Early History of Pelham Girl Scouts and Pelham's First Girl Scout Gold Award Recipient

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Virtually nothing has been written of the early history of Girl Scouts in Pelham.  Today's Historic Pelham article is intended to collect a little of that history to shed light on an important Pelham institution that, now, is nearly one hundred years old.

Early History of the Girl Scouts in Pelham
Pelham's first troop of Girl Scouts, Troop 1, was organized in 1921.  Troop 2 was organized a year later in 1922. 

As was the case with the Boy Scout program in Pelham, during the early years of the Roaring Twenties, the Girl Scout program in Pelham grew rapidly.  Demand for the program was so great that in 1923, Mrs. J. S. Kelly registered another Troop (Troop 3) with twelve girls.  That troop quickly expanded to forty girls so that Troop 3 had to be divided to create two troops (Troop 3 and Troop 4).  

By the fall of 1925 so many Pelham girls were interested in the Girl Scout program that two additional Girl Scout troops were registered in Pelham that year (Troop 5 and Troop 6).  The six troops together had more than one hundred registered Girl Scouts in 1925.  

With the program growing so quickly, program organizers needed help.  In late 1925 they organized a "Community Committee" to encourage interested Pelham residents to become involved in the Girl Scout program and to assist with such work as overseeing merit badge work and examinations.  

By 1928, the Girl Scouts of Pelham had 152 registered Scouts and the six troops had shaken out into four active troops.  The Girl Scout program had settled onto a solid foundation that has continued to this day.


The Girl Scout Gold Award

The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest award granted by the Girl Scouts.  It represents the highest achievement in Girl Scouts and is awarded to "inspiring leaders whose Gold Award projects are impacting the worlds of STEM, education, agriculture, medicine, and more on a local, national, or global level."  See "Gold Award -- Are You Ready to Make a Difference in the World?", GirlScouts.org (visited Jan. 20, 2018).

The history of the Girl Scout Gold Award is, itself, quite interesting.  Girl Scouting in the United States is generally credited as beginning on March 12, 1912, when Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low held the first "Girl Guide" troop meeting of eighteen girls in Savannah, Georgia.  
Beginning in 1916, Girl Scouts offered the "Golden Eaglet" insignia as the highest award in Girl Scouts.  The Golden Eaglet evoked the rank of Eagle Scout awarded in the Boy Scouts of America, the highest award issued by the Boy Scouts of America.  The Golden Eaglet was awarded from 1916 to 1939.  From 1940 to 1963, the highest award in Girl Scouts was called the "Curved Bar Award."  The name of the highest award changed again and, from 1963 to 1980, it was known as "First Class."  Finally, since 1980, the highest award has been known as the Gold Award.  Id.  

Who Was the First Pelham Girl to Receive the Highest Award of Girl Scouts?

Who was the first Pelham Girl Scout to receive the highest award of the organization?  A young woman named Ellen Kelly received the Golden Eaglet insignia in 1927.

As one might expect, Ellen Kelly was an impressive young woman.  She was a daughter of John S. and Dolores D. Kelly of 1465 Roosevelt Avenue in the Village of Pelham Manor.  On June 16, 1927 at 8:00 p.m. -- six years after the Girl Scout program first began in Pelham -- she became Pelham's first recipient of the Golden Eaglet.

The occasion was auspicious.  The Girl Scout Court of Honor was so large with so many spectators that it had to be held in the gymnasium of the Pelham Memorial High School.  The evening was even more special for Ellen Kelly:  it was her eighteenth birthday as well.

