Cradle of Liberty Council
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| Cradle of Liberty Council | |
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| Owner | Boy Scouts of America |
| Headquarters | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | Coordinates: 39°57′32″N 75°10′32″W / 39.959°N 75.17552°W |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Website http://www.colbsa.org/ |
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The Cradle of Liberty Council (525) is a Boy Scouts of America council created in 1996 with the merger of the former Philadelphia Council, covering the city and county of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the former Valley Forge Council, covering both Delaware County, Pennsylvania and Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It is the largest council in Pennsylvania and is the third largest in the entire Boy Scouts of America.[1][dead link]
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[edit] History
The present council is the result of the 1996 merger of two previous councils, Philadelphia and Valley Forge councils. The Philadelphia Council was founded in 1911. In 1913, Philadelphia Council opened the first American Scout camp, Treasure Island Scout Reservation, near Point Pleasant, Pennsylvania. Two years later, Dr. E. Urner Goodman and Carrol Edson founded the Order of the Arrow, which inducted its first members on July 16, 1915. The council is host to the oldest annual Scouting event in the nation, the Valley Forge Pilgrimage and Encampment.
The Valley Forge Council was created from the Delaware and Montgomery County councils in a BSA-directed merger in the 1950s. Valley Forge was named for the historic winter of 1776-77 camp by George Washington's troops. It opened its first camp, the Delmont Scout Reservation in Green Lane, Pennsylvania, and acquired land to open the Resica Falls Scout Reservation near the Delaware Water Gap in 1962.
Because of a shifting population (with city residents moving to the suburbs), and two councils each trying to gain capital funds for their camps, the BSA suggested to the executive boards of both councils that they merge, a process started in 1993 and made final in 1996.
When councils merge, they are given a new council number. The new council retained the former Philadelphia Council's number, and the new council became number 525. Philadelphia's Order of the Arrow lodge (Unami One), the one founded in 1915 on Treasure Island, and recognized as the first lodge nationally, would be lost in the merger. To prevent this, the members of Valley Forge's OA lodge, Delmont Lodge 43, voted to fold their lodge and became part of the Unami Lodge in 1997.
[edit] Organization
- Baden-Powell District — Serving Ambler, Blue Bell, Conshohocken, Lafayette Hill, Lower Gwynedd, Oreland, Plymouth Meeting, Upper Dublin and Whitemarsh[2]
- Conestoga District — Interboro, Ridley, Southeast Delco, Springfield, Upper Darby and William Penn School Districts in Delaware County, PA
- Continental District — Serving Pottstown, Pottsgrove, Boyertown & Upper Perkiomen School Districts (North-West Montgomery County)
- Constellation District — Haverford, Lower Merion, Marple Newtown & Radnor School Districts
- Delaware District — Serving Northeast Philadelphia
- Frontier District — Serving Northwest Philadelphia
- General Nash District — Souderton and North Penn School Districts in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania[3]
- Lafayette District — Serving the Communities & School Districts of Upper Merion, Norristown, Methacton, Perkiomen Valley, and Royersford/Spring City
- Minquas District — Serving the youth of Chichester, Chester-Upland, Garnet Valley, Penn-Delco, Rose Tree-Media, and Wallingford-Swarthmore School Districts.
- Northern District — Serving Northwest Philadelphia
- Triune District — Serving South Philadelphia, West Philadelphia, North Philadelphia and Center City Philadelphia
- Washington District — Serving Cheltenham, Jenkintown, Abington, Upper Moreland, Lower Moreland, Hatboro-Horsham, and Bryn Athyn School Districts.
[edit] Facilities
As a result of the merger, the Cradle of Liberty Council maintains two offices, the Bruce S. Marks Scout Resource Center in Philadelphia, the other, the Roger S. Firestone Scout Resource Center, in Wayne, just outside of Valley Forge just over the Chester County line.
The Bruce Marks Scout Resource Center in Philadelphia was built in 1929. The Beaux Arts style building was designed by architect Charles Klauder. [4] At the time city fathers invited the Scouts to move their offices to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. [5] The building was built and paid for by the Scouts, and turned over to the city with the understanding that the Scouts would be allowed to remain in it rent-free "in perpetuity."[6] [7] The building is located at 22nd and Winter Streets.[4] The first copy of the R. Tait McKenzie sculpture The Ideal Scout stands outside the building.
The Roger S. Firestone Scout Resource Center, the former Valley Forge office, serves as the suburban access point. It is located in Wayne, on the northern fringes of the affluent Main Line area. Most of the council's activities and training sessions occur in the suburban office. Due to its size and flooring area, and it has been slated for expansion since the merger. The city office, which houses the Scout Executive and District Executives for the districts within the city limits, has less space for training, and has been maintained mainly for easier access to city residents, who would otherwise have to use either mass transit (which has limited stops in Valley Forge), or drive on the Schuylkill Expressway (Interstate 76), which is notorious for backups between Center City and Valley Forge.
