 marked the first Strawberry Festival in Belleville, and Rotary participated by sponsoring a pancake breakfast at the High School. This breakfast has been held every year since in conjunction with the Strawberry Festival. In 1979, through the infiuence of Rotarian Charles B. Cozadd, the club established a foundation to expand and carry on Rotary service in the community. The foundation was subsequently named in Mr. Cozadd's honor posthumously.
In the 1980's the club held a reception for RI President James Bomar, continued the awarding of scholarships to Belleville High School students – increasing the number from 5 to 10 – and celebrated the club's 50th anniversary in a gala party in February 1989. A significant project that year was the planting of crabapple trees to beautify the Belleville area. Over 200 trees were donated to the city of Belleville and Sumpter and VanBuren townships. Hundreds more were sold throughout the area as a fundraiser to help support other club projects.
Through the 90's to the present, the Belleville Rotary has continued and expanded its service to the greater Belleville community while exemplifying one of Rotary's most familiar mottoes, "He profits most who serves the best."
The Belleville Rotary Club has been serving citizens in Belleville and the surrounding area for over 65 years. It all began with a suggestion that took ten years to germinate.
In 1928 Guy Miller of the Milan Rotary Club planted the seed for a Rotary Club in Belleville during a discussion with Dr. E. S. Alford.. That original contact led to the chartering of the Belleville (Michigan) Rotary Club on December 31, 1938. The charter (#4913) was formally presented to the club on January 10, 1939, in a ceremony at Belleville High School by Roy Plumb, District Governor of the 153rd District. The speaker was Richard Hedke of the Detroit Rotary Club, a past District Governor, and a past RI Director who later became the president of Rotary International. The first club officers were as follows:
Dr. E. S. Alford, President
Orlo G. Roberts, Vice President
John L. Patterson, Secretary
Lester E. Hanna, Treasurer
Frank A. Ames, Director
Fred C. Fischer, Director
Cleveland Roe, Director
The Belleville Club hit the ground running. In that first year, the club sponsored the first Campfire Girls group in Belleville and a Rotary Anns group formed by the wives of Rotarians. The Belleville club also sponsored the establishment of the Romulus Rotary Club. Meetings in those early years were at the Ives Restaurant on the corner of Huron River Drive and Liberty Street.
40's - 60'sThrough the 1940s the club continued an active program of community service. In mid-decade the club moved its meeting to the Masonic temple. A highlight of the 1952-53 Rotary year was that Ted Kuckelman, a Belleville Rotarian, became District Governor. Ted was fond of saying that the Belleville club was the "best little club in the district."
In December 1956, the Belleville club sold its first fruitcake, a fundraising staple for the club for over 30 years. The meeting place was again moved in 1958, to the Methodist Church where it continues to reside today.