The Kiwanis Club of Bridgeton was chartered June 15, 1967. Among the charter members was Charlie Bowden and Weldon Zoellner who are still members. The first President was Russell Smith, Secretary was Morton Thal, and Treasurer Al Crowder. As with most new clubs, attendance dropped soon after, but they managed to hold their first fund-raiser, a Halloween candy sale, but then somebody absconded with the money, which wasn't much anyway.

The second year Ben Ferro, the City Administrator was President and Earl Davis, the Mayor got into a shouting match over bringing Police Chief George Krelo into the club. This highly political atmosphere of the club caused more people to drop out until one day in May, 1969 only the "faithful four," (Charlie Bowden, Al Crowder, Bob Gose and Weldon Zoellner) were in attendance. They decided each would come up with the names of five people to contact and build up membership. This brought in Lyle Downs in March, 1970 and Virgil Meister, Bud Garret, and some other very good members.

Then in May, 1970, President Joseph O'Toole dropped dead at a meeting and Vice President Charlie Bowden took over and stayed on as President through September 30, 1971 when Kiwanis changed from a calendar year accounting to the current fiscal year beginning October 1st through September 30 of the following year. The passing of O'Toole prompted the club to consider a proper memorial and Weldon Zoellner volunteered to put up a flag pole at City Hall with a memorial stone at its base where members names who passed away might be inscribed.

Under Charlie Bowden's guidance, Board of Director meetings were held away from the regular meeting place, a practice that has proven beneficial with other clubs. They also started recognizing perfect attendance, which developed a spirit whereby members would clamor to make up missed meetings. The Halloween Candy Sale was also discontinued in favor of a wiener/barbeque roast for children to keep them off the street for Halloween, a practice that later turned into a big dance sponsored by the police and funded by Kiwanis and Schnucks Markets.

During O'Toole's Presidency, the Federal Government had wanted to build a workhouse in Bridgeton, which he opposed. There had also been a move to bring a home for wayward girls, which O'Toole supported. Therefore when the club found a suitable house to rehab, this easily became an excellent project to sponsor. Many a night found Lyle Downs working till midnight on this project along with Bill Greenwood who also did a great deal. The result of this was a real spirit of help and cooperation within the club - - a spirit not matched since. Members worked hard to build a better community, but they also had lots of fun doing it.

On October 25th, 1970 the club sponsored a violinist by the name of Rubinoff to perform a concert in the new Pattonville High School auditorium. Of the 850 tickets sold, Lyle Downs sold 350! Also that October the club held its first highly successful Pumpkin Patch, (it was held first during Al Crowder's year but was not as successful until moved to a vacant lot next to the old Home Federal Bank). The Pumpkin Patch continued to be a major fund-raiser and community event for the next 25 years until the club decided to discontinue it in favor of the public Barbecues.

Also started in Charlie's year was a rose sale where members would stand in front of high traffic retail locations on a Friday evening and all day Saturday, usually during the month of September. At the height of success, this fund-raiser grossed $2200 selling 6,000 roses and 500 carnations. Frequently on each of these fund-raisers, the Chair would find a way to promote the event with some pre-sale newspaper publicity, and even a couple times was followed by an ad in the paper thanking the public for their support. The rose sale was discontinued in 1978 when President Gardner Johnson gave Chairman Weldon Zoellner a 4 X 4 with the words, "Rose in Peace" painted on.

In September 1971, Lyle Downs was installed as President. During those early years with Police Chief George Krelo being a member of the club, it brought the club and police closer together. Policemen were honored, and Larry Fitch who was Police Commissioner was also a member. During Lyle's year an auction of used items was held, but not too successfully. The club also started to go to Camp Wyman on weekends to rehab a cabin donated by somebody in south St. Louis. Spouses and members would turn out and have a picnic lunch while working. It was a time of the "magnificent 7," a group of seven members who would always show up at any club meeting or event. It was also a time when any Kiwanis function brought out 75-80 % of the members, and when there was a project you didn't have to call several members to get help, you called one. It was a period of great involvement and fun!