Several hundred spectators witnessed the event including Pelham Girl Scouts and their families as well as guests invited to the event from Girl Scouts of Mt. Vernon, New Rochelle and Bronxville, as well as Boy Scouts of Pelham.  The local newspaper carried a stirring account of the Spring Court of Awards during which Ms. Kelly received her honor:

"County Director Carolyn Lewis spoke briefly preceding the presentation.  She explained the significance of the Golden Eaglet, the work that the Scout must do to earn it, and stressed the fact that the first Scout in Pelham to receive the highest award the organization confers was fitted in all respects.  One hundred Girl Scouts in uniform then marched into the hall singing the Scout hymn and stood in phalanx formation.  Director Lewis asked that Scout Kelly's captain present her to the audience and Mrs. J. C. Kelly, Scout Captain and Ellen's mother, stepped forward with her.  The unanimous consent of all the Girl Scouts in the community and the consent of every member of the Pelham Community Committee is necessary before a Scout may receive the Golden Eaglet.  This was signified in a most enthusiastic manner, after which Miss Lewis pinned the award on Scout Kelly's uniform.  Amidst the applause that followed, the Boy Scout cheer rang out spontaneously from the group who were seated in the balcony.  As the ceremony concluded, Scout Kelly was deluged with congratulations and praise."

The following autumn, Ellen Kelly began college at Wellesley where she was active in local Girl Scout programs.  After college, she continued her studies and, in 1932, received a "Master of Science Degree and the Certificate of the Department of Hygiene and Physical Education" from Wellesley.  She was appointed to the teaching staff of the Department of Physical Education for women at the University of Wisconsin.  During summers, she served as a counselor at Shantywell, a camp for young girls run by her mother at Lake Mahopac, New York. 

In an indication of just how difficult it was (and is) to achieve the highest award granted by the Girl Scouts, it was three years later in 1930 when the second Pelham Girl Scout achieved the Golden Eaglet.  That year, Pelhamite Polly Litchfield received the award.  Pelhamite Martha Stewart was the third to receive the award and, in 1934, Pelhamite Carol Kander became the fourth young woman of Pelham to be so honored.

 

Ellen Kelly in 1932.  Source:  
MISS KELLY TO JOIN COLLEGE STAFF IN FALL,

The Pelham Sun, Jun. 17, 1932, Vol. 23, No. 13, p. 3, col. 2.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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"Ellen Kelly First Pelham Scout To Earn Golden Eaglet
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Ellen Kelly of Troop 4, Pelham Girl Scouts, will receive the first Golden Eaglet ever presented in the Pelhams, at the Court of Honor on Thursday night, June 16th at 8 o'clock in Memorial High School gymnasium.  The occasion will be a particularly important one for Scout Kelly as she also celebrates her eighteenth birthday on that date.  The Golden Eaglet is the highest honor a girl scout can achieve."

Source:   Ellen Kelly First Pelham Scout To Earn Golden Eaglet, The Pelham Sun, Jun. 10, 1927, p. 8, col. 5. 

"GIRL SCOUTS OF PELHAM
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The Pelham Girl Scout Committee and those in charge of the recent Court of Awards are grateful to the following citizens of Pelham for their assistance in examining the Scouts for merit badges:  Scribe, Miss Mary Costello; Athlete, Miss M. McNemeny; Citizenship, Mrs. Henry E. Dey; Bird Finder, Mr. Barnard Pourrs; Cyclist, Mr. Burgess B. Field, Mr. Charles Koenig; Electrician, Mr. H. D. Welton; Height, Weight and Distance, Mr. Norman Litchfield; Musician, Mr. Albert Fregans; also to the Westchester Lighting Co. for cooking examinations.
* * *
The regular Scout meetings have been discontinued for the summer and the last Community Committee meeting was held on Thursday morning at the home of Mrs. Norman Litchfield.
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About one hundred merit badges will be awarded to scouts of the various Pelham troops at the Court of Honor on Thursday evening, at 8 o'clock in Memorial High School gymnasium.  Ellen Kelly will receive the first Golden Eaglet ever presented to any Pelham Scout.  Girl Scouts of Mt. Vernon, New Rochelle and Bronxville, and Boy Scouts of Pelham are to be the invited guests.  Parents and all friends of scouting are urged to attend."

Source:  GIRL SCOUTS OF PELHAM, The Pelham Sun, Jun. 10, 1927, p. 8, col. 4.

