In 1907 Lord Baden Powell founded the Boy Scout program in Great Brittan, England.
In 1907 Lord Baden Powell invited a group of 21 boys to Brown Sea Island off the coast of England to attend the first Boy Scout camp.
In 1910 William D. Boyce and a group of businessmen started The Boy Scouts of America.
On February 10th, 1910, President Theodore Roosevelt and the American Congress enacted the Boy Scouts of America.
Men who served on the National Scout Board were Daniel Carter Beard, James West, Ernest Seaton and William Boyce.
The highest rank badge in Scouting when it was started was the Wolf Badge. No one earned it! It was soon changed to the Eagle in 1911.
In 1911, Ernest Seaton wrote the first edition of the Boy Scout Handbook. There are over 40 million copies now in the 13th edition.
The first Eagle Scout badge in America was earned by Arthur E. Eldred, a 17 year old member of Troop #1 in Oceanside, Long Island, NY on labor day 1912.
Sitting on Arthurs Board of Review (BOR) was the Chief Scout Executive James West, Chief Scout Earnest Seaton and National Scout Commissioner Daniel Beard.
In 1912, the Boy Scouts began publishing "Boy's Life" magazine. The magazine is now received by 1.3 million Scouts every month all over the world.
Venture Scouting started in 1912. It was first known as "Sea Scouting", then called "Senior Scouting" and then called "Exploring Scouting".
It became the "Venture Scouting" program in 1988.
Cub Scouting started in 1930 and is for boys in the first grade through age 11.
Boy Scouts are for boys from age 11 through 18 years old. Once a Scout turns 18 years old, he can no longer be in the Boy Scout program and earn the rank of Eagle Scout.
He can be in the "Venture Scouting" program until the age on 21 years old then in the adult program.
Venture Scouting is a program for both men and women age 14 to 21 years old.
There are now more than a half million Scouts that have earned the rank of Eagle.
Approximately only 4% of the boys who join Scouting earn the rank of Eagle Scout!
On March 31st, 1944, Troop #1 Kingston was started by Fredrick E. Corrow, Dr. Briggs, Oceley Chandler and Joseph Finney.
Fredrick Corrow was the first Scoutmaster for the Troop, then called Troop #1 Kingston. Fredrick was a graduate of Kingston High School.
He was a veteran with the US Marine Corps, a member of the honor Guard for the USS constitution, a railroad engineer for 31 years with the Conrail
New Haven Railroad. He was also a member of the Kingston Planning Board and the Kingston Health Agent for many years. Fredrick was also on the Kingston Police force during WWII and a member of the Knights of Columbus. He had two daughters and no sons, but, was our first Scoutmaster. He and his wife are buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Kingston.
All Troops were Troop #1 when Scouting first started and as Scouting grew, they were given the opportunity to change their numbers.
In 1949, Troop #1 changed it's number and chose "49".
The first sponsor of Troop 49 was the American Legion. The Lions Club took over sponsorship in 1970 and continues to sponsor Pack 49, Troop 49 and Venture Crew 49.
Here are just a few things that Troop 49 does during the year! We are the caretaker for the WWII Memorial on Rt.3A, help during the towns annual Luminary display, help the post Office wit their annual food drive, help our sponsor with their twice a year Flea Market and delivering flowers to the elderly around Christmas. We also help the Cub Scouts with Scout Sunday breakfast and the Pinewood Derby. As Scouts advance to the ranks of "Star", "Life" and "Eagle", they complete community and church service projects.
Our brother Troop, Troop 4480 was started in 1982 and currently has over 50 Eagle Scouts.
Our other brother Troop, Troop 199 was started in 2009 and have a dozen Eagle Scouts.
There are three Venture Crews in Kingston, #49, #52 and #3483. One Scout earned Eagle in Venture Crew #52.