BSA TROOP 1, NORFOLK VA
Troop 1, in Norfolk VA, oldest continuously chartered troop in Virginia.
Reverend Charles M. Watson, minister of First Christian Church helped organize Troop 1 in the summer of 1911.
In August 1911, Troop 1 held its first campout at a government reservation in Ocean View (on what is now part of the Sarah Constant Shrine on Ocean View Avenue.) Mr. A. Roy Williams served as the Troop’s Scoutmaster, with Reverend Watson and Mr. J. G. Holladay acting as the Troop’s first Troop Committee members.
Because the Scout movement in America was so new (the BSA was officially organized on 8 February, 1910), Reverend Watson had difficulty obtaining a Scout Handbook for the Troop. He eventually wrote a letter to Sir Robert Baden-Powell in England to request a copy of “Scouting for Boys”, and a personal letter from Baden-Powel arrived that summer. During the Troop's first camping trip, this handbook was used to teach Scouting to the first twelve scouts of Troop 1.
On September 11, 1911, Troop 1 was officially chartered by the BSA. Mr. M. H. McArdle became the Troop’s first official Scoutmaster. In 1920, Mr. McArdle moved on to become the Deputy Scout Commissioner for the Norfolk Council (the predecessor of the Tidewater Council) and Mr. Eugene Swingley, the Troop’s second Eagle Scout, became the new Scoutmaster.
By the early 1950s, the Ghent neighborhood fell into a period of gradual decline. Then, in the 1960s, the city of Norfolk approved a major redevelopment plan to revitalize the neighborhood. Starting in the 1970s, many homes around the church were demolished as part of that redevelopment, and the Troop literally ran out of boys to fill its ranks. In 1974, the Troop was temporarily disbanded. But First Christian Church kept Troop 1’s charter alive in the hopes that it would once again become an active Troop.
In 1985, Mr. Jeff Christian heard about Troop 1. At the time he was an Assistant Scoutmaster with another troop, but was looking for a troop of his own to lead. He heard that First Christian Church wanted to bring back Troop 1, so he volunteered to be the Scoutmaster. In September 1985, Troop 1 was officially re-activated under the sponsorship of First Christian Church.
Since 1911, Troop One has produced 120 Eagle Scouts and has had thousands of boys pass through its ranks.