When retired Judge Jim Davidson joined the Exchange Club of Columbus, it was 1974.

Keith Guyton, who was working as a door-to-door tailor, measured Davidson for some shirts he was planning to order. Afterward, he invited Davidson to come with him to the Holiday Inn, where the club was meeting at the time.

“As we went through the meeting, (Guyton) pushed a piece of paper in front of me and said, ‘it’s a rule here that we have to register your attendance,’” Davidson said. “Of course, a glance at the paper said ‘membership application.’ So, I filled it out, and as soon as I signed it, Keith grabbed it, stood up, and said, ‘we got a new member, we got a new member!’”

Of course, Davidson said he had wanted to be a member of the club from the get-go, just like his father had been before him. But ever since that day almost 50 years ago, he has remained active in the Exchange Club of Columbus, becoming its second longest-standing member, and telling that story as a part of the club’s centennial meeting Thursday at Lion Hills Center – celebrating its founding on Nov. 19, 1924.

The Exchange Club is a national service organization that focuses on community service, youth activities and child abuse prevention. It is the nation’s oldest service organization, according to its website, and the Columbus chapter is only 13 years younger than the national group.

Davidson said records from the Secretary of State’s office show the Columbus chapter was incorporated with the objective of “consecrating its members’ best energies to the uplifting of social, religious and political and business ideals.”

Exchange Club of Columbus meets almost every Thursday throughout the year, according to member Lee Burdine, who joined the club in 1996. Each week, the group brings in a significant speaker to address a different topic or issue in the community.

“The whole world comes walking through here, and over the years, you will end up learning so much about our county, about our city, about our area,” Burdine said.

The Columbus chapter also invites political candidates running in contested races for city, county and state offices to speak at forums during election season, along with speaking at their meetings. Davidson remembered standing behind Senators Thad Cochran, John Heinz and Trent Lott while waiting to be served lunch over the years, among others.

But the Exchange Club of Columbus does not only hold weekly meetings. It also holds fundraisers and community service events throughout the year. One of the most significant fundraisers, which Burdine called the club’s “golden goose,” is an annual cheese sale, where funds go to support local nonprofits.

While the cheese sale is always a success, the club has also seen its share of bumps in the road throughout the years. Burdine reminded the club of the time it tried to sell mulch, getting a load of it delivered to the local boy scout hut, in the hopes community members would order a weekend delivery for their gardens.

“That lasted longer than I thought,” Burdine said. “We made it almost 18 months before everybody said, ‘Let’s figure something out.’”

Through everything, Burdine said, the club has still come together to support different important causes. Becky Boyd, a member since 2014, read out a proclamation commending the club’s “unwavering dedication in service to our community.” Funds raised by the club have previously gone toward the local Boys and Girls Club, Camp Rising Sun, Columbus Arts Council, Main Street Columbus, Hitching Lot Farmers’ Market, Lowndes County Imagination Library and more, she said.

Besides its fundraisers, Exchange Club of Columbus also holds annual recognitions for first responders, along with giving out its annual “Book of Golden Deeds” award to one person who is doing good in the community who may otherwise go unrecognized.

The first meeting Burdine ever attended, he said, was one of these award ceremonies honoring pharmacist Howard Williams. Before it was over with, he had signed his application.

“There’s no doubt they’ll have a 125 year celebration and there’ll be a 150 year celebration,” Burdine said. “This club is just too important to our community, and there’s too much to do in our community.”

While the club has an impact on organizations around the area, Davidson also emphasized the importance membership has had in his life and in the lives of other members he has seen come through the doors over the years.

“Exchange Club has meant a lot to me over the years,” Davidson said. “If you’ll notice, when people pass away and if you read their obituary and they’ve been a member of this club, they always include that they’ve been a member of this club.”