Concho
Valley Council No. 741
San
Angelo, Texas
Six Scout troops existed in
San Angelo by May 14, 1922 and the Kiwanis Club agreed to sponsor the Boy
Scouts of America by organizing a council. By the end of the month
the Kiwanis Club had appointed men to constitute the Council and to make
application immediately to the national headquarters of the Boy Scouts
in New York for a charter for the "Tom Green County Scout Council."
Mr. A. C. Dunn, deputy regional
executive, working under James P. Fitch, Region 9 Executive, met with the
Board of City Development and later with the Kiwanis Club in mid-July,
1922, to urge the group to hire a paid executive for the Tom Green Scout
Council. An executive had already been hired in Abilene to carry
on the work there.
Apparently his request got
nowhere as it was not until 1926 before a paid executive was hired.
The six troops, with membership ranging from twenty-five to thirty-two
boys were:
Troop 2 - South Side
Baptist Church - Rev. J. H. Garrett, Scoutmaster
Troop 3 - Methodist
Protestant Church - Rev. J. A. Richardson, Scoutmaster
Troop 4 - Angelo
Heights - Theron K. Wright, Scoutmaster
Troop 5 - First Christian
Church - Prof. A. C. Odom, Scoutmaster
Troop 6 - First Presbyterian
Church - Dr. Ralph R. Chase, Scoutmaster
Troop 1 - It was
mentioned in the papper that Troop 1 had been in San Angelo "more than
a year ago" but, due to the fact that J. K. Griggs, the Scoutmaster, was
not able to take time from his business, he was unable to continue as Scoutmaster.
Their troop still retained its identity and the boys retained their membership.
In other words, the troop was not meeting, but the troop charter was still
in force!
The Scout registration fee
was 50 cents. The dues were from 25 to 50 cents a month and a uniform,
including leggings, trousers, shirt and hat, could be purchased for $7.50.
Concho Valley Council
Scouting was apparently still
active in 1925 although no record could be found on any activity that took
place in the paper. The Kiwanis Club continued to discuss their support
of the program and what they could do to make Scouting a valuable part
of the San Angelo scene.
Council
Formally Organized
So, in January of 1926, a concerted
effort was made by the San Angelo Kiwanis Club to organize a first class
council to serve the surrounding area. Houston Harte, publisher of
the San Angelo Standard-Times and president of the Kiwanis Club, appointed
John Y. Rust, A. A. Glover, D. J. Burk, Dr. H. K. Hinde and Walter Gallemore,
as a committee of the club to co-operate with the local Scout council headed
by Clarence Starkie and Scoutmaster Edward F. Johnson. As a result of their
efforts, sixty members of the Kiwanis Club were solicited and $1,170 was
raised from the club members and $77 from four non-members for a total
of $1,247 to be devoted to the work of organizing a council with a paid
career man at the helm.
The Concho Valley Council,
Boy Scouts of America, was formally organized on Thursday afternoon, May
20, 1926 by E. E. Voss, Deputy Regional Executive of Texas, Oklahoma and
New Mexico. Voss told the group that the Concho Valley Council charter
would come through in a few weeks at which time he hoped to return for
the formal presentation.
Brice
W. Draper
The
new council was composed of sixteen and one-half counties: Tom Green, Irion,
Schleicher, Sutton, Kimble, Menard, Concho, McCulloch, Crane, Reagan, Cole,
half of Runnels, Terrell, Pecos, Crockett, Upton, and Graner. It
was organized primarily through the efforts of John Y. Rust, Houston Harte,
and H. C. Ragsdale of San Angelo. By February 18, Brice
W. Draper, son of H. E. Draper, presiding elder of the Methodist Church,
was employed to be the Scout Executive. He was transferred from the Nueces
Valley Council of Corpus Christi. Brice W. Draper served as Scout
Executive of the Council until 1934, when he moved to Dallas, Texas.
John Y.
Rust. ..
John
Y. Rust served as its first president from 1926 to 1931 inclusive.
He was succeeded by Houston Harte who served through 1935.
We know that Sam Scheuber served as Council Commissioner through 1932.
Both John Y. Rust and Sam Scheuber received the Silver Beaver award in
the early '30s for "Distinguished Service to Boyhood" from the Concho Valley
Council.
The name "Concho Valley"
was selected because much of the original territory of the council was
in the valley of the 'general prongs' of the Concho River (Spanish for
shells, found in the river). The middle branch of the Concho
River rises in Reagan County; the south branch rises in Schleicher County.
The north branch rises outside the territory and flows southeast to unite
with the Concho River which is formed at San Angelo and continues eastward
through Tom Green and Concho counties and joins the Colorado River.
The headquarters for the
Concho Valley Council has been located in San Angelo since the council
was organized in 1926.
Charter
Members of Council
Charter members of the council
included W. D. Holcomb, J. P. McAnulty, T. E. Gallemore, J. F. Sutton,
John Parker, Earl Dunn, O. D. Wallace, J.T. Correls, H. P. Bybee, Clyde
Hoyt, Fred Cox, Sam Jones, John Shepperson, Rev. Gaston Hartsfield, Rec.
G. W. McCall, T. E. Broyles, Ted Hogan, Chase Holland, W. P. Barnes, John
P. Lee, Sam Mchaffey, Scott Peters, George Neal, C. G. Dunklin, Jim Daniels,
E. A. Baze and J. F. Simpson.
A Scout
House Completed
On February 8, 1926, it was
announced in the SAN ANGELO DAILY STANDARD that the Scout House
in the Civic League park had been completed and Boy Scout meetings were
being held there every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights. Several
local merchants had donated beaver board, doors, lattices, molding, hardware,
paint, a wood stove, desk and thirty chairs to complete and furnish the
building. We know that Troop 3 met there on Wednesday night and Troop
1, under Scoutmaster Ed. F. Johnson, met there on Friday night.
