Monday, August 7, 2017
Friday, February 24, 2017
Troop 66 Anniversary and Origins
February is the month when the Cub Scouts have their Blue & Gold dinner. This commemorates the founding of the Boy Scouts of America on February 8, 1910. But the Twin Cities have had Boy Scouts for almost as long!
What we know as the Northern Star Council formed in 2005 from the merger of the Indianhead and Viking councils (according to our council's history page). The Indianhead Council was founded October 1, 1910 as the St. Paul Council, and the Viking Council formed on October 15, 1910 as the Hennepin Council. They changed their names in 1954.
In the early years of the Boy Scouts of America, troops would be chartered and then a chartering organization wouldn't renew their charter; the troop numbers, though, got reused. According to paperwork on-file at the Northern Star Council offices, Troop 66 was first chartered by the Hazel Park community from 1922 to 1923. After that, the Central Park Methodist Episcopal church (now known as the Recovery church) chartered Troop 66 from 1925 until 1931.
In 1931, St. Bernard's Catholic church chartered Troop 66. They maintained the charter until 1940. During World War II and the post-ware period, St. Bernard's retained Troop 66, but didn't maintain the charter every year. Different groups within the church would hold the charter, too. (Our current chartering organization is the St. Bernard's Men's Club.)
What we know as the Northern Star Council formed in 2005 from the merger of the Indianhead and Viking councils (according to our council's history page). The Indianhead Council was founded October 1, 1910 as the St. Paul Council, and the Viking Council formed on October 15, 1910 as the Hennepin Council. They changed their names in 1954.
In the early years of the Boy Scouts of America, troops would be chartered and then a chartering organization wouldn't renew their charter; the troop numbers, though, got reused. According to paperwork on-file at the Northern Star Council offices, Troop 66 was first chartered by the Hazel Park community from 1922 to 1923. After that, the Central Park Methodist Episcopal church (now known as the Recovery church) chartered Troop 66 from 1925 until 1931.
In 1931, St. Bernard's Catholic church chartered Troop 66. They maintained the charter until 1940. During World War II and the post-ware period, St. Bernard's retained Troop 66, but didn't maintain the charter every year. Different groups within the church would hold the charter, too. (Our current chartering organization is the St. Bernard's Men's Club.)
But June 1, 1957, is a notable day in the history of Troop 66. Our charter has been continuously maintained every year since that date, according to council records. This means that June of 2017 will mark our 60th anniversary as a chartered troop!
Technically, our troop number is 9066, which was done during the Northern Star Council merger to avoid duplicate troop numbers. However, we are still entitled to wear "66" as our unit number, and count our years of continuous chartering from when we were just Troop 66.
Technically, our troop number is 9066, which was done during the Northern Star Council merger to avoid duplicate troop numbers. However, we are still entitled to wear "66" as our unit number, and count our years of continuous chartering from when we were just Troop 66.
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