Over the course of more than a century, thousands of Whiting and Robertsdale youths have raised their right arms, their first three fingers held upward and together (just two for Cub Scouts), and taken the Scout Oath.

They camped, hiked and built fires. They learned lifesaving, first aid, archery, knot tying and more--skills not often associated with growing up in the most heavily concentrated industrialized region on earth.  They worked in support of police and fire departments and even the Coast Guard.  Scouts here did it all, and then some, through the generosity and help of local churches, benevolent organizations, businesses, and hundreds of volunteer adults.

The early days

In 1910, retired British Army officer Robert Baden-Powell, seen here, established the Boy Scouts Association.

That same year, American newspaperman W.D. Boyce used Powell’s model to create the Boys Scouts of America (BSA).

Local scout councils began forming all over the Calumet Region soon after the BSA was incorporated.  For many years, Whiting resident Archie Wilson was the local council’s field director.  The council was run strictly by volunteers.

Men and women acted at scoutmasters and den mothers.  Local schools and community organizations like the American Legion, the Knights of Columbus, the Elks Club and the Whiting Community Center were generous in their support, as were the Standard Oil Company and other local businesses.

The Community Center contributed greatly to the success of both the Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops of Whiting and Robertsdale even before its doors opened in 1923, and provided space for meetings and events, as mentioned in this April, 1922 Lake County Times story.

The Center had not yet even been formally dedicated, and its construction was not yet complete, when the Times announced that the Standard Oil Company would be providing the Scouts with two huts, one to be erected on the Community Center site for use as Scout headquarters, and a second to be used on a camp site in Indiana’s sand dunes.

The Girl Scouts also utilized the Slovak Dom, in addition to the Community Center, for some of their activities.

Many of our local churches and schools established their own Scout packs.  When Catholics officially accepted the BSA in 1913, it rapidly grew to be the largest youth organization in the United States.  Catholic scouts will remember the "Ad Altare Dei" (“To the Altar of God”) and the “Parvuli Dei” (“Children of God”) awards, created to “help boys explore a wide range of activities, discover the presence of God in their daily lives and contribute to their group or community.” In 1951, four Scouts from local troops 107 and 115 were Whiting’s first to receive the Ad Altari Dei, at Sacred Heart Church.

Boys’ Life, today called Scout Life, became the official magazine of the BSA in 1912.  Throughout his career, artist and illustrator Norman Rockwell’s work was used on dozens of Boys’ Life covers.

From 1917 until 1979, Girl Scouts also published a magazine, originally called The Rally (1917–1920) and later, The American Girl.

If you were a Whiting Cub Scout in the middle of the last century, you probably marched in the 4th of July parade.

Remember the Pinewood Derby?

In California, in 1953, a 10-year-old Cub Scout wanted to compete in the Soap Box Derby run by the people where his dad worked, but was too young to enter.  His dad, who by the way had grown up in LaPorte, along with other parents in the son’s Scout pack, built a 32-foot, two-lane track.  They held a miniature soap box derby using little cars the Cub Scouts built themselves, with their parents’ help.  The very first Pinewood Derby was held at the pack’s Scout house in May of that year, and the Derby became an official part of the scouting program in 1955.

In Whiting, Elks Cub Scout Pack 773 still holds a Pinewood Derby each year.  The Elks’ troop, under the supervision of Mr. Mike Arnold for many years, is now home to the last remaining Cub pack in town.  It expanded when St. John the Baptist’s Scout Troop 204 disbanded.  In recent years, Cubs from Annunciata  School in Eastside also joined the pack.

What would Scouting be without Scout camps?

Camp Calumet

Seasoned citizens may remember when 136th Street, from Sheffield Avenue to the Illinois line, was known as Boy Scout Road, because, beginning in 1927, it took you to Camp Calumet on the other side of the line.  Although in Illinois, Hammond scout troops were invited to use the camp.  For years, troop meetings, exercises and celebrations were regularly held there.  In the 1930s, the Hammond Times ran a weekly column detailing Scout activities in Hammond, Whiting and at Camp Calumet, where “fire building, cooking, signaling, nature study, scout tracking and hiking” were among the main attractions. 

Camp Nissaki

In 1922, Mr. Hugh Atkins gifted 2-1/2 acres of what was described as some of the most beautiful Indiana dune land to the Whiting Boy Scouts, and created Camp Nissaki there.  Near Tremont, Indiana, a town now long extinct, it included a 134-foot deep well, a 32 by 40 foot lodge with a “mammoth” fireplace, sleeping quarters and office space for the camp’s director.  The contracting and labor work was all furnished gratis to the Scouts.  In 1924, Girls Scouts also began using the camp.

In 1926, Camp Nissaki was acquired by the State to be included in the Indiana Dunes State Park, with the understanding that the Scouts could continue to use the camp for another ten years.  The site is now part of the Indiana Dunes National Park.

Below: Mrs. William F. Grigson, of Oliver Street in Whiting, and Camp Nissaki’s beloved cook for a number of years, is cited in an excerpt from a lengthy, August 1, 1923 story in the Lake County Times. In a 1925 article the Times describes the Scouts’ hikes from the camp to Waverly Beach and up Mount Tom. The first photo is of a nearby, 1926 hiking trail and the second shows the path to Waverly Beach in 1931. All four images can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Camp Betz (aka Camp Nobba Nobba Wa-Wa Nockee?)

Frank S. Betz was an entrepreneur who started a company that made hospital supplies in Chicago in the 1890s.  After moving it to Hammond in 1904 it grew to be claimed as the world’s largest manufacturer of surgical, dental and hospital supplies.  In 1922, Mr. Betz donated a 57-acre nature preserve on the Saint Joseph River near Berrien Springs, Michigan to the Hammond Boy Scout Council, and the camp there was named in his honor.

Located some 60 miles from Whiting/Robertsdale, not far from Lake Michigan and Warren Dunes, it was described in the Lake County Times in 1925 as “a complete camp layout—the ‘swimmin’ hole’, the high bluff, the boys’ cabins, the mess hall, the wireless, the big flagpole, the baseball diamonds, and the big ravine.” It cost $10 per scout to attend for two weeks.  The camp still exists today.

Camp Nobba Nobba Wa-Wa Nockee is the Boy Scout camp chronicled by Jean Shepherd in a 1971 Playboy Magazine article, and reprinted in his book, "A Fistful of Fig Newtons."  People say that any of our local scouts who attended Camp Betz will testify that it’s surely the place Shepherd was describing.

These scenes show Camp Betz’s cabins in 1955 and the Girl Scouts’ diving platform on their side of the river:

Locally, it wasn’t until 1931 that boys, ages 9 to 11, had an official scouting program of their own, as announced in this Lake County Times article. As a “stepping stone”, now “Cubs” could follow an advancement trail to becoming Boy Scouts.  Today, they begin as Bobcats, then progress towards badges of rank, namely Lion, Tiger, Wolf, Bear, Webelos and Arrow of Light.

Boy Scouts require seven more steps to reach the rank of Eagle.

In a 1990 presentation on Scouting at the Whiting Community Center, Mr. George French related that, over time, Whiting and Robertsdale had fifteen separate troops officially organized.

But in 1970, the BSA began de-emphasizing outdoor skills training as a requirement to become an Eagle Scout, and Scout membership began to plummet.  Locally, the Whiting Elks Boy Scout troop recently disbanded due to lack of members, though the Cubs remain.