In honor of its 100th anniversary, the Newnan Rotary Club arranged an exhibit at the McRitchie-Hollis Museum. The exhibit featured objects and information from the Club’s history in Newnan to educate visitors on the Club's community involvement.

The Club is likely most well-known for its annual Fourth of July Fireworks celebration in Newnan, which it has organized since 1986. The club also has service projects focused on local youth, homelessness, and literacy. For the last several years, the club has hosted the annual Tour of Coweta bike ride, using proceeds from the event to fund scholarships for local nonprofit organizations.

“For 100 years, Rotary has given back to this community through service projects and community participation,” said Kevin Barbee, president of the Newnan Rotary Club. “There’s also a lot of legacy in our membership. Many who chartered this organization in 1924 are very common and familiar names in our community. Their descendants are still active in this community.”

Items on display include the President’s Cup award, which honors Rotarians who go above and beyond in their service to the club, flags from International Rotary Clubs visited by Rotarians from Newnan, and biographies of the organization’s charter members.

“Not a single Newnanite wouldn’t know the name Arnall,” said Taj Stephens, Museum Manager for the Newnan-Coweta History Center.

While gathering material for the exhibit, Barbee said one of the most interesting things he learned was that the club’s newsletter had persisted just as long as the club itself." Just like the club has been sustained for 100 years, our newsletter has been provided to our members every week for 100 years,” Barbee said. “We have copies of that in the exhibit from the late 1920s. That newsletter has continued, and it’s something that could have easily gone by the wayside. It’s work putting that together every single week.”

According to Stephens, the research for the exhibit was a boon for the museum because it filled in some gaps in its archives. “Many of the charter members were some of the most influential people in Coweta County,” he said. “To have more information for our archive gives more insight into how people lived in early 1900s Newnan.”