Scouts
at Ben Ficklin
It
didn't take Draper long to get involved in the program. On February
26, 1926, fifty-two Scouts were at Ben Ficklin to pass second class tests
and practice Scoutcraft under the leadership of Draper.
The group of boys was divided
into two groups and the game of "Crows and Cranes" was played, followed
by an Indian dance with "blood-curdling yells." J. W. Scheuber, Ed
F. Johnson and Fred Cox tasted the meat and potatoes the Scouts had prepared
over twenty-eight fires, all in three long lines.
In early March, a training
course for adults was held for fifty men at the Elk's Hall to get men interested
in promoting the Scout organization in San Angelo. The patrols were
Clyde Hoyt's "Roosters", the Ed F. Johnson's "Foxes", G. H. Odam's "Wildcats",
Sam Scheuber's "Cuckoos" and Jean Cornelison's "Beavers."
Patrol
Leader Training
Junior Leader
Training, Christoval, Texas in 1928.
This
event was followed by a Scout patrol leader's training conference on March
20 and 21 at Christoval with sixty Boy Scouts in attendance. Involved
with helping with the training of the youth were City Manager E. V. Spence,
Dr. J. P. McAnulty, Rev. E. V. Evins, Rev. G. W. McCall, and Chief Parker
of the San Angelo Fire Department. By this time they had organized
eight troops in town.
Neal Sanders was patrol leader
of the "Roosters", J. T. Sorrells of the "Eagles", Norris Creath of the
"Lions" and Charles Kirkpatrick of the "Owls."
Saturday afternoon the Scouts
passed all Tenderfoot tests, studied and recited on two instruction sheets
on leadership training, learned to signal, and made patrol totems with
material gathered on the grounds. After dinner they heard a lecture
on First Aid, tied Tenderfoot bandages and attended a campfire.
Taps was heard by a tired camp at 10:15.
Sunday morning, following
calisthenic drill intermingled with lusty songs, they ate breakfast, heard
a lecture on leadership ability, worked on second class tests, heard Chief
Parker speak on ways they could help the fire department, procured a patrol
mascot, ate a "huge chicken dinner" and continued work on their second
class tests. An inter-patrol field meet was held at 4 p.m. with contests
in first aid, fire building, potato cooking, wall scaling and patrol unity.
The Lion Patrol edged out
the Owls by 2 points. Hundreds of cars carried spectators to the
field meet and many of them expressed surprise at the knowledge the Scouts
had gained during the conference.
A second Patrol Leaders conference
was held at Christoval on April 17 and 18th and was aquatic in the most
part, closing with a water carnival.
Districts
Organized
The Ranch District was organized
in April of 1928 with Roy Aldwell of Sonora as Chairman and Judge J. A.
Whitten, Eldorado serving as Vice Chairman. Other members of the
district committee were Scott Peters of Crockett, Weaver Baker of Kimble
and Prestias Nigbitt of Menard. The following year, Maurice M. McMaster,
professional Scouter from Kansas City was in charge of the Ranch and Farm
Districts.
The San Angelo Standard-Times
announced on December 7, 1930, that Waldo Williams was field commissioner
of the Western District composed of the counties of Pecos, Crane, Reagon
and Upton and that A. W. Boren of Brady was field commissioner of the Farm
district of the counties of Concho, McCulloch and Menard.
As
in most councils, there were troops active prior to the organization of
councils. One such troop was active in Sonora, TX in 1915.
The photo was taken one day while the troop was practicing their first
aid on the dirt road leading up to tAhe water works. The road
is still there today except that it is paved.
In the meantime, the Southwest
Councilwas organized in 1926 by John C. Campbell as the organization
executive. In late 1926 he joined the regional staff as deputy and
M. M. Fulmer became the Council Scout executive. In 1927 H. B. Palmer
became the executive and continued through 1935. The Council lasted
for only ten years, until it merged with the Concho Valley Council in 1936,
but during that time it was a very active council serving ten counties
in southwest Texas. In 1936 this council was on direct service for a few
months, then was joined with the Concho Valley Council. Counties
included Val Verde, Edwards, Kinney, Uvalde, Real, Dimmit, Maverick and
Zavala.
The Concho Valley Council
serves 23 1/2 counties in West Texas today with four districts and a staff
of four Executives.
Internet Rechartering
Electronic recharting of a unit
became a reality in the Concho Valley Council in the fall of 2005.
It was a Web-based method for units to renew their charters from any online
location. Units entered the information themselves. When completed,
the unit roster was submitted to ScoutNET and a Unit Charter Renewal Report
Package was printed. The unit then acquired the signatures for the
application and sent it, along with the rest of the package, any
new youth and adult applications, and all fees to the council.
Other Concho Valley Council
Pages
| Presidents
| Scout Executives | Map
of Council | Camp Fawcett | Camp
Sol Mayer | Eagle Scouts |
| Camp
Louis Farr | National Jamborees | Wahinkto
Lodge | District Award of Merit
| Southwest Texas Council |
| Newsletter
- "The Scouter" | Cub Scouts |
Material
for this page came from
"History of Region Nine, Boy Scouts of America,
1920-1967," by Minor Huffman and "Panjandrum, A History of Scouting
in the Concho Valley Council 1911 - 1941," by Frank T. Hilton, 1990
Last Updated: November
14, 2005
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