150th Lodge Formed
On June 5th, 1939, the Order added its 150th Lodge. Nakona Lodge 150 of Lubbock, Texas had received its charter into the still rapidly growing Order.
On June 5th, 1939, the Order added its 150th Lodge. Nakona Lodge 150 of Lubbock, Texas had received its charter into the still rapidly growing Order.
The twenty-fifth anniversary of any organization is a time for celebration and reflection. The celebration took place at the 25th Anniversary National Meeting held at Camp Twin Echo. The delegates wore silver colored neckerchiefs. The Distinguished Service Award recognizing those individuals most responsible for leadership and service in the Order was created. From such humble beginnings Wimachtendienk has become a growing nationwide Scout phenomenon.
At the end of the first summer of OA in 1915 there were 25 Arrowmen. 25 years later the Order was active in 164 councils with an active membership of 16,000 Arrowmen. Over 37,000 Scouts and Scouters had been inducted.
The most significant milestones were the formation of The Grand Lodge in 1921. That gave the Order a national structure. In 1922 the OA was recognized as an official BSA experiment. That allowed the Order to grow on its own merits. In 1934 the OA achieved recognition as an official BSA program. That allowed them to grow in the regions around the country and gave them the legitimacy needed to have a national structure.
What remained was full integration in to the National BSA; that would allow the Order to expand to nearly 100% of the councils in the nation. Professional Scouters still led the Order on the National level (with the notable exception of H. Lloyd Nelson). The National Executive Committee had not yet been transferred to volunteer Scouters with support from Scouting professionals. Likewise adult Scouts, both professional and volunteer led the lodges. That still needed to evolve to volunteer advisors working with youth leaders.
The 1935 25th Anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America, Jubilee National Jamboree was scheduled for August 21 – 30, in Washington, DC. Every registered troop in every Council was entitled to send one Scout – to fulfill President Roosevelt’s wish that,
every nook and cranny of America be represented in the Jamboree.
Scouts from across the country prepared for this great event marking the historic anniversary of Scouting in America. Just before the jamboree, Franklin Roosevelt issued a Presidential Proclamation cancelling the jamboree because of an outbreak of infantile paralysis (Polio). Some Scouts were in route by train when the word came of the Cancellation.
The OA had planned to have some form of a get-together for Arrowmen, but that too had to be postponed. The Jamboree was rescheduled and held in the summer of 1937 on the National Mall in Washington D.C.
The 1936 Summer Olympic Games were hosted by Germany in the capital city of Berlin. The bid was awarded to Germany in 1934, two years before the Nazis became the governing party in the country. These games mark a modernization of the Olympics and many of the sports, techniques and processes (including live television broadcasts) used at the 1936 Summer Games are still in use today.
On October 24th and 25th, 1936 the Owasippe Lodge held a Fellowship Conference. The conference is remarkable for two things. The first was that Owasippe invited other lodges to attend their fellowship. Ay-Ashe Lodge from Manitowoc, Wisconsin and Tomkita Chara Lodge from Wausau, Wisconsin attended. Later, after National Chief Joseph Brinton read of the Fellowship Conference he was eager to share the concept of multi-lodge events in the National Bulletin.
The second noteworthy event of the Fellowship weekend was Emerson James was elected and kept his Vigil the night of October 24 through the morning of October 25th. In so keeping, Emerson James became the earliest known and presumptively the first African American Vigil Honor member. Emerson James had served as Camp Director at Camp Belnap and continued in that capacity for a number years following his Vigil Honor. He had been a leader in the formation of Takodah Chapter of Owasippe Lodge, the earliest known segregated chapter. James, along with Dr. Benson and H. Isbell had been the first known African American Arrowmen to take the Brotherhood Degree. In the year where African American Jesse Owens had broken barriers in Berlin, Germany winning four gold medals, Emerson James had broken a barrier in the Order by meriting the OA’s highest honor. The OA was ahead of the curve, Major League Baseball would not integrate for another 11 years and the Civil Rights and Voting rights Acts were still more than a quarter century off. The significance was not lost on those that elected James. They chose the Vigil Name Netami, ‘The First’.
Emerson James was presumptively the first African American Vigil Honor member. He was from Woodlawn, located on the South Side of the City of Chicago.
James served as Camp Director for Chicago Council, Douglas Division at Camp Belnap in the 1930s and 40s. In Chicago white Scouts were broken into geographic districts. Black Scouts were all placed in the Douglas Division, the segregated division for all of Chicago. The Scouts of Douglas Division attended Camp Belnap. Belnap was the segregated Scout camp located within Owasippe Scout Reservation, which was located around Whitehall, Michigan.