Source: 

"Ellen Kelly Is Pelham's First Golden Eaglet
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In the presence of several hundred enthusiastic persons, Scout Ellen Kelly of Troop 4 received the first Golden Eaglet to be won by a Girl Scout of Pelham.  The impressive and inspiring ceremony took place last Thursday evening in Memorial High School gymnasium at the Spring Court of Awards.  County Director Carolyn Lewis spoke briefly preceding the presentation.  She explained the significance of the Golden Eaglet, the work that the Scout must do to earn it, and stressed the fact that the first Scout in Pelham to receive the highest award the organization confers was fitted in all respects.  One hundred Girl Scouts in uniform then marched into the hall singing the Scout hymn and stood in phalanx formation.  Director Lewis asked that Scout Kelly's captain present her to the audience and Mrs. J. C. Kelly, Scout Captain and Ellen's mother, stepped forward with her.  The unanimous consent of all the Girl Scouts in the community and the consent of every member of the Pelham Community Committee is necessary before a Scout may receive the Golden Eaglet.  This was signified in a most enthusiastic manner, after which Miss Lewis pinned the award on Scout Kelly's uniform.  Amidst the applause that followed, the Boy Scout cheer rang out spontaneously from the group who were seated in the balcony.  As the ceremony concluded, Scout Kelly was deluged with congratulations and praise.

Awards of merit badges won by the Girl Scouts at the recent Court of Honor were then presented.  Mrs. William Holland Davis, chairman of the Court of Awards read the name of each Scout as she stepped forward and Director Lewis presented the merit badges won.  The following Scouts received the awards listed:  Dorothy Nowa, second class, observer, citizenship, scribe, health winner, cook, homemaker; Eleanor Ochs, second class, observer; Mary Elizabeth Parsons, second class; Gloria Pitman, second class, cyclist, cook; Margaret Stobie, second class; Sylvia Smith, second class; Martha Stewart, second class, craftsman, scholarship; Alida Van Ness, second class; Anita Zacchio, second class; Jean Ackland, scholarship, homemaker; Barbara Bartlett, scribe, needlewoman, hostess, homemaker; Florence Dickenson, second class; Marjorie Chittenden, observer, home nurse, cyclist, homemaker, first aid; Kate Davis, observer; Mildred Eichelberger, cook, scribe, needlewoman, rockfinder, homemaker; Betty Hart, observer, laundress, first aid, home nurse; Carman Hart, first aid, home nurse; Phyllis Haight, observer, cyclist, hostess, homemaker; Beverly Hull, homemaker, hostess; Marietta Jordan, homemaker, cook; Ellen Kelly, electrician, musician, cyclist, milliner; Polly Litchfield, home nurse, first aid; Muriel Mackintosh, needlewoman, home nurse, first aid; Alam Monroe, cyclist, cook; Ruth Prentice, home nurse, first aid; Paula Webster, home nurse, first aid; Emily Litchfield, hostess, electrician, path finder, scholarship badge ringed for very high average; Jane Allen, second class; Juliette Bolte, second class, scholarship; Elizabeth Brehm, second class, scholarship, scribe; Ruth Carnes, second class, laundress, health winner, observer, scholarship, cook, hostess, craftsman; Lialete Childs, second class; Jeanette Davies, second class, health winner; Betty Dean, second class, health winner; Marion Flynn, second class, health winner; Capt. Sarah Haight, second class, homemaker; Mary Knowles Higgins, second class; Yvonne Heading, second class, health winner, observer; Capt. Dolores Kelly, second class; Evelyn Koenig, second class, observer, cyclist, rockfinder, flower finder; Grace Langeler, second class; Emma Nichols, second class, observer, cyclist, rockfinder; Isabel Macgregor, first class; Harriet Walker, first class, home nurse, first aid; Irene Longley, hostess; Consuelo McKenna, observer, cook, cyclist; Dororthea McCoy, scholarship, citizenship, cook, cyclist; Elizabeth Pearce, hostess, bird finder, scholarship badge ringed for very high average, home nurse, first aid; Barbara Pitman, cook, cyclist, homemaker; Maude Van Riper, scholarship, homemaker; Alicia Knapp, first class, laundress, home nurse, first aid, electrician, homemaker, scholarship badge ringed for very high average.

