How It all Started By Anthony Zalev

The Legend Boy Scouts of America started with W. D. Boyce who was an American newspaper man and entrepreneur. According to legend, he was lost on a foggy street in London when an unknown Scout came to his aid, guiding him back to his destination. The boy then refused Boyce's tip, explaining that he was merely doing his duty as a Boy Scout. Immediately afterwards, Boyce met with General Robert Baden-Powell, who was the head of the Boy Scout Association at that time. Boyce returned to America, and, four months later February 8 th,1910, founded the Boy Scouts of America. General Baden - Powell

The Foundation Troop 1 Southborough was founded only five years later in 1915 By Rev. R. F. Cheney of the St. Marks Episcopal Church. Cheney, unlike many of his predecessors who were the philosophical type, he was more of a outdoors man and was a naturalist. Collecting Sea Shells, and Bird Watching were just a few of his hobby’s. Under his supervision, Troop 1 flourished and by the 1920’s Troop 1 was performing Boy scouts shows at the town hall which was very popular at the time.

Troop 2 & 3  Established in the early to mid 20s  Due to mostly religious divide  Never really took off and stayed around 5 or 6 members  Merged with troop 1 before world war 2

Troop 4  St. Marks Military program for its younger members  All boys were required to join it  Competed and won against other troops in competitions  Stories of Troop 4 braving snowstorms and helping in the aftermath of a fire  Disbanded after WWII

Troop 1 Meeting Locations Parish House Petere High school Southborough Town Hall Southborough Village Society Community House Woodward school Gym 1962 Southborough Town Hall Rod and Rim Club 1968 Church 1969-Present

The Reason Why Troop 1 Is Named Troop 1 In the early day of scouting the central origination of boy scouting was fairly weak and didn’t have to much control over how the boy scout troops operated and what they were called, so when a new troop sprung up in a town they were generally named troop 1 as they were the first troop 1 in the town. Later BSA stopped this by giving each council a block of numbers from which they chose the number of the new troop in the council, however, the older troops named 1,2,3, and 4 retained their names, hence Troop 1 Southborough

Why has Troop 1 Survived the Years? Some say it saw due to it being the most establish, and others say it was due to it being the most rooted in Southborough society, being the troop that your grand father could have been in. I believe that Troop 1 survived due to its values in self led leadership and the scouts attitude towards scouting. In my opinion it was not accident or miracle that troop 1 has survived the past 100 years and I'm sure it will have an even more interesting next 100 years as scouting evolves and adapts to the world around it.