The Arrowmen from Belnap / Douglas Division were the members of the Takodah Chapter of Owasippe Lodge. James was an early leader of the chapter. Emerson James, along with Horatio W. Isbell and Dr. W. H. Benson are the first known African American Brotherhood members. He took what then was called a blood-rite on November 12, 1932. In 1933 James, along with at least two other Takodah Chapter members attended the 1933 Grand Lodge Meeting hosted by his lodge, Owasippe. This made the 1933 Grand Lodge Meeting the first integrated national OA event.
On October 25,1936 James made another first. Ten weeks after Jesse Owens made his breakthrough with four Olympic gold medals Emerson James became the First African American to keep the Vigil. His Vigil name was Netami, The First.
The Ninth Meeting of the Grand Lodge hosted by Buffalo Lodge (later Sisilija Lodge) at Camp Rotary, Pilot Knob on Lake George, New York was held September 11-13, 1931. At least 15 lodges were in attendance with an unknown number of delegates. The Grand Lodge reaffirmed action of the Grand Lodge in 1927 (although it does not appear in the 1927 minutes) “that the word ‘fraternity’ be replaced with the word ‘brotherhood’ throughout all printed matter.” The Order was starting to pull away from the fraternal roots that influenced its beginnings. The Order was no longer a camp fraternity; it was a brotherhood and had begun using terms that would be more acceptable to the BSA national office. (Note - the Latin root for the word fraternity means brother.)
Another decision made at the 1931 Grand Lodge Meeting, by motion of J. C. Foster of Delmont Lodge, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, was that the official colors of the Order of the Arrow would be red and white.
A nominating committee created a slate of candidates nominating two Arrowmen for each office. For Grand Chieftain Theodore Shearer of Shaginappi Lodge, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin (although records show Shaginappi Lodge chartered as the sixty-first lodge on March 11, 1932, Theodore Shearer had been with Owasippe Lodge) and Charles M. Heistand of Suanhacky Lodge, Jamaica, New York were the nominees. For Grand Vice Chieftain Myron C. Rybolt from Makajawan Lodge, Highland Park, Illinois and A.P. Newkirk of Wakpominee Lodge, Glens Falls, New York were nominated. The Grand Scribe nominees were Stanley R. Miller, Owasippe Lodge, Chicago and W.F. Livermore, Ajapeu Lodge, Doylestown, Pennsylvania. The nominees for Grand Treasurer were Joseph N. Pattison, Unami Lodge and George Wycoff, Tonkawampus Lodge, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
When nominations were opened up to the floor Grand Chieftain Robroy Price was nominated for an unprecedented second term. To date, no Grand Chieftain had served for two terms and Robroy Price had just served a two-year term with the change in the WWW constitution effective 1927. The nominations closed and Robroy Price was elected to a second term as Grand Chieftain. In the history of the Order of the Arrow, Robroy Price is the only national level chief to be elected to more than one term (H. Lloyd Nelson would later be re-appointed chief during war years). Myron C. Rybolt was elected Grand Vice Chieftain, W.F. Livermore was elected Grand Scribe and Joseph N. Pattison was re-elected Grand Treasurer.
In November of 1932, the Third Biennial Conference for Region 7 was held at Great Lakes Naval Training Station, Great Lakes, Illinois. 155 Arrowmen attended from five different lodges plus Grand Chieftain Robroy Price in attendance.
On the night of November 12, 1932 fifteen Arrowmen, selected by their lodge or chapter for initiation into the Second Degree, were introduced to the assembly of Arrowmen that included the Grand Chieftain. Among those fifteen were three members of Owasippe Lodge’s Takodah Chapter, the segregated chapter of Chicago. Those three men were Dr. William H. Benson, Emerson James and Horatio W. Isbell. These three men are the oldest known African American members of the Order to become Brotherhood Honor members. That night they received their initiation and sealed their membership in the Order.
The Arrowmen of Takodah Chapter were the Scouts of Camp Belnap, Chicago’s segregated camp. The Scouts of Belnap had been denied entry into the Order as a lodge in 1923 because the Order would not allow more than one lodge per camp and Owasippe Scout Reservation had a lodge. While Goodman was Scout Executive of Chicago the Scouts at Belnap formed Takodah Chapter.
On that November night in 1932, Benson, James and Isbell took what was then known as the Blood-rite Degree. The concept was that two people could be “brothers” by exchange of blood. Today we know that for health reasons the exchange of blood is extremely hazardous and strictly prohibited. However, in 1932 the impediment was a social issue regarding the exchange of blood between races, and not the very real health issue. There is no record, which Arrowmen stood next to the Takodah Arrowmen as their hands were cut open with a knife and they clasped the hand of their new brother by their side. What is known is that they sealed their membership, potentially the first to integrate the Order in this unprecedented manner.
