Rotary Bridge

Rotary Bridge. . Chicago businessman Paul Harris formed the first Rotary Club on Feb. 23, 1905. He named the club "Rotary" because members met in rotation at their various places of business. The Rotary Club of Kokomo received its charter in 1919, and The Rotary Club of Kokomo Early Risers received its charter in 1997. Rotary's motto is Service Above Self, and its 1.2 million-member, world wide organization of business professional leaders provide humanitarian service, promote high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build good will and world peace., History , Beaty Construction, Boggstown, IN, placed this bridge over Wildcat Creek on July 15, 2008, during Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight's administration. John Martino, Kokomo Parks and Recreation superintendent, and Larry Ives, director of the Kokomo/Howard County Government Coordinating Council, provided valuable assistance in the expansion of this urban trail known as the Walk of Excellence., According to local historians, Thomas Faulkner, an early Kokomo Settler, donated land on the north east side of this bridge as Kokomo's first cemetery. The first graves were of two young children who died in the early 1840's. The site was designated Pioneer Cemetery, since a majority of Kokomo's first residents were buried there from 1845 to 1868., The city opened another cemetery - Crown Point Cemetery - in 1968 and directed residents to move their loved ones there, because Wildcat Creek, which was east of its present location, was washing away graves on the west side of the cemetery in seasons of high water. The remains of Chief Kokomo, the city's namesake are buried near a monument in the north east corner of the cemetery., Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. sold the land directly east of the bridge to Kokomo-Center Schools in 1942, and Kokomo High School played its varsity baseball games and tennis matches and ran cross-country races, and its football team practiced here until the high school was moved to its Berkley Road location in the 1980's. Kokomo-Center donated the land for the Walk of Excellence to the City of Kokomo in 2005.