[edit] Camps
Cradle of Liberty Council operates two camps in Pennsylvania: the Musser Scout Reservation (from the merger of the Camp Delmont and Camp Hart) near Green Lane, and the Resica Falls Scout Reservation, composed of Camp Firestone and Camp Big Springs, north of East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania in the Pocono Mountains. While Camp Big Springs is still an active summer camp, the declining attendance and enrollment of the Camp Firestone summer program has caused Firestone to close. This camp is currently used mainly as an Order of the Arrow lodging area and a High Adventure camp. The twin camps of Hart and Delmont had been operated by the Philadelphia and Valley Forge councils respectively before the merger; their consolidation under the name Musser Scout Reservation was a tribute to Pete Musser and the Musser family, long-time Scouting supporters. The council also operated Treasure Island Scout Reservation. The camp was damaged by flooding of the Delaware River in 2005 and again in 2006, forcing its closure for the 2005 and 2006 seasons. In September 2008, the Council Executive Board ratified the recommendations of the Camping Committee and the executive committee to close Treasure Island effective October 1, 2008.[8] Resica Falls is situated near the controversial Tocks Island Dam project of the 1960s, now the present-day Delaware Water Gap National Recreational Area.
The council no longer owns any properties in or near Philadelphia. In 1929, Henry W. Breyer, Jr., purchased the abandoned Lindenhurst property once owned by John Wanamaker in Cheltenham on York Road, below Washington Lane. Breyer donated the former Wanamaker land to the Boy Scouts of America for use as a wildlife preserve.[9] The camp was accessible to city-scouts by taking the train to the Jenkintown station. Camp Henry W. Breyer (40°05′07″N 75°07′52″W / 40.0853°N 75.1311°W) was sold by the Philadelphia Council in 1990 and is now the site of the Pennsylvania College of Optometry.
At one point, the Philadelphia Council was also given a tract of land near the Roxborough Reservoir at Port Royal Avenue and Eva Street (40°03′20″N 75°14′38″W / 40.0556°N 75.2438°W). [10] This land was eventually sold and is now part of the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. [11] Also, the Philadelphia council also owned Camp Biddle on the Darby Creek (Pennsylvania) in Marple Township. (39°59′48″N 75°21′18″W / 39.9967°N 75.3550°W). The camp was named after Anthony J. Drexel Biddle.[12]
[edit] Unami Lodge
The Cradle of Liberty's Order of the Arrow Lodge, Unami Lodge One, is the oldest OA lodge in the country, and in 2005 celebrated its 90th anniversary.
[edit] Alumni
[edit] Headquarters controversy
The City of Philadelphia says that it cannot allow organizations that receive city benefits to discriminate and are poised to evict the local Scout council from their city-owned service center building on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The Historic Landmark building laden with Scouting symbols was built and paid for by the Scouts on city land at the city's request in 1929 and the cost of maintenance and renovation has been borne by the Boy Scout council ever since.[14]
The Council claims:
The City has imposed an unconstitutional condition upon Cradle of Liberty's receipt of a benefit that Cradle of Liberty has enjoyed for nearly eight decades, and that many other organizations that limit members or services to members of a particular group continue to enjoy without punishment or the threat of punishment—COLBSA Court Filing
The Boy Scouts of America is a private, non profit organization engaged in instilling its system of values in young people. It asserts that homosexuality is inconsistent with those values. The Scouts contend that the city's ultimatum violates their rights under the U.S. and Pennsylvania Constitutions, namely, the right to Freedom of Assembly guaranteed under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.[14]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cradle of Liberty Council |
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Wikinews has related news: Philadelphia breaks 80 year old building lease; moves to evict Scouts |
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Wikinews has related news: Philadelphia to become largest city in U.S. without Boy Scout building |
[edit] References
- ^ Moore, Tina (2006-07-25). "Scouts will fight for use of building". The Philadelphia Inquirer. http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/15113896.htm.
- ^ BP District website
- ^ General Nash District
- ^ a b philadelphiabuildings.org
- ^ Outline History of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway 1871-1935.
- ^ Pirro, J.F. (2007-01-10). "Scouts' Dishonor". Philadelphia City Paper. http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2007/01/11/scouts-dishonor.
- ^ Slobodzian, Joseph A. (2007-12-04). "Scouts ignore gay-policy deadline". Philadelphia Inquirer. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_region/20071204_Scouts_ignore_gay-policy_deadline.html.
- ^ [1]
- ^ Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County PA, Elkins Park, 19027
- ^ Raab, Jonas (2007-01-10). "Cityspace: Protect and Preserve". Philadelphia City Paper. http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2004-10-21/cityspace2.shtml.
- ^ Saffron, Inga (2004-12-05). "Changing Skyline". Philadelphia Inquirer. http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/living/columnists/inga_saffron/10339849.htm.
- ^ History of Cradle of Liberty Council #525
- ^ DaGroomes, Kathy Vilim (March — April 2006). "Dodgers Icon Shares Love Of Baseball and Scouting". Scouting. http://www.scoutingmagazine.org.
- ^ a b Slobodzian, Joseph A. (May 27, 2008). "Boy Scouts sue Phila. to stay in headquarters". Philadelphia Inquirer. http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20080527_Boy_Scouts_sue_Phila__to_stay_in_headquarters.html?submit=Vote&oid=1&mr=1&19281389=Y&cid=8500281&pid=19281389.
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