The picture below is taken in front of the First Baptist Church in Barre,VT and depicts a statue dedicated to the first Scout Troop in the United States, organized on October 29th, 1909.

Scouting was originally started in England by Lord Robert Baden Powell in 1907. In 1909, a Barre stonecutter from Scotland, William Foster Milne, went over for a visit and learned about scouting and liked the idea so much that he came back to Barre and started a troop on October 29, 1909 under the name "Boy Scouts Club". The "Boy Scouts of America" were incorporated and formed in February, 1910.  Mr. Milne was only 21 when he organized the "Club" at the Baptist Church. He brought the Boy Scout books back from England after going to visit relatives in Scotland. He liked the ideas of Baden Powell so much he convinced the folks at the church to start a group here in Barre, 6 months before the Scouts were incorporated in New York in February 1910.

There are other troops in the country that were also formed prior to the beginning of the Boy Scouts of America, but Barre does have a pretty good claim to being first.  Mr. Milne died in 1919 at the ripe age of 31 from meningitis. His wife returned to Scotland and never came back to this country. Was Mr. Milne ever given any credit for starting the Scouts in the US? NO! Why? Because he only started one unit, not the national organization. Dan Beard and James West did that.

Does that make Mr. Milne any less important? Not in our book.