Key Club History: Past and Present
(taken for the Key Club Official Website)
The following history of Key Club was taken from the Key Club Manual,
Chapter II, titled "The Key Club: A Unique Kiwanis Program for Youth."
Origin. It was in May 1925 in Sacramento, California, that the eleven
charter members comprising the first Key Club met officially for the
first time. Prior to that meeting came a full year's activity and
thought, through which the idea of the Key Club developed and finally
reached fruition. The following describes that flowering.
In California during the twenties, high school fraternities were in
their heyday. Educators and others were concerned with the pernicious
side of these groups and sought some means of replacing them with more
wholesome activity for youth. Fraternities were banned by law; they
merely went underground, to be heard of only when their excesses
received glaring publicity. The idea of junior service clubs, similar
to Kiwanis and other civic clubs, was broached in 1924, but the
practical application was not put into effect until 1925.
Two men in the Sacramento Kiwanis club, who were high school
administrators, approached their club with the idea of a junior service
club in the high school, to be patterned after Kiwanis and to have its
own classifications based on school interests and to hold luncheon
meetings. Through this group in the high school, the Kiwanis club hoped
to provide vocational guidance, first to boys who had decided upon
their future occupation, and then to the entire school. The Kiwanis
club president liked the plan and appointed a committee to look into
the matter. The principal of the high school was most receptive and
assisted in finding boys interested in joining such a group. Next, the
plan was presented to the Board of Education upon the principal's
request, and following its approval, the first Key Club meeting was
held early in May 1925. Evidence of the value of this group and its
program is found in the fact that the Sacramento High School Key Club
is still in flourishing existence today.
The club held weekly luncheons in the school, where Kiwanians came to
speak to the group on various vocations. Key Club members attended
Kiwanis meetings as guests of the club to enhance further the value of
Key Club membership by bringing high school students into constant
contact with the business and professional men of the community. As the
experience of the Key Club grew, a noticeable trend toward expanding
the original purpose and activity was found possible, and the club was
soon a complete service organization for the whole school. It also
offered a social program to balance its service activities.
Early Development. Through contact with the Sacramento Key Club and
Kiwanis Club, other Kiwanis groups soon became interested in the
activity and sponsored similar organizations in their own communities.
One source of expansion during these early years came through high
school principals and other educators. The school men responsible for
the Sacramento Key Club talked of it with their colleagues and wrote of
its activities in various articles. This resulted in many requests for
information being sent to the Sacramento Kiwanis club concerning the
Key Club. Such information was sent out and principals in various parts
of the country were responsible for organizing similar groups in their
own schools with the help of their local Kiwanis clubs. Practically all
Key Club expansion which took place during the next fifteen years was
accomplished in this way. By that time fifty clubs were functioning in
California, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and
Washington.
In 1939 the first plan for combining individual local Key Clubs into
federated groups was developed in Florida. With Kiwanis counsel, a
convention of existing clubs was held, a state association formed, and
officers elected. The purpose of the State Association was to promote
an exchange of ideas concerning the Key Club activity and to expand the
number of Key Clubs. Conventions were held each succeeding year, and
when the International Constitution and Bylaws were adopted in 1946,
the Florida Association became the first Key Club district.
Florida was instrumental also in promoting the formation of an
International Association of Key Clubs to perform for the entire
country what the Florida Association had done for Key Clubs in that
state. In 1943, at the invitation of the Florida boys, Key Clubbers
from clubs in Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Tennessee were in
attendance at the annual convention of the State Association held in
Sanford. The representatives voted to form an International Association
of Key Clubs and elected Malcolm Lewis of West Palm Beach, Florida, as
first President.
Three formative years followed, during which the outlines of the
present Key Club International organization were drawn. Lewis served
one year and was followed in office by Eddie Richardson of Ft.
Lauderdale, and Roger Keller of New Orleans. Keller presided over the
third annual convention in New Orleans on April 27, 1946, at which time
delegates from all parts of the country approved the Constitution and
Bylaws, officially launching Key Club International.
During these years of early growth and increasing organization, Kiwanis
International had not been idle. The Key Club was early recognized as a
local club project, and no attempt was made to control its overall
organization. In 1942 the Kiwanis International Board of Trustees
recommended the movement to all clubs and directed the Boys and Girls
Work committee to undertake the sponsorship of these clubs as an
activity for students of high school age. In 1944 a special Kiwanis
International Committee on Sponsored Youth Organizations was formed to
look after Key Club work. Finally, in 1946, a separate Key Club
Department was created in the International Office of Kiwanis
International to serve as a clearing house for Key Club information, to
keep the records and handle correspondence of the organization, to
provide effective liaison between Key Clubs and Kiwanis, and to conduct
the annual International conventions. Now the Key Club Department also
handles a monthly publication--KEYNOTER--which was first issued in May
1946. The Kiwanis International Committee on Key Clubs was formed on
January 1, 1949.
Present Status. Since May of 1925, Key Club continues to grow rapidly.
There are now clubs located throughout North America and the Caribbean
area. In these groups, thousands of students are receiving training in
leadership and service. The Key Club District organization is patterned
after the original Florida District and its parent Kiwanis districts.
These organizations hold their own annual conventions for fellowship,
to coordinate the efforts of individual clubs, to exchange ideas on Key
Clubbing, and to recognize outstanding service of clubs or individual
with appropriate awards.
Key Club is truly an "International" organization. In 1946 the first
club was built in Canada, and since that time many more have been
added. Key Clubs have also been formed in the Caribbean and future
growth is promising. Every year, led by the international officers, two
hundred or more new Key Clubs are added to this fast growing
organization, but emphasis is on permanent, active clubs, rather than
on mere numbers as such. With this criterion as a guide, Key Clubs can
expect a steady, healthy growth for many years to come.
