Boy Scout Program in Pelham Grew Explosively During the Roaring Twenties

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"Every normally healthy boy must have an outlet for his exuberance of spirit.

If not directed into constructive channels, it will break loose into the gang spirit.

More and more the grown people of the Pelhams are coming to realize that Boy

Scout work begins where home influence and school training ends.  Scouting

means outdoor life the whole year round -- the right of every red-blooded boy."

The Pelham Sun.  March 6, 1925.

Amen.

Town Historian, Town of Pelham, New York, Nov. 8, 2017.

Barely eight months after the incorporation of the Boy Scouts of America, on about October 15, 1910, Pelhamites met at the home of Mrs. Eugene G. Kremer at 305 Pelhamdale Avenue (a home that still stands) to organize a Boy Scout program for Pelham. I have written extensively of this early effort to establish Pelham's Boy Scout program. See Tue., Apr. 03, 2007: The Birthplace of Scouting in Pelham: 305 Pelhamdale Avenue Where Pelham Scouting Began in 1910.  See also Wed., Mar. 12, 2014: The Beginning of the Boy Scout Program in Pelham in 1910, Still Going Strong 104 Years Later. 

Residents of the Town in 1910 created one of the first (if not the first Boy Scout Council in Westchester County called, appropriately, "Pelham Council." The Pelham Council was created and in place by November 11, 1910, with Captain Daniel Delehanty, a retired U.S. Navy officer, as President. Immediately the Pelham School Board and local Pelham churches became significantly involved in nurturing the young organization.

Today Pelham has one of the finest "high adventure" Boy Scout Troops in the United States.  Founded in early 1916, Pelham Troop 1 has operated on a continuous basis ever since. Today, as a “high adventure troop,” the members of Troop 1 pursue activities including scuba diving in Key West, white water rafting and kayaking, ice climbing, rock climbing, snow-shoeing, dog sledding, horseback riding, zip-lining, orienteering, high-country survival training, hiking and camping in the mountains of Philmont National Scout Ranch, and other scouting activities including hiking and camping at places like Camp Read in the Adirondacks and Durland Scout Reservation in Putnam County.  See Wed., Apr. 13, 2016:  Pelham Boy Scout Troop 1 Celebrates Its Centennial - A History of Pelham Scouting.  

Pelham's Troop 1 continues an amazing history of Scouting in the Town of Pelham.  Part of that history includes explosive growth of the Scouting program during the Roaring Twenties.

Only a decade after the founding of the Boy Scouts of America, the program in Pelham was thriving.  By 1925, Pelham Troop 1 was bulging at the seams.  During late February and early March of that year, the entire Town was engaged in fund raising for the benefit of the Scouting program.

According to the local newspaper at the time, "Boy Scouting has sold itself to the Pelhams."  The fundraising drive began on February 12 and, by March 6, had raised subscriptions worth $1,200 (about $17,120 in today's dollars).  The Town of Pelham, it seems, wanted to fund construction of a Boy Scout Cabin for its boys -- a Boy Scout Cabin that, indeed, was funded and built thereafter and became an important part of the Town's history.  See:

Mon., Oct. 31, 2005:  Remnants of Pelham's Boy Scout Cabin Near The Hutchinson River Parkway. 

Tue., Jul. 19, 2005:  Pelham's Boy Scout Cabin Near The Hutchinson River Parkway.

In late February, 1925, a significant event in the history of Pelham Scouting occurred.  Pelham Troop 1 had grown well beyond its ability to handle the number of Scouts it had.  At the time, Troop 1 met in the Huguenot Memorial Presbyterian Church.  (Today it meets at The Community Church of The Pelhams, 448 Washington Avenue.)  It was decided to divide Troop 1 into two troops:  Troop 1 and the fourth troop of Pelham Boy Scouts to be known, of course, as Troop 4.  Local resident Herbert Elliott was named as the original Scoutmaster of the new Troop 4.  

At the same time, Pelham Boy Scout Troops 2 and 3 were growing out of control.  Both Troops sought Assistant Scout Masters to help.  

