Cub Scout Pack 353

The Scouting idea came from an Englishman named Robert S.S. Baden-Powell.  He greatly enjoyed the outdoors, nature, and learning how to survive in the wilderness. After serving in the military in Africa, he returned to find that many boys were reading his survival and stalking manual he wrote for his military regiment.  He then decided to re-write the manual in 1907 for boys without the military skills and called it "Scouting for Boys".  He then tested these ideas by bringing together 22 boys to camp at Brownsea Island off the coast of England.  The campout was a great success and resulted in the advent of Scouting.

The idea for Scouting in the U.S. started when William D. Boyce lost his way in a London fog.  A boy came to his aid and after guiding him to his destination, refused a tip by explaining that a Scout would never take money for doing a Good Turn. This gesture inspired Boyce to meet with Powell and it resulted in Boyce incorporating the Boy Scouts of America on February 8, 1910.  James E. West was appointed as the first Chief Scout Executive of Boy Scouts of America in 1911.  He was an orphan with a physical handicap and still labored to graduate from law school and become a successful attorney. He used this determination to build the largest and most successful youth organization in the world and was regarded as the true architect of the Boy Scouts of America when he retired in 1943.

Since then, Scouting has grown to almost every country of the world and has adapted to a changing world that has become reliant on technology and convenience.  Scouting remains a strong and vibrant alternative to popular culture that provides boys with an outlet to learn things beyond camping and nature that include civic duty, religion, honor and self respect.