Escondido Rotary Club was chartered on October 20, 1924, by then R.I. President Everett Wentworth Hill.  We had 25 charter members who were bankers, farmers, businessmen, the newspaper editor, a doctor, dentist, pharmacist, and school superintendent.  Our first meeting was at the Vale View Restaurant in November.  Our first president was Milt Wisdom, a local merchant.

Escondido Rotary supports education in our community in many ways: scholarships, student awards, student guests, and have adopted Central Elementary School.  Rotary members are the chief administrators of the Escondido Elementary and Escondido Union High School Districts.  Many Rotarians have served on school boards.  We support the Salvation Army, Escondido Boys and Girls Club, RYLA, YMCA, and have sponsored Boy Scout Troop 649 for more than 50 years.  Other activities include an annual Halloween Window Painting Contest, Avoidable Blindness projects under the direction of International Avoidable Blindness Director, Dr. Doyle Dannenberg, a 4-Way Speech Contest, and

"Rotating Meetings" just like Rotary's beginnings -- members meet at more than 20 different members' place of business.  Our club has provided six District Governors for District 5340.

Currently we have over 200 members and we are the third largest club in District 5340. While the name "Escondido" means hidden in Spanish, Escondido is not hidden.  We are located 30 miles north of San Diego and with a population of 145,000 we are North San Diego County's largest city with a diversity of business activity.

We are the gateway to the world famous San Diego Wild Animal Park, founded by Escondido Rotarian, the late Dr. Charles Schroeder.

UNIQUE FEATURES: Escondido Rotary club is noted for its singing - each week they sing a new song specifically written to recognize the speaker or program for the day!  To our knowledge, we are the only club in the Rotary world that does this!

Come join us for fun and fellowship!