The history of scouting is probably something that most scouts don’t give much thought into although it’s good for a scout to at least know about the simple parts of the history of scouting. Scouting was founded in 1908 by Robert Baden Powell in England. It was brought to the U.S. by William D. Boyce in 1910. Together with Edward S. Stewart and Stanley D. Willis, Boyce incorporated Boy Scouts on February 8th, 1910. At this time, there was Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts because many people back then thought that boys activities should be separated from girls activities though this would eventually change. As said before, it’s good for a scout to at least know about the simple parts of the history of scouting. Here’s a glimpse at part of the history of scouting through the years.
1910’s:
- The first USA scout handbook was published
- The scout emblem was developed
- Scouts served as crowd control at the inauguration of President Woodrow Wilson in 1913
1920’s:
- The first program for Scouts with disabilities was founded in 1923
- William Hillcourt, also known as Green Bar Bill, joined scouting in 1925 and published the first patrol leader handbook in 1929
- By 1927, there were 32 communities with minority scout troops
1930’s:
- During the Great Depression, President Roosevelt encouraged scouts to do their part and so scouts provided services to assist relief agencies
- In 1936, an experimental Wood Badge course was conducted along with a Rover Wood Badge course
- Scouts participated at the New York World’s Fair in 1939
1940’s:
- In 1940, composer Irving Berlin created a foundation to distribute the royalties from his song God Bless America to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts
- In 1941, a Webelos rank was created for 11 1/2 year old boys which was the start of cub scouts which is the form of scouting for younger kids that are below the minimum age for scouts
- In 1949, the minimum age for a boy scout was lowered from 12 to 11 and adults were prohibited from earning merit badges and youth ranks
1950’s:
- BSA membership nearly doubled between 1950 and 1960, it went from 2.8 million to 5.2 million
- The first Pinewood Derby, a wooden car race that the cub scouts participate in, was held in 1953, becoming an official part of the program in 1955
- In 1959, the Boy Scout handbook’s dimensions were increased to their current size and it was printed in full color for the first time as well
1960’s:
- The 1960’s was the peak period of membership for the BSA in almost every category, the baby boomer generation had scout age boys joining packs and troops across the country
- The Air Scouts program established in 1941 and renamed Air Explorers in 1949, was disestablished in 1965
- In 1967, the den mother position in cub scouts was changed to den leader and opened to males and females
1970’s:
- In the 1970’s, the BSA made a move to rebrand itself as Scouting USA, they abandoned the effort by 1980
- Catherine Pollard was the first female scoutmaster in the BSA, she led troop 13 in Milford, Connecticut from 1973-1975 but the BSA refused to recognize her as a scoutmaster until 1988
- The BSA lured William “Green Bar Bill” Hillcourt out of retirement in 1979 and he spent a year writing the 9th edition of the BSA scout handbook
1980’s:
- In 1980, the new Boy Scout uniform, designed by Oscar De La Renta, was introduced
- In 1985, Scouts celebrated the 75th anniversary
- In 1986, Cub Scout membership was changed from age based to school grade-based and the Webelos program was extended from 1 year to 2 years
1990’s:
- In 1990, requirements for the World Crest were changed to participating in an international exhibit, display, or event
- In 1991, the requirements for the World Crest were eliminated and all scouts wore the World Crest as a display of worldly brotherhood in scouting
- In 1992, the 6 regions of scouting were reorganized into 4: Northeastern, Southern, Central, and Western
2000’s:
- In 2004, the scoutreach division launched the scouting and soccer program with an emphasis on outreaching to Hispanic/Latino youth and families
- The Tiger Cub motto was replaced by the cub scout motto in 2006
- In June of 2006, a move to align the Tiger Cubs with the rest of the Cub scout program was made
2010’s:
- May 23, 2013 – the 1,400 voting members of the National Council of the BSA voted to lift the ban on letting openly gay people into scouts
- October 11, 2017 – the BSA board of directors unanimously voted on inviting girls into all the scouting programs
- May 2, 2018 – Scouts BSA announced that it would begin accepting girls in February of 2019 and it was renamed Scouts USA
2020’s:
- February 18, 2020 – the Scouts national organization filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy
- Starting in March of 2020, as the Covid Pandemic continued to rage on, Scouts launched scouting at home which allowed scouts to continue during quarantining and social distancing and it gave scouts flexibility and scouts handed out exemptions and extensions to scouts near the age of 18 which is the age when a scout ages out of scouting
Other Bonus Information About Troop 44 of Higganum, Connecticut:
- Troop 44 was founded in the year 1940
- Troop 44 G was founded in February of 2019
- Camp Gus, which is a camp site that Troop 44 has and uses, was founded in 1963
This is a brief look into the history of scouting throughout the years. A scout definitely doesn’t need to know most of this information but it’s definitely helpful to know some of this information like when scouts was founded and by whom. This can be used as a source of scouting history to pull information from and some of this information may be useful for a scout to know throughout all of their years in scouting.