Photo of the Month - July 2000

Arthur Steinke has sent in a very old photo of Troop 1 of the North West Suburban Council, Illinois which was taken in 1912 by a photographer who has long gone to Scouting heaven. The names of the subjects had thought to have been long lost but were subsequently found. The scouts you can see here would be about 100 years old this year but in this picture they strike poses any modern teenager would be proud of. I like the way the two on the left are holding their hats in the same way (friends do these things) and the three amigos on the floor really are laid back. It is the the two guys in the middle holding up the flagpost who make the photo for me. They look like they could be cowboys propping up a bar in New Mexico and not just Boy Scouts from Illinois. Compare this picture with the March '99 photo of the month. I know which guys I would rather be hanging out with. Now over to Arthur.

Attached is a photo of one of the oldest troops in the U.S.A. Troop 1 of the United Methodist Church, Park Ridge, Illinois. Sorry it is not in color, but color was not available in 1912. The photo is of Troop 1 on its first summer camp in Whitehall, Michigan, summer of 1912. Seated to the left side of the photo: Milton Wood, Everet Carpenter, Richard Ryuson. Standing: Silas Woody, Donald Dickenson, Scoutmaster Charles M. Dickenson. Seated right side of photo: Robert Meacham, Willie Woody. Prone: Lawrence Willie, Duane Morris, Harold Brown. Everet Carpenter's parents had a middle school named after the family from the 1800's and a street in our town was named after the family name of Meacham.

Charles M. Dickenson, the Scoutmaster pictured above, was a friend of the Chicago publisher Boyce who met Lord Baden Powell and brought the idea of Scouting back to the U.S.

Troop 1 is one of the oldest if not the oldest continous chartered troop in the U.S.A. The picture was taken at Camp Whitehall, Michigan. Troop 1 and the First United Methodist church were major contributors to starting up the summer camp. The camp is now named Owasipe and is now the Chicago council's summer camp.

So that is about all I have for now. I do know that the Cub Pack from the same church as the troop, was one of the five Cub Packs chartered in England. The charters were brought back to the U.S. as an experiment to determine if it was feasible here. I have the Cub flag with the words 'Wolf Cubs' on it with a brown wolf in the sitting position. The brown wolf looks more like a dog. This flag is said to have been brought back from England. I really don't know if any or part of this is fact or not.

As for the U.S. National Jamboree it will be held in Virginia at FT.A.P. Hill. the last week of July 2001. I will be part of the staff for the Ham radio displays and stations. The Ham call for the station is K2BSA. If any one is interested they can stop by and say hello. During the last several Jamborees that I was on staff we had some English Scouts also attended the Jamboree.