History
The present council is the result of the 1996 merger of Philadelphia and Valley Forge councils. Philadelphia Council was founded in 1911. In 1913, the Council opened one of the earliest Scout camps in the United States, Treasure Island Scout Reservation, near Point Pleasant, Pennsylvania. Two years later, Dr. E. Urner Goodman and Carrol Edson founded the Order of the Arrow there, inducting the first members on July 16, 1915.
The Valley Forge Council began operation in the 1910s as Delaware and Montgomery County Council, although the council office was never within the council boundaries (in Center City Philadelphia until the 1960s when it was moved to Valley Forge in Chester County.) The council was renamed "Valley Forge Council" in the early 1950s. The council was named for the George Washington's historic winter encampment of 1777-78 at Valley Forge. The council opened Camp Delmont (later called "Delmont Scout Reservation" as of the early 1960s) in 1916 in Green Lane, Pennsylvania.
In 1955, some 4,600 acres became available in Marshall's Creek. Site of a hunting facility, it was found admirably suited for Scouting purposes and purchased jointly by the "Federation" of Philadelphia and Valley Forge Councils to create Resica Falls Scout Reservation. Joint development and use occurred until 1965, when Valley Forge Council bought out Philadelphia Council's interest and the federation was dissolved. When the two councils merged in 1996 to create Cradle of Liberty Council, scouts from Philadelphia, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties once again camp together. Valley Forge council was also host to the oldest annual Scouting event in the nation, the Valley Forge Pilgrimage and Encampment, which is still sponsored by Cradle of Liberty Council.
During the 1980s and 1990s, much of Philadelphia's population moved to the suburbs. Although most Philadelphia area businesses were headquartered in the city, most of their senior managers lived in Delaware and Montgomery Counties. This caused Philadelphia and Valley Forge Councils to raise funds from the same funding base. Accordingly, the two councils' executive boards began the merger process in 1993, which was finalized in 1996.
When councils merge, so do their Order of the Arrow lodges. Philadelphia's OA lodge, Unami One, was founded in 1915 on Treasure Island, and recognized as the first lodge nationally. Valley Forge Council's OA lodge, Delmont Lodge 43, the much larger of the two lodges, was founded in 1929 at Camp Delmont. When the councils merged, Delmont decided to merge with Unami Lodge and retain Unami's name.
Read more about this topic: Cradle Of Liberty Council
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