Shortly after Troop 1 "divided" to create Troop 4, the boys and their Scout leaders held an initial "joint meeting" in late February.  To the shock of all, 72 boys showed up.  Thirty four Pelham youngsters joined during that two-week period.  At the same time, there was "a healthy growth in Troop Nos. 2 and 3." 

 Home at 305 Pelhamdale Avenue Where the Pelham Boy
Scout Program Began.  Photograph Taken by the Author
on April 1, 2007.  NOTE:  Click on Image To Enlarge.

*          *          *          *          *

"Scout Movement Gets Solid Backing from Pelham
-----
Reaching Point Where Erection of Scout Hut Seems Possible, This Year -- Membership Constantly Increasing.
-----

Boy Scouting has sold itself to the Pelhams, if the way the subscriptions coming in daily to G. M. Hendricks, Treasurer, Pelham National Bank, may be taken as an indication.  The drive for funds started on February 12th.  To date, 150 people have subscribed, a total of $1,200, or an average of over $8.40 per person, compared with $6.90 a year ago.  Additional funds, however, are needed to carry out the proposed program for this year.

Another evidence of the way in which Scouting has sold itself, not only to the boys, but to the grown people, will be found in a recent incident.  Troop No. 1, which meets in the Huguenot Memorial Church, under the direction of Scout Master Howes, grew so in number, there being 48 boys in the Troop, that it was deemed advisable to divide it, and Herbert Elliott became Scout Master of the division now known as Troop No. 4.

At a joint meeting of the divided Troop held two weeks ago, there was [sic] 72 boys, an increase of 34 boys in the two Troops since the subdivision.  Within the last two months there has been a healthy growth in Troops Nos. 2 and 3, and Assistant Scout Masters are being secured for these two Troops.

Every normally healthy boy must have an outlet for his exuberance of spirit.  If not directed into constructive channels, it will break loose into the gang spirit.  More and more the grown people of the Pelhams are coming to realize that Boy Scout work begins where home influence and school training ends.  Scouting means outdoor life the whole year round -- the right of every red-blooded boy.  It puts him on his own legs in competition with other boys of his age, and teaches him how to take care of himself and others.  Scouting teaches boys about the woods and nature, ouf-of-doors where it is play to learn.

Scouting makes boys clean, through and through, healthy and happy.  Encourages imagination, initiative, and resourcefulness.  Builds character, insures good citizenship.  Sanely offsets the lure of pleasures, detrimental to moral, mental and physical growth.  It gives the boy the kind of fun he ought to have, when he ought to have it and where he ought to have it.

In the last two issues of the Pelham Sun, lists of subscribers of the Boy Scouts were published.  The subscriptions since that date follow, and the Committee is very much in hope that those of its community who have not yet sent in their subscriptions will do so promptly, so that by our next issue we can make a final announcement of the results of this campaign.

E. E. Arnold, $5; Clarence G. Campbell, $2; James Elliott, $10; W. W. Hawkins, $25; M. C. Robbins, $25; Harry A. Anderson, $5; Thomas F. Diack, $5; James S. Macgregor, $5; E. Schwartz, $2; Richard J. Walsh, $10; Vaughn Bliven, $5; John F. Fairchild, $10; E. R. Grochau, $5; Alice V. Leslie, $3; R. M. Morgan, $25; Frank A. Clinch, $5; Ernest E. Hammersen, $10; Roy G. Kaye, $2; William M. McBride, $20; A. C. McMasten, $5; Paul Oehmke, $2; William E. Power, $5; Richard H. Smith, $5; Mary A. Vetter, $5; Lawrence Whitcomb, $2; William Best, $20; Herman Kobi, $5; Martin H. Offinger, $10; Total to date, $1089.51."

Source:  Scout Movement Gets Solid Backing from Pelham -- Reaching Point Where Erection of Scout Hut Seems Possible, This Year -- Membership Constantly Increasing, The Pelham Sun, Mar. 6, 1925, p. 7, cols. 1-2.

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