When Carroll A. Edson became a Field Executive in 1921 in Chicago Council it was only natural that he would bring Wimachtendienk with him. Chicago in 1921 had five geographic districts and a sixth “division” that was an overlay of the entire council. This division was the Douglas Division and it was for African American Scouts. No matter where in Chicago you lived, if you were Black then you were segregated into the Douglas Division. The Scouts of the Douglas Division also had their own camp, Camp Belnap. Camp Belnap ran the same camp program as the other camps within Owasippe Scout Reservation, except they did not have Order of the Arrow. This was for two reasons. Initially the Grand Lodge would not allow more than one lodge in a camp. But ultimately, the reason Belnap did not have OA was because of the Blood Rite (a ritual exchange of blood between participants) required in the Brotherhood Degree.
When E. Urner Goodman was placed in charge of Chicago in 1927 as Scout Executive he merged together the five Chicago Lodges and they formed the original five chapters of Owasippe. Shortly thereafter, the sixth chapter, Takodah Chapter was formed at Camp Belnap. The Arrowmen of Takodah Chapter are the oldest known African American Scouts in the Order of the Arrow. In 1932 three Takodah Chapter members, Emerson James, Horatio W. Isbell and Dr. William Benson became the first known African Americans to take the Brotherhood Degree.
In 1933 several members of Takodah Chapter including Emerson James and William Benson became the earliest verified African Americans to attend a Grand Lodge Meeting. In 1936 James presumptively became the first African American Vigil Honor member.
Takodah Chapter held social events as any other lodge and chapter of its era. In the 1930s their annual chaperoned dance was the big event. The dance program card from the 1935 Dance held at the renowned Savoy Ballroom is testament to the quality of the event. In the 1940s and 1950s Takodah held chapter fellowships. Eventually segregation ended in Chicago Council and the members of Takodah joined chapters based on their geographic location and not the color of their skin.
Our nation’s longest-serving President (12 years) took office in 1933 with the promise that he was going to bring the United States out of the Great Depression. President Roosevelt entered the White House already as an active Scouter. On August 23, 1933 President Roosevelt became the first and only president to be inducted into the Order of the Arrow.
He served as President of the Greater New York Councils and as president of the New York Boys Scout Foundation. During that time, he led the development of the Ten Mile River Boy Scout Camp (TMR) from 1924 to 1928. In 1930, the BSA presented the Silver Buffalo Award to the then Governor of New York. He utilized the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a part of the New Deal, to build roads that are still used at TMR. As President in 1937, FDR attended the 1st National Scout Jamboree. Roosevelt ultimately accumulated no less than 24 years of service to the Boy Scouts of America by the time of this death in 1945.
After requesting to host the Grand Lodge Meeting for ten years, the OA came to Chicago, hosted by Owasippe Lodge. Included in the host Owasippe Lodge contingent were several members of the all African American Takodah Chapter making the 1933 meeting the first that can be verified to be an integrated national OA meeting.
Many of the 252 delegates from 23 lodges attending the 10th Meeting of the Grand Lodge took advantage of the opportunity to attend the Century of Progress World’s Fair (and the lower promotional train fares.) This meeting was very different than any previous Grand Lodge meeting. The rules were suspended. The normal business of officer reports, committee reports, and by-law amendments were dispensed with. Instead, the delegates gathered in a casual manner to discuss the impending issue of official recognition from the BSA. Goodman gave a brief history of how the first stage was 1915-1921 and the six years it took to form a national organization and another year to be a BSA experiment. He described 1921-1933 as stage two. BSA recognition of the OA seemed all but assured, and the delegates at this meeting would decide what stage three would look like.
Through informal discussion it was determined that issues of supply chains would be eased through using BSA channels. The greatest benefits foreseen was that the OA could use the BSA region system (the BSA divided the nation into 12 regions) and that would mean the Order could more efficiently spread throughout the nation.
The Grand Lodge determined that an Order of the Arrow Transition Committee should be formed. The Grand Chieftain would chair the Transition Committee. The Transition Committee would have absolute power to negotiate with BSA National Council.
In elections Thomas Cairns of Unami Lodge was elected Grand Chieftain defeating George Davey of Sanhican Lodge, Trenton, New Jersey. Bert Case of Shawnee Lodge, St. Louis, Missouri was elected Grand Vice Chief in favor of R.L. Van Horn of host Owasippe Lodge. H. Lloyd Nelson of Kuwewanik Lodge, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (formerly of Unami Lodge) was selected Grand Scribe defeating Joseph Brinton of Suanhacky Lodge, Queens, New York. Both Nelson and Brinton would give many years of service to the Order in the decade plus to follow. Joseph Pattison III, Unami Lodge was re-elected to a third term as Grand Treasurer over Earl Blake, Wyona Lodge, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania.
On November 27, 1926 Garrison Lodge forms the fifth and last of the original five Chicago Council lodges to form. Carroll A. Edson founded all five of them. Garrison Lodge’s formation marks a milestone in the growth of our Order as the twenty-fifth lodge to charter. Garrison Lodge would later join the other four Chicago lodges when E. Urner Goodman consolidated them together to form Owasippe Lodge.