Many of the earliest Rotarians believed that the optimal focus for Rotary was on stimulating ethical conduct in businesses and professions.  There was always a community focus as well, but that focus gained momentum when Rotary began expanding into smaller cities and towns, which often did not have the social and political structure for community action. Rotarians were the leaders of these communities, not just the leaders of their professions.  Their leadership and vision changed their communities and cemented the role of Rotary in community service. It took decades for Rotary to settle on the current structure of multiple avenues of service rather than a single primary goal. Community service had proven its worth and therefore will always be a central part of Rotary.
 
In the smaller towns and cities, the need of community service was manifested in every quarter.  There was nothing abstruse about it; it called for action rather than study or the exercise of the imagination.  To one who employed few, if any clerks or helpers, the employer-employee relationship seemed not a serious matter.
 
Certain leaders who were not adverse to community service, were nevertheless of the opinion that clubs should not participate as clubs; that they should go no further than to encourage their members to take part in community activities sponsored by other organizations, except in rare instances where there were no other organizations qualified to act; in which cases,  Rotary clubs might take up the work until other agencies could be organized for the purpose.

(Paul Harris, This Rotarian Age, page 110)
 
With thanks to the Rotary Global History Fellowship - the largest fellowship in Rotary
 
Read the full text of Paul’s book, “This Rotarian Age” on the RGHF site at: