Across the Nation: It all began when a 22-year-old St. Louis bank clerk and Herculaneum Dance Club president set out to attack such wild new dances as the grizzly bear, tango, and fox trot. From this modest beginning, Henry Giessenbier’s dance clubs moved forward and on October 13, 1915, 32 young men formed the Young Men’s Progressive Civic Association, turning its attention to civic affairs. In 1916, the Y.M.P.C.A. changed its name to Junior Citizens, from which came the nickname JC, or when spelled out, Jaycees. The JCs were quickly noted by various civic-minded businessmen and in 1918 became affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce and changed its name from Junior Citizens to the St. Louis Junior Chamber of Commerce, after which the fame of its civic work began to spread.
  
The idea was contagious and, in January 1920, chapters in 12 cities met to form the National JC organization with Henry Giessenbier as its first president. After battling for its existence during the World War II, the US. J.C.C. boomed and today there are more than 6,000 clubs and nearly 300,000 young people across the country.
Throughout the Nation: A world alliance of JCs was formed in 1944 in Mexico City with the founding of the Junior Chamber International with the avowed purpose and one obligation of a “way toward world peace.” The J.C.I. now consists of a network of 1097 free world nations with more than 350,000 members on its rolls.

In Wisconsin: Representative of Eau Claire, Mayville, Milwaukee, Oshkosh, and Sheboygan met in May 1930, to organize the Wisconsin Junior Chamber of Commerce. In September of that year, Appleton became the sixth city to join in the state organization. It took another eight years before Wisconsin became part of the U.S. Jaycees and in 1959, at Green Bay, they voted to become 100% J.C.I. unanimously behind the Jaycees International.

From its original five chapters, the Wisconsin Jaycees have grown to over 90 chapters, consisting of over 3,500 Wisconsin young people. The Milwaukee Jaycees have hosted four U.S. Jaycee National Conventions with the most recent being held in 1986.

The Wisconsin Jaycees have also had four JCI – Vice Presidents: Ted Wedemeyer 1967; Steve Jahnke 1997;  John Nygren 2000; and Ben Sabourin 2007.Several others have gone on to serve the U.S. Jaycees as National Vice Presidents including Richard Nelson 1949-1950; Jim Leonhart 1975-1976; Jim Nehrbass 1979-1980; Gary McFarlane 1982-1983; Paul Bertucci 1986-1987; Judy Mesner 1987-1988; Ned Storer 1991-1992; Cathy Spears 1994-1995; Steve Jahnke 1995-1996; Donna Odeen 1996-1997; John Nygren 1998-1999; Rob Reed 2002- 2003; and Cindy Sabourin 2003-2004. The Wisconsin Jaycees have also had two National Presidents, Andre LeTendre in 1970, and John Nygren in 2002.

Remembering the Jaycee Women: The Jaycee Women organization, the former auxiliary group, which was once 60,000 members strong, has played an important role in Jaycee history. Members exemplified the Jaycee Creed and worked to improve the lives of Americans - just like Jaycees.What began as the Jaycettes a wives’ auxiliary, grew to an outstanding organization in its own right. In 1983, the Jaycettes opened its membership to single women and changed its name to Jaycee Women to promote a more professional image. The organization operated under the bylaws of the Jaycees with virtually the same goals and aspirations. Chapters conducted many projects including fundraising for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, which was adopted as an endorsed charity by the Jaycees when the women’s organization disbanded.