Years ago, the Arkansas Historical Association was holding its annual meeting at DeGray Lake Resort State Park when I was approached by John P. Gill, a prominent Little Rock attorney, author and historian. Gill knew I was a native of nearby Arkadelphia, and he had a request.
"Do you know where the Scout Hut is in Arkadelphia?" he asked. "I would like you to take me there."
I explained to Gill that the Scout Hut, which has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2002, is walking distance from the house where I grew up. The woods and ravines that made up Arkadelphia's Central Park were my childhood playground. The Scout Hut has been a part of my life as long as I can remember.
Scouting was big in my hometown. When I was in Troop 24 of the Boys Scouts of America, our adult leaders claimed we had more Eagle Scouts than any other troop in the state. I don't know if that was true, but troop members were expected to earn the Eagle badge, the highest of seven ranks. I became an Eagle Scout in 1976.
Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Jim Lovell were Eagle Scouts. So were basketball Hall of Famer Bill Bradley, President Gerald Ford, Tuskegee airman Percy Sutton, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and more than 2 million others since the rank was introduced in 1911.
Scouting reached its peak in the early 1970s when I was active in Troop 24. There were about 4.8 million Boy Scouts in the United States at that time. By 2006, the number had dropped to 2.9 million. A decade later, it was 2.3 million. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the largest sponsor of Scouting until it ceased sponsoring units at the end of 2019. There are now an estimated 1.2 million youth participants.
On Feb. 18, 2020, the national BSA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Nine months later, the organization disclosed in bankruptcy filings that more than 92,000 former Scouts had reported sexual abuse. Last December, the BSA's insurer agreed to pay $800 million into a fund for victims. All of my experiences in Scouting were positive. The organization and its volunteer leaders--men such as Dick Cooley and Dick Batson--were important parts of my life.
I think about my Boy Scout days often, especially when I hear ads on television and radio from large legal firms trolling for plaintiffs. It's a tragedy what happened, and survivors of sexual abuse must be compensated. As Shanna Richardson, the executive of the Quapaw Area Council in Little Rock, likes to say, "Unfortunately, bad people choose good organizations."
Parents must realize that the vast majority of these crimes occurred decades ago. Scouting has protections in place these days. BSA announced in October 2017 that girls would be welcomed into the Cub Scouts beginning in 2018. Boy Scouting, the flagship BSA program, became known as Scouts BSA in February 2019 when it opened to girls.
BSA programs are administered through 272 local councils. Local councils weren't affected by the national BSA bankruptcy, but they still must work hard to raise money. The Quapaw Area Council will have one of its major fundraising events Oct. 26 when the annual Heart of the Eagle luncheon is held at the Robinson Center in downtown Little Rock. I plan to be there.
Memories of my Boy Scout adventures came flooding back that day as Gill and I walked around the Scout Hut. The hut was constructed by members of the National Youth Administration in 1938-39 as the Great Depression ravaged the country. City government, the local chamber of commerce and the school district worked together to provide additional workers.
Like I said, Scouting was big in my hometown.
"The NYA was a New Deal agency created to offer employment opportunities for youth between the ages of 16 and 25," writes historian David Sesser. "Construction of the hut was supervised by Edwin Dean, the NYA district supervisor from Camden, and Edward Wyate, the supervisor from Hope. The local foreman was A.F. Bishop of Arkadelphia, who supervised the 30 young men who worked on the project.
"Businesses and the Arkadelphia Rotary Club provided equipment and materials. The state's highway department and the city provided trucks, while the NYA provided cement and use of a truck. Work began in September 1938 and continued intermittently until the structure was completed the following June. The rectangular building is 56-by-33 feet. The structure sits on a continuous concrete foundation. The building is constructed of pine logs stripped, stained and treated with creosote. The logs were then chinked with concrete."
Two Boy Scout troops began using the hut for meetings soon after it was finished. Girl Scout troops were using the building by the 1950s. The hut, hidden by large trees (including magnificent beech trees), is between the campuses of Ouachita Baptist University and Henderson State University. Though it's not easy to see for those traveling along Eighth Street, the building--and all it represents--is considered a local landmark.
"The interior of the cabin is rustic with a stone central fireplace serving as the focal point," Sesser writes. "The building is divided into two pens, each with an exterior door leading to the front porch. An open sleeping loft is located above the north pen. The cabin is wired with electricity, which likely was done when it was constructed."
More than 83 years after it was completed, the Scout Hut stands strong. I hope it--and Scouting--will be with us for decades to come.
Senior Editor Rex Nelson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He's also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.