The History of the Houston Founder Lions Club
The Houston Founder Lions Club was organized on April 2,1917 by Mr. Marlowe Fisher under the name Houston Central Lions Club, and later was changed in 1995 to the Houston Downtown Lions Club. The first president of the club was Mr. J.J. Boyle. Texas was the birthplace for Lions International and the Houston Central Lions Club was there to witness its birth. Delegates from Houston attended the first Convention of Lions International in October of 1917 in Dallas, Texas and, earned the club the distinguished title of “Founders Club.” The club charter was signed by Dr. Melvin Jones, the founder of Lionism. For an interesting history of Lionism and Dr. Jones, look at the website, www.texaslions.org.
Since that first convention in Dallas, Lions International has grown to 45,000 clubs in over 200 countries with 1.35 million members, making it the largest service organization in the world. In 1940, the Houston Central Lions Club was the largest Lions Organization in the United States and one of the largest in the world. The Houston Central Lions Club has help spread the vision of Lionism in the Gulf Coast area by sponsoring and helping to organize approximately 70 Lions organizations, including 30 in Houston itself.
The Houston Founder Lions Club has had many influential members. Notable was G.M. Cunningham, a contemporary of Dr. Jones, and an organizer of many clubs in the Southern United States. The club has provided many District Governors and office holders in the State, National, and International levels. After World War II, the club welcomed a large number of distinguished veterans, several of them are still very active in the club today.
“We Serve” is the motto of Lions International and the Houston Founder Lions have most certainly served the city of Houston. In 1939, the Houston Central Lions Club started the Lighthouse for the Blind, which serves the blind community of Houston and the surrounding area. In 1949, the club was instrumental in organizing the Crippled Children's Camp of Texas, which later became the Texas Lions Camp in Kerrville. In 1953, the Houston Central Lions Club, along with other Lions Clubs in the Gulf Coast area, established the Lions Eye Bank at the Baylor College of Medicine. The Lions have always been active with helping in the community with mainly sight-related projects and support for other community projects. Interestingly, the Houston Central Lions were instrumental in organizing Little League baseball in the early 1950's.
Almost from its founding in 1917, the Houston Central Lions Club met at the Rice Hotel, one of the most historic hotels in the city of Houston, located at the site of the first capitol of the state of Texas. The Rice was “home” for the club, until it was vacated some 35 years ago. In 1995, the Houston Central Lions Club changed its name to Houston Downtown Lions Club, and recently in 2012 changed its name to Houston Founder Lions Club, which recognizes the club as the original, founding Lions Club in Houston and Lions District 2-S2 in Texas. The club now meets at the Tellepsen Downtown YMCA at 808 Pease St. on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays at 5:30 pm. All of the Donations and money received from Fundraising efforts is given back to children in need and deserving families. We appreciate any and all support given to this historical organization.
