Chapter 4
Scouting is Established
in America
According to Scout legend, the formation of the Boy Scouts of America can be traced back to a foggy night in London in 1909, when Chicago publisher William D. Boyce lost his way on a city street and a Boy Scout came to his aid. The Scout guided Boyce to his destination, but refused to accept the money Boyce offered as a token of his appreciation. When Boyce questioned him, the young man explained that he was a Boy Scout, and therefore had a duty to be helpful to others. Boyce, as the story goes, was highly impressed with both the Scout and what he learned about the organization and its founder, Lord Robert Baden-Powell. The Chicago businessman, who had made a fortune in the publishing business and was looking for a philanthropic cause to support, decided he wished to establish Boy Scouting in America to benefit the thousands of boys he employed to sell his newspapers.
- William Boyce incorporates the Boy Scouts of America
- Ernest Thompson Seton, Dan Beard and James West get it going
- Boys' Life Magazine is started
- Lone Scouting is started and becomes part of the BSA
- Cub Scouting and Exploring become part of Scouting
- Women have an increasingly role in all aspects of Scouting
- Merit Badges and the Eagle Rank evolve
- The uniform and Scout customs evolve
- George Hasker, the all-round Scout, Scouter and Wood Carver
- The R. Tait McKenzie Statue, the Ideal Scout
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