Scouting in Kentucky - Early History (1908-1950)

Early History (1908-1950)

Burnside, in south-central Kentucky, is believed to be home to the first Boy Scout troop in the United States. In 1908, two years before the Boy Scouts of America was officially organized, Mrs. Myra Greeno Bass organized a local troop of 15 boys, using official Boy Scout materials she had acquired from England. A sign at the edge of town declares Burnside "Birthplace of Boy Scouts of America", and an official state historical society marker commemorates the troop. Burnside is now part of the Blue Grass Council.

Boy Scouts of America Troop 1 in Frankfort, Kentucky was established in 1909 by Stanley A. Harris. There has been a long standing belief that this was the very first Boy Scout troop in the United States. However, Troop 1 was originally formed under the British Boy Scouts and the charter was destroyed in a fire around 1920. Nonetheless, Troop 1 is still active and is sponsored by the First Christian Church of Frankfort, Kentucky.

Kentucky also claims an early unofficial girl's scouting group (Campfire Girls were the affiliated girl's version of Boy Scouts at the time. "Girl Scouts" formed March 1912 by Juliette Gordon Low in Savannah, GA and years later they could not work out a deal to merge with the Campfire Girls. Campfire Girls eventually left their affiliation with Boy Scouts.), an 8 girl patrol of Boy Scout Troop #17 in Louisville in July 1911. The first official troops was formed in 1917 in Scottsville.

In 1914, the BSA gave local councils the power to ban African Americans from Scouting. In 1922, the BSA revised that ban and allowed local Councils to create "shadow Councils" for their black and other racial/ethnic minorities. Until 1974, some southern councils of the Boy Scouts of America were still racially segregated. (The Old Hickory Council in North Carolina did not integrate until 1974.) The Louisville Area Council, headquartered in Louisville, was the first BSA local Council to develop such a "shadow Council" and board members of that "inter-racial council" were permitted to serve on the Louisville Area Council's board without vote. The BSA's "inter-racial council" program ended in 1954; Louisville accepted their first black Boy Scout Troops in 1959; and their first black Cub Scout Packs in 1963.

Most Girl Scouts of the USA units were originally segregated by race according to state and local laws and customs. By the 1950s, the GSUSA began significant national efforts to desegregate the camps and maintain racial balance. One of the first desegregations was Camp Shantituck in Kentucky, which was accomplished by Murray Walls in 1956.