The Rotary Club of San Antonio – Club 52 – founded in 1912 has a new and permanent home at the newly completed Dawson Family Hall within the historic Witte Museum (1926) in near downtown San Antonio. In perhaps a first for a large Club (~400), our Club now has a permanent weekly home for its meetings.
The Witte Museum and the Club enthusiastically embraced the project in 2019. The $6.9 campaign to gut the existing meeting room so as to expand its capacity from ~200 to ~350 began in mid-2022 and was dedicated August 5, 2023.
The Club’s share of the cost – a daunting $1.15 million - was raised from within the membership thanks to a special project-launching gift from Mary Pat Stumberg, widow of Louis Stumberg - a 1981 Past Club President. The substantial balance came largely from 20 other Past Club Presidents and 20 loyal Club members each of whom donated a minimum of $10,000 for their name to be permanently memorialized on two large bronze plaques along ‘Rotary Way.’
Future Museum visitors who will enter along ‘Rotary Way’ will also see the Rotary International emblem appearing distinctively on 2 limestone columns which mark the entrance to the Dawson Family Hall.
A tip of the hat goes to the Rotary Club of Estes Park, Colorado who inscribed the Rotary Emblem on a huge limestone boulder at the City’s entrance. That distinctive welcoming spawned the idea to repeat the entry to ‘Rotary Way’ and the new Dawson Hall.
The Club’s share of the cost – a daunting $1.15 million - was raised from within the membership thanks to a special project-launching gift from Mary Pat Stumberg, widow of Louis Stumberg - a 1981 Past Club President. The substantial balance came largely from 20 other Past Club Presidents and 20 loyal Club members each of whom donated a minimum of $10,000 for their name to be permanently memorialized on two large bronze plaques along ‘Rotary Way.’
Future Museum visitors who will enter along ‘Rotary Way’ will also see the Rotary International emblem appearing distinctively on 2 limestone columns which mark the entrance to the Dawson Family Hall.
A tip of the hat goes to the Rotary Club of Estes Park, Colorado who inscribed the Rotary Emblem on a huge limestone boulder at the City’s entrance. That distinctive welcoming spawned the idea to repeat the entry to ‘Rotary Way’ and the new Dawson Hall.