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An Illustrated History of Boy Scouting in Glencoe, Illinois 1910 to 1947

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An Illustrated History of Boy Scouting in Glencoe, Illinois 1910 to 1947 An Illustrated History of Boy Scouting in Glencoe, Illinois 1910 to 1947 John L. Ropiequet Highland Park Troop 324 (Successor to Troops 32 and 34) 37082214.1 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................3 List of Abbreviations Used................................................................................................3 Sources ................................................................................................................................4 Introduction........................................................................................................................5 I. The Beginning of Boy Scouting in Glencoe..................................................................5 II. Formation of the North Shore Area Council............................................................12 III. Scouting During the North Shore Area Council’s First Five Years.....................16 A. Funding the Council ......................................................................................18 B. The Cabin in the Woods ................................................................................24 C. Leader Training .............................................................................................29 D. Publicity and the Boy Scout Press Club.......................................................39 E. Summer Camp................................................................................................45 IV. Scouting During the Depression Years...................................................................51 A. Funding Local Scouting.................................................................................51 B. Activities on the Shore ...................................................................................55 1. Boy Scout Troop Structure ................................................................55 2. Community Service.............................................................................59 3. First Aid Meets....................................................................................61 4. Camporals............................................................................................63 5. Sea Scouting.........................................................................................66 6. Cubbing................................................................................................75 C. Summer Camp................................................................................................80 37082214.1 2 V. Scouting During and After the War Years..............................................................87 A. Glencoe Scouts’ Wartime Service.................................................................87 B. Glencoe Scouts’ Wartime and Postwar Activities........................................... Bibliographical Note ............................................................................................................ Illustrations List................................................................................................................... Acknowledgements Special thanks for the ability to write this history go to D. Scott Fleming of Lake Forest Troop 48, Karen Ettelson of the Glencoe Historical Society, and Rev. Colin Knapp of Glencoe Union Church. Scott has been my faithful companion through the writing and illustrating of several hundred pages of North Shore Scouting history, translating the photographs from copies taken from countless rolls of microfilm into the images that fill all of those pages. Karen provided extensive access to the Historical Society’s original early twentieth century newspapers. Colin provided access to the Church’s original records, also dating back to the early years of the last century. John L. Ropiequet Highland Park, Illinois July, 2020 List of Abbreviations Used BSA Boy Scouts of America NEIC Northeast Illinois Council, BSA NSAC North Shore Area Council, BSA OA Order of the Arrow 37082214.1 3 Sources Source citations show publication, date, and page number if available. If there is more than one section, the section and page numbers are shown thus: 2:1. DFS – Highland Park News GCS – Glencoe News HPN – Highland Park News HPS – Highland Park Press LCC – Highland Park Press LFF – Lake Forester LVS – Libertyville Independent NSAC – Highland Park Press WLS – Lake Shore News, Wilmette Life WNT – Winnetka Talk 37082214.1 4 Introduction This history is drawn primarily from newspaper coverage of Boy Scouting activities in Glencoe in the Glencoe News, which is available at the Glencoe Public Library on microfilm from 1926 forward and on paper at the Glencoe Historical Society for 1920 through 1925 and scattered earlier issues. It has been researched through the end of 1947. Much more Scouting history occurred in Glencoe after that date, but research on microfilm to continue the story will have to await reopening of the library and much else post-COVID-19. This history also draws on research in other local papers on microfilm or online at other local libraries, and other sources. The chronological divisions of this history are somewhat arbitrary since various themes lack a clear starting or ending point and many activities took place at the same time after the establishment of the North Shore Area Council (NSAC) at the end of 1926. Glencoe Scouting activities became closely related to those in other North Shore towns from that point on, although reporting in the Glencoe News tended to limit its focus to activities in Glencoe after 1935, with Boy Scouting activities in other towns becoming less and less publicized in it as the years went by. The same was true for the other North Shore papers. I. The Beginning of Boy Scouting in Glencoe The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) was founded in 1910 and groups all over the country, including the North Shore communities, began to start Boy Scout troops after hearing about the new Scouting movement. For example, the Lake Forester reported in August 1910 that “[a] company of Boy Scouts is being organized here. It is a fine thing for the community and one from which the boy will derive much pleasure and beneficial training.” A photograph of 13 Lake Forest Boy Scouts from Lake Forest Troop 1 in 1911 or 1912, including “Percy Oaks,” was published by the paper in June 1930 (Figure 1), noting that it only lasted for a year “because they had no backing from any organization or from the people of the town.”1 “Oaks” was actually Percy Okl, whose pocket Scout requirements book, diary, and advancement record featuring a picture of President William H. Taft, the first Honorary President of the BSA, survives at the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff History Museum (Fig. 2). It shows him passing his Tenderfoot tests and being admitted to the troop on November 12, 1910 by Scoutmaster William Wier, getting his Second Class in 1912, and like many Scouts today, having partials for First Class. The troop apparently disbanded after the last entry in his diary dated February 22, 1913. 1LFF0001 (8/27/1910 – 8), NSAC207 (3/27/1930 – 26), LFF0458 (3/28/1930 – 12). 37082214.1 5 Figure 1 Figure 2 37082214.1 6 Unlike the Lake Forest troop, the first Glencoe troop, which was started about the same time in 1910 by Dr. Douglas H. Cornell at Glencoe Union Church (frontispiece) shortly after he arrived in 1909, was not disbanded until Scouting became a well-established local institution with more than one troop in town, a presence that has lasted continuously to the present day. Glencoe Troop 1, which called itself “the first Scout troop west of the Allegheny mountains,” was reportedly started as early as April 1910, “although it was not registered with the national organization until later.”2 Wilmette Troop 1 likewise called itself the “first troop west of the Alleghenies” or “the first troop organized west of the Allegheny Mountains.” This was probably stated more accurately by Junior Assistant Scoutmaster George Bersch of Wilmette Troop 4 in a profile he wrote in April 1928 of Fred Rye, Scoutmaster of Troop 2, describing him as “a ‘graduate’ of the old Troop 1 (the first Wilmette troop ever to be formed and the first Scout troop west of the Appalachian Mountains to receive a charter).”3 A list of “veteran” NSAC units that were then more than five years old by date of registration was published in December 1929. Wilmette Troop 1 was the oldest registered troop in the council, being registered with the BSA in December 1910. Glencoe Troop 21, originally Troop 1, was not registered until July 1916.4 Unfortunately, almost nothing survives that records the existence and activities of the first Glencoe troop during its first ten years through 1919, unlike what has been discovered in local papers and other sources for troops in Highland Park, Lake Forest, Libertyville, Wilmette, and Winnetka. Apart from statements that a troop was started by Dr. Cornell in early 1910, and that he may have divided the Scouts up into as many as four troops that may have met on different nights, only glimpses of its early years can be seen. A 1969 Glencoe centennial history recited that the troop had 47 Scouts in 1912, including 3 First Class Scouts, 23 Second Class Scouts, and 21 Tenderfoot Scouts, but it gave no basis for that statement and said nothing further about the troop before Dr. Cornell turned it over to the Glencoe Men’s Club to run ten years later.5 The only surviving mention of the troop in the Glencoe News
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