Boy Scouts of America Celebrates 100 Years

Celebrate 100th Anniversary of Boy Scouts of America

The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over four million youth members in its age-related divisions. Since its founding in 1910 as part of the international Scout Movement, more than 110 million Americans have been members of the Boy Scouts of America.

The history of scouting in the US began in 1909 when Chicago publisher W. D. Boyce was visiting London, where he encountered the Unknown Scout and learned of the Scouting movement founded by Lord Robert Baden-Powell. Soon after his return to the US, Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of America on February 8, 1910. Edgar M. Robinson and Lee F. Hanmer became interested in the nascent BSA movement and convinced Boyce to turn the program over to the YMCA for development in April 1910. Robinson enlisted Seton, Beard, Charles Eastman and other prominent leaders in the early youth movements. In January 1911, Robinson turned the movement over to James E. West who became the first Chief Scout Executive and Scouting began to expand in the United States.

With the organization of the Boy Scouts of America in 1910, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints organized the MIA Scouts a year later and became one of the first sponsoring organizations of scouting in 1913.