Scouting in Texas - History

History

Scouting in Texas unofficially dates to the publication of British lieutenant general Robert Baden-Powell's popular book, Scouting for Boys, in 1908. Even before a national organization had been started, groups of boys began Scout activities in troops and small groups in 1908, 1909, and 1910. The claims of several troops to be the first organized in Texas, whether before or after the incorporation of the Boy Scouts of America on February 8, 1910, are difficult to verify. BSA archives do show that the thirty-seventh registered scoutmaster in the country was a Texan, Rev. George W. Sheafor, of Comanche, in 1910.

In February 1910, just days after the Boys Scouts of America was organized, Boy Scout Troop 114 was established in Floresville, Texas by Professor W.H. Butler. A reference to the Floresville Boy Scout Troop can be found in the April 2, 1911 edition of the The Galveston Daily News when they published a picture of the Floresville troop. An article in the Victoria, Weekly Advocate (probably 10/1/1911 edition) refers to the Floresville Boy Scout troop as the second oldest in Texas. A short break in the troop's charter occurred in 1974.

In 1913 Troop 1 was established in Wichita Falls, Texas. Troop 1 in Wichita Falls has been continuously chartered since 1916.

In 1914, the BSA gave local councils the power to segregate African Americans from white Scouts. Until 1974, some southern councils of the Boy Scouts of America were still racially segregated.

However, an African American troop was formed in Port Arthur as early as 1916. The BSA report to Congress for 1930 named Dallas as one of the southern cities in which scouting was growing in the black community. Hispanic boys were also active in scouting, often in units with non-Hispanic boys. Jewish youth had been active in scouting in San Antonio for many years before a synagogue sponsored a troop for them in 1924.

By 1918, unofficial Wolf Cub packs appeared in Paris, Texas.

The BSA national office was moved to Irving in 1979.

The Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council traces its roots back to the 1920s when Frances Mann Law and Corrinne Fonde organized a Girl Scout Council in Houston. The council office was in a three roomed cottage.

Most Girl Scouts of the USA units were originally segregated by race according to state and local laws and customs. The first troop for Mexican Americans was formed in Houston in 1922. In 1936, the first African American Girl Scout troop west of the Mississippi was formed in Texas.

The Girls Scouts' Camp Texlake was dedicated in 1949.