History

The Greater Stamford Toastmasters is one of the oldest active Toastmaster clubs in Connecticut. (Please check our Big Picture page for more info on how our club relates to Toastmasters). Here is a brief reconstructed history of our club and district, based on documents supplied by Toastmasters International:

July, 1950
Our club was chartered on July 1st, 1950 as the "Lock City Toastmasters".

The club had 20 members that met every Monday at 6:30 PM. The dues at the time were: $5.00 new member initiation fee and $1.00 monthly membership fee. The charter officers of the Lock City Toastmasters were:

President	Harold Rowe
Vice President	William Jordan
Secretary	John McKenna
Treasurer	James Stevenson
Sergeant at Arms	George Deenihan
Deputy Governor	Martial Harris

July 1, 1955
The Board of Directors granted permission on this date to 10 clubs in Connecticut to operate together as a provisional district. One of these 10 clubs was the Lock City Toastmasters club. There were approximately 260 members in these 10 clubs. The first provisional Governor was Louis J Fifer of the Nutmeg Toastmasters in New Haven.

July 1, 1956
District 53 was officially recognized with full district status.

1967
District 53 was expanded to include the full state of Connecticut and Massachusetts west of Worcester County.

July 1, 1972
District 53, now encompassing 37 clubs, was expanded to include Eastern New York upon the disbanding of District 34.

November, 1972
The club met the first and third Mondays at 7:00 PM at the Heidelberg Restaurant, located at 400 Atlantic Ave. The officers of the club were serving six month terms, starting July 1st and January 1st.

On November 6th, 1972, a resolution was filed by Club President, James Keavney, to change the name of the club from the "Lock City Toastmasters Club" to the "Stamford Toastmasters Club".

December, 1984
On December 3rd, 1984, a resolution was filed by the Club President, Wayne Balfanz, and Club Secretary, Michael Bologna, to change the name of the club to the "Greater Stamford Chapter of Toastmasters".

May, 1986
On May 19th, 1986, a resolution was filed by the Club Secretary, Peter Geoschensky, to change the location of the club meetings to the 4th floor offices of Kaiser Permanente, located at 780 Summer Street.

July 1, 1998
District 53 had 105 clubs with approximately 2200 members.

Present Day
The club retains the name of the "Greater Stamford Toastmasters" and meets every Monday at 7:00 PM in the Equity Office Building, located at 281 Tresser Blvd. The officers currently serve a one year term that starts on July 1st.

Our chapter, despite a few name changes, has been active for more than 50 years now! Throughout those years the club has helped thousands of members master the art of public speaking, and has hosted outside speakers including a candidate for Congress. Curious to learn about the current makeup of our club? So if our club has been around for so many years, it must be doing something right, right?