Also during Lyle's year was a visit to St. Louis by Kiwanis International President Lorin Badskey. It was known that he would be arriving at the airport in late afternoon and passing a billboard in Earth City on his way to an official dinner in St. Charles. So a few of the club members got hold of some large pieces of plastic, painted "Welcome Lorin Badskey" and hung it over the billboard. Needless to say he was impressed.

The pace was pretty well set for the '70's by these early years and it wasn't until in the early '80's that some new things began to come along. Perhaps first of these was the Pancake Breakfast in 1981. In the early years of this event ads were run before and in 1983 Gerry Miller's daughter was honored as "Miss Pancake." Also during the '70's the club started going to the race track as a social event, and this continued until about 1988.

Along about the late '70's or early '80's a group of 8-10 members would go fishing twice a year, once at Lyle's place at Lake of the Ozarks and a second time someplace else. This practice continues today. During 1982, with the arrival of a new Superintendent in the Pattonville Schools we were fortunate to be able to start a Key Club at the high school and the Assistant Principle Dave Kurr was the faculty advisor. Over the years this club has been very good and sometimes not so good, but it continues today.

Then in Ron Abernathy's year, 1982, Charlie Keith and Ron got excited about starting up a new fund-raiser, bingo. This was risky, because the club had to establish a top prize every night of $500 or $1,000, plus the prize for each game, so the total prizes ran around $3,500 each night. Ron was so concerned he took his checkbook in case the club didn't take in enough to cover the prizes. But it turned out fine and became the greatest fund-raiser the club ever had. In fact, during the early years of bingo the club was operating on a budget around $100,000 a year. Board meetings became a review of requests from several charities for money as the club learned to throw money at community problems rather than provide hands-on service.

About 1984, with the increased funding the club started to provide scholarships for deserving high school seniors, an amount which varied through the years depending on the club's success at fund-raising. It has, however, averaged around $5,000 up to as high as $10,000 per year. Also during the years of success with bingo the club has managed to provide several gifts to Camp Wyman. Over the years it has donated three vans, built a pond used for fishing and as a water source in case of fire, funded an addition to the dining hall, and a laundry addition to the garage/workshop. As all good things must come to an end, in 1992 the club voted to discontinue bingo because it was losing money.

In 1983, under the Presidency of Dave Corner, the first Civic Prayer Breakfast was held, with the sole purpose of bringing the community together for a day of prayer. From that day forward the club has held a Prayer Breakfast, the most successful of which was about 1988 when the then Governor John Ashcroft was the speaker and Larry Connors was Master of Ceremony with a crowd of nearly 400 attending. Some years it has been held in a church dinning room for a low cost breakfast, while other times in a hotel for a more expensive sit-down breakfast. Some years it made little money and other years as much as $1,000 that is turned over to the Community Helping Ministries.

In about 1984 the Bridgeton Helping Ministries was started by the Rev. Jim Tony of the John Calvin Presbyterian Church and the major funding was by our club, matching funds raised by all the other churches in Bridgeton. This continued until in the mid-'90's when the organization changed its name to the Community Helping Ministries and obtained a part time Director who applied for grants from foundations that enabled them to expand their services. We still continue to be a supporter of that organization with the Director frequently being a good member of our club.

During the years 1990 through about 1995 the club entered a float in the Bridgeton Fourth of July Parade and won at least three awards. There were a few years before and after when the club was represented in the Parade, but did not win an award worth mentioning.

During the 1990 Kiwanis International Convention it was decided that the major emphasis of Kiwanis should be "Young Children Priority One." Then during Jules Telscher's year, (1990-91), Lyle Downs was asked to Chair the first Major Emphasis Program for our club. After considerable research, Lyle announced the club would work with Alice Lauer who was in charge of a program for teenage mothers at Pattonville High School. This program provided some help for items needed by the mothers and also a $1,000 scholarship for one mother upon graduation. Focus of the program was to assist these mothers, thereby helping their young babies.