The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1951-11-02
History Of Girl
Scouting In City
Island City Scouting
From Beginning To
Present Is Told

-
IN Key West is collact;on :,
memories dating back over .
period OF thirty -four wears and
Is not information obtained from
written records. Some facts have
oeeh unearthed, but Of far great
er value has been the eniovn,a,,,
OF many former scouts in rac.Il
ing forgotten names. faces. and
good times.
An old charter uss to,,.a
which had been granted to the
Local Council of Girl Scouts Dc.
tober 8, 1920, naming Mrs. Allan
2. cieare, ST., the late Mrs. c. R.
D. crittenton the late Mrs. Ste
phen Lowe. and Mrs. G. E. Nc
Kay as members.
We contacted Mrs. c,eare who
well remembers the very dav that
Elizabeth Eakins (SingIeton) and
another girl came to her and
asked why there couldn't be Girl
scouts as well as Boy Scouts in
Key West.
Eiizabeth's father was Bow
Scout Leader and, naturally
Elizabeth wanted to be Girl
Scout.
Mrs. Cleare was interested
and after further discussion with
other interested women ordered
a book of instructions and other
necessary material to organize a
Girl Scout Troop.
In 1917. Troop /, Girl Scouts
OF key West Florida, was started
with Mrs. Decker as leader.
(Refer to Mrs. S. H. Drudge's ar
ticle on Organization of Troop
IN 1918" for members and ac-
tlvlties). Soon afterward Troop
2 was formed. No additional in
formation has been obtained
about this troop, except that
Mrs. Doris Waite was the leader.
In 1919, girls of the seventh
and eighth grades at Harris
School asked their teacher, Miss
Emmie Curry (now Mrs. Gould
of Jacksonville, Florida) to form
a Girl Scout Troop.
Under the sponsorship of st.
Pauls Church, Troop 3 came in
to existence. Some of the origin
al members of that troop were
Elizabeth Sharpley, Florine
Knowles, Mary Louise Pinder.
Martha Hertell, Eleanor Rich
ards, Violet Mcnamara, Eulalie
Matthews (Jonasl. Charlotte
Lunn (Haskins), Bessie Shelton,
Mizpah Saunders, Georgia Saun-
ders (Thompson), Maivee
Sawyer tMeadorl. Larama
Adams, Lulu Hamlin. and Muir
el Thompson Begelman). In 49,
20, Miss Curry married and
moved away.
The late Mrs. James Adams
was the Leader until 1923 when
Mrs. George Archer became the
leader and continued with the
troop until 1881. Girls who were
in Troop 3, in addition to the
original members, were Virginia
Sands Key, Betty Boyden obi
namick), Eloise Lowe (Reid),
Nellie Russell Curry, and Doro-
thy Archer (Knowles).
Meetings were held in the old
Knights of the Golden Eagle
Hall at the corner of Fleming
and Grinnell streets until that
building was torn down. After
the new Knights of the Golden
Eagle Hall was completed on
Petronia Street. the troop met
there.
Also in 1919. the late Mrs
Sarah Ann McInnis organized
Troop and served as its leader
with the late Mrs. Reba Sawyer
as co-leader. Many scouts of for
mer years can recall the yearly
camping trips on Long Key
where they went by train. Also
they remember wonderful Hal.
lowe'en parties held in Mrs. Nc.
Innis' yard on North Beach
There the girls met Rluebearo
and his Seven Wives in the
House of Horrors and thorough
ly enjoyed an old-fashionec
party.
Some OF the members of TrooE
4 were Ethelind Sawyer (Duane)
Louise Ketchum, Flora Russell
Wilhelmina Goehring tHarvey)
and Josephine Parks tDoughtry)
Mrs. McInnis worked with the
troop until her death in 1929. II
fact, it was during a troop sup
per, that she suffered stroke
from which she never regainec
consciousness.
After Mrs. McInnis death
Mrs. Sue Elwood. and Mrs
Sweeting became leaders.
Other members of the trooT
were: Mary Gardner Bailey
Marian Russell fpritchard) Evs
Mae Ketchum yates, Norma
Yates tDopp).
There are others whose name!
were not available.
During the years 1880 to 1910
Girl Scouting was continued dur