Those receiving a gold star for perfect attendance during the year were:  Dorothea McCoy, Consuelo McKenna, Jeanette Davies.  Those awarded a silver stripe for good attendance with not more than three legitimate excuses were:  Gloria Pitman, Barbara Pitman, Lucile Scudder, Carol Jackson, Emily Litchfield, Alicia Knapp, Mary Emily Leary, Ellen Kelly, Alida Van Ness, Susan Larrimore, Muriel Mackintosh, Hattie Petrikat, Anita Zacchio, Alma Monroe."

Source:  Ellen Kelly Is Pelham's First Golden Eaglet, The Pelham Sun, Jun. 24, 1927, p. 6, col. 4.  

"GIRL SCOUTS OF PELHAM . . .

Ellen Kelly, Pelham's first Golden Eaglet is at Wellesley and she writes that she has joined the Wellesley College Scout Troop and that she is about to join the Massachusetts order of Golden Eaglet. . . ."

Source:   GIRL SCOUTS OF PELHAM, The Pelham Sun, Oct. 14, 1927, p. 3, col. 3.

"Girls Of Pelhams Have Found Many Advantages In Scouting
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Eight Years of Girl Scouting In the Pelhams Have Proven Of Great Benefit.  Next Year Holds Much For Members Of Local Troops
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By MRS. ROBERT J. BENDER

With the beginning of this holiday season the Pelham Girl Scout Organization celebrates its eighth winter of activities for the growing girls of Pelham.  In 1921 the First Troop was founded, the members of that Troop have grown up and gone to College.  Troop 2 was registered in the following year and that Troop is one of the active ones now, each year adding new girls.  Miss Mary Keating is Captain.

In 1923, Mrs. J. S. Kelly registered a troop with twelve girls and within a year that grew to 40 girls and was divided to make Troop 4.

The fall of 1925 started with four Troops, not enough to take care of many eager girls who were clamoring to be Scouts.  Troops 5 and 6 were registered that year.  Mrs. James MacGregor taking charge until Miss Eleanor Seed became Captain of Troop 5.

With nearly a hundred registered Scouts that year the need of a Community Committee was felt and that was formed to further the interest in Scouting.  The Community Committee's formation in that year meant that plans for the Girl Scout required that there would be a group of interested workers who could plan ahead for the work necessary Merit badges of The Scouts.

In 1927 the first ceremony conferring the Golden Eaglet to the first eligible Pelham Scout was held at the Pelham High School.  Ellen Kelly, of Troop 3, was the first to receive the honor.

This year opens with four active Troops and 152 registered Scouts.  From the work already done and the things planned for the following months it is sure to be the best and most successful in accomplishment.

Thirty two meetings in Troops makes up the winter schedule but that does not mean that summer time sees no work for Scouting.  At Rock Hill Camp at Mahopac, New York, the Scout Summer Camp which most of our Pelham Scouts enjoy, the Merit Badge work goes on with renewed vigor.  The Nature work the woodcraft, the birds, the trees and the all day hikes are more enjoyable if worked out from the camp.

Swimming Badges can easily be earned at camp as there is always at hand a professional instructor from the Red Cross Life Saving Corps.  Pelham has the distinction of having its Girl Scout Swimming Team beat the Boy Scout Swimming Team.

The Father-Daughter Dinner in October was attended by more than 200.  It was entirely cooked and served by the Scouts.  November offered National Girl Scout Week and our Pelham Scouts held an exhibit at the station which was intended to acquaint those of the entire town with the work of the beginners as well as to show them what advanced Scouting can do for girls.  December is kept free for the usual Christmas activities but in January there will be Group singing under the direction of Mr. Munro Hubbard and Troop Drills with Colonel Haight.

Girls of ten or over are eligible for Scouting and can join a troop any season of the year.

