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In 1915, officers of Rotary International recognized the need for more efficient administration of the rapidly growing, geographically widespread number of clubs being chartered.  A worldwide division into Rotary Districts resulted.  District 13 was comprised of clubs from California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Hawaii.

 

In 1918, the designation of District 13 was changed to District 23. Chartering of new clubs was relatively slow in these early years because the central office believed a service area population of at least 30,000 was necessary for a club to exist and function successfully.  Eventually, when RI removed this requirement, growth accelerated.

 

In 1922, the designation changed again from District 23 to District 2. This district was now made up of clubs from California, Nevada, Hawaii and Mexico.  Now the chartering of new clubs exceeded all expectations, and as a result District 2 was split into five districts in 1937. Northern California and Nevada became District 105.

 

In 1947, it was time for another division of the district. District 109 was split from District 105 and its boundaries were reduced.  Although the District 109 designation lasted only two years, six new clubs were chartered during this period.  Rotary International again changed designations in 1949, and former District 109 became District 164. The District 164 designation remained until 1957, when continued growth of the district necessitated division once more. The district was split with the  Northern California region being divided. The new District 519, now includes the northeastern part of California from Walnut Grove on the south to the Oregon border and all of Nevada except for the southern tip (Las Vegas).

 

In 1957, District 519 was comprised of 51 clubs with a total of 3315 members. During the ensuing years, the chartering of new clubs in the District continued at a moderate pace.  Also, a minor boundary change on the western edge of the district brought in two existing clubs, Gridley and West Sacramento.

 

In 1987, District 519 had 64 Rotary clubs and more clubs were being created each year. The District leadership and management were experiencing some major challenges. The requirement to visit all clubs in the first six months was too physically demanding and the observable physical deterioration of the DGs was apparent. Besides the issues associated with geography and the number of clubs, communication was becoming difficult.  At that time, typewriters and faxes were the norm (no cell phones or email service!).  In addition, there were two of every training session: Pre-PETS, District Assembly, Membership and Foundation. It became apparent that addressing these challenges would probably require subdividing District 519 into more manageable components. Thus, the idea of splitting District 519 into two districts came about.

 

The first proposal to redistrict was in 1988 (proposed by DG Paul Nielson), but it was not successful. The proposal dividing the district into two, with 33 clubs in one (519) and 31 clubs in the other (future District 5180) was approved by Rotary International but rejected by the majority of the clubs.

 

In early 1991, the RI Board of Directors changed the district numbering system from three-digit designations to four; District 519 became District 5190.  Later that year, a second redistricting proposal (proposed by DG Jim Thompson) dividing District 5190 (now with 69 clubs) along the Sierra Nevada ridge line was offered, placing 41 clubs with 2713 Rotarians west of the ridge and 28 clubs with 1639 Rotarians east of the ridge. However, the problem with such a split was the manner of allocating the clubs leaving District 5190 with a substantial reduction of clubs, resulting in a major negative impact on the revenue stream for District 5190.  Again, this proposal was not approved by the clubs in the district.

 

In 1993, a District Split Committee chaired by DG Jerry Hall presented a third proposal to split District 5190 (now with 74 clubs). The proposal was better balanced in splitting the actual membership, resulting in a more equitable revenue stream for both; 44 clubs with 2297 Rotarians would remain in District 5190 and 30 clubs with 2200 members would become the new District 5180.  Geographically, the clubs in the Sacramento Valley comprised the new district, where those clubs in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Nevada remained in District 5190.

 

This third proposal identified another need -- ‘seed’ money for each district.  The equipment inventory had to be split, and each district needed operating and contingency funds. This seed money would have to be generated by the existing 74 clubs. Thus, the next hurdle was getting the majority of the existing 5190 Rotarians in California and Nevada to agree to a dues increase as well as bless the split of District 5190.  That required prominent Rotarians from both states to begin visiting the clubs to get agreement on who would stay in District 5190 and who would be in the new District 5180.

 

Beginning in late 1991 through June of 1992, PDG Jerry Hall from District 5190 and other notable Rotarians from the new emerging District 5180, such as PDG Tom Harris and PDG Chick Alexander, began visiting clubs in Nevada and California to solicit support for this third proposal.  After much discussion and multiple presentations to club boards, the District leadership obtained approval from the clubs and, in September 1992,  submitted a petition to Rotary International to split District 5190.  In a letter dated June 25, 1993,  from RIP Cliff Dochterman, Rotary International granted conditional approval of the splitting of District 5190 (effective date to be July 1, 1995).  The condition mandated in the letter was the creation of four new clubs in the proposed new district 5180.  However, in March 1994, Rotary International reduced the number from 4 to one.

Even so, two clubs were chartered in 1994 (Oroville Sunrise and Sacramento Breakfast).  A third club was chartered in June 1995 (Natomas), one month before the July 1, 1995, deadline.  So, in 1993–1994 and 1994-1995, the dues for all clubs in District 5190 were increased to allow the development of a budget surplus to aid in the splitting of the District. This resulted in $4,500 for both District 5190 and the future District 5180.  In addition, each district got a share of the ending fund balance at June 30, 1995, whatever remained, including contingency, from the 1994-1995 year.

 

Thus, beginning on July 1, 1995, Rod Ritchie, from the Rotary Club of Oroville, began serving as District 5180’s first District Governor.  Today, Rotary District 5180 is comprised of clubs from Butte, Sutter, Placer, Yuba, Yolo, El Dorado, and Sacramento counties. The oldest club in the district is the Rotary Club of Sacramento (Club #92 per Rotary International).  All the original 34 Rotary Clubs that split off to form District 5180 remain in District 5180 except for one.  In 1997, the Rotary Club of Penn Valley opted to return to District 5190.

 

Although the Rotary Districts typically operate autonomously, there is one project/program, Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA), where both District 5180 and 5190 participate together.  Each District provides members to the RYLA Board of Directors as well as counselors.  This program has grown over the years to initially serving 100 students to the present day where 300 students are annually experiencing this leadership opportunity.