The first chairman of the Pelham Community Committee was Mrs. James MacGregor.  Mrs. Charles Hart guided the Scouts for two years later.  The present Community Committee consists of Mrs. Stuart Wilder, chairman; Mrs. J. S. Kelly, Mrs. Wm. H. Davis, Mrs. Edwin Van Riper, Mrs. R. B. Hull, Mrs. G. Munro Hubbard, Mrs. Herbert Wyckoff, Mrs. Chas. Bolte, Mrs. Norman Litchfield, Mrs. Raymond Smith, Mrs. Roscoe Ingalls, Mrs. Chas. Hart, Mr. H. J. Phillips and Mrs. Robert J. Bender."

Source:  Bender, Mrs. Robert J., Girls Of Pelhams Have Found Many Advantages In Scouting -- Eight Years of Girl Scouting In the Pelhams Have Proven Of Great Benefit.  Next Year Holds Much For Members Of Local Troops, The Pelham Sun, Dec. 14, 1928, Vol. 19, No. 41, p. 3, cols. 1-3. 

"Polly Litchfield Wins Golden Eaglet
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Highest Honor in Girl Scouts Awarded for the Second Time in Pelham.  Many Other Awards at High School Friday.
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The Girl Scouts of the Pelhams had their final Court of Awards of the season in the high school auditorium Friday evening.  One hundred and thirty-two badges and awards of merit were given to the scouts at this time and one girl scout, Polly Litchfield, was awarded the highest honor that the scouts give, the Golden Eaglet.  Miss Litchfield is the second girl scout of Pelham to win this distinction, a most difficult one to attain which means the winner must have character and a fine spirit and goes only to the highest type of girl scout.  Mrs. Charles M. Hart made the award to Miss Litchfield.  Pelham's first Golden Eaglet girl scout was Miss Ellen Kelly of Pelham Manor who is now away at college.

Mrs. G. Munro Hubbard of Pelham Manor, vice-chairman of the Pelham Girl Scout Community Committee presided at the Court of Awards in the absence of Mrs. J. A. Migel, chairman and spoke a few explanatory words about the work of the scouts.

After hearing some of the requirements for the various badges of which there are a great number, no one would wonder what the girl scouts did with their spare time.  It must be a load off their parents'  minds to know that young Sally or Jane holds a 'housekeeper's badge' and that Mary is a 'laundress' and a 'Child's Nurse.'  These youngsters are equipped to step into all sorts of domestic crises, apparently and carry off the honors of the day.

Mrs. Stuart Wilder, former chairman of the Pelham Community Committee and a member of the County Board made the presentation assisted by Mrs. E. E. Pringle who had charge of the Court of Awards assisted by Mrs. W. H. Davis.  Mrs. Wilder spoke words of friendly commendation to the girls as they received their awards and explained the significance of them in some instances.

The singing of the Star Spangled Banner, the Flag Salute and the recitation of the Girl Scout Laws and Promises were part of the evening's program.  Following the award of the Golden Eaglet badge to Miss Polly Litchfield she was presented with a gift, the presentation being made by Mrs. G. Munro Hubbard."

Source:  Polly Litchfield Wins Golden Eaglet -- Highest Honor in Girl Scouts Awarded for the Second Time in Pelham.  Many Other Awards at High School Friday, The Pelham Sun, May 23, 1930, p. 17, cols. 5-7.  

"MISS KELLY TO JOIN COLLEGE STAFF IN FALL
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Miss Ellen Kelly of No. 1465 Roosevelt avenue, has returned to Pelham after a year of graduate study at Wellesley College.  At the commencement exercises next week she will receive the Master of Science Degree and the Certificate of the Department of Hygiene and Physical Education.  

Miss Kelly has been appointed to the teaching staff of the Department of Physical Education for women at the University of Wisconsin where she will take part next fall in a new experimental program of activities for the women students and faculty.

This summer Miss Kelly will be head counselor at Shantywell, a camp for junior girls at Lake Mahopac, New York.  She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Kelly."

Source:  MISS KELLY TO JOIN COLLEGE STAFF IN FALL, The Pelham Sun, Jun. 17, 1932, Vol. 23, No. 13, p. 3, col. 2.

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