Editing Scouting in Kentucky (section)

==Early history (1908–1950)==
[[Burnside, Kentucky|Burnside]], in south-central Kentucky, is believed to be home to the first Boy Scout troop in the United States. In 1908, two years before the [[Boy Scouts of America]] was officially organized, Mrs. Myra Greeno Bass organized a local troop of 15 boys, using official Boy Scout materials she had acquired from England. A [[Scouting memorials|sign at the edge of town]] declares Burnside "Birthplace of Boy Scouts in America", and an official state historical society marker commemorates the troop.<ref>[https://heritage.ky.gov/historic-places/national-register/Pages/overview.aspx Kentucky Historical Marker Database]</ref> Burnside is now part of the [[Scouting in Kentucky#Blue Grass Council|Blue Grass Council]].

Boy Scouts of America Troop 1 in [[Frankfort, Kentucky]] was established in 1909 by Stanley A. Harris. There has been a long-standing belief that this was the very first Boy Scout troop in the United States. However, Troop 1  was originally formed under the [[British Boy Scouts]]<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1J1eTfmR1PkC&q=BSA+troop+1+frankfort&pg=PA118 |title = Historic Images of Frankfort|isbn = 9780975369708|last1 = Hughes|first1 = Nicky|last2 = Hatter|first2 = Russell|last3 = Burch|first3 = Gene|year = 2004}}</ref> and the charter was destroyed in a fire around 1920. Nonetheless, Troop 1 is still active and is sponsored by the [[First Christian Church (Frankfort, Kentucky)|First Christian Church]] of Frankfort, Kentucky.

Outside of Frankfort, in towns like Danville, Kentucky in Boyle County, 3 new troops organized in December 1911. Troop 1, Christian Church with nelson Rodes as Scoutmaster, Troop 2, Centenary Methodist Church with Sandridge as Scoutmaster, and Troop 3, Presbyterian Church, no Scoutmaster listed. Of these, Troop 1 continues today as Troop 326 and Troop 2 continues today as Troop 27.

In addition, small councils began in a number of places, with the Issac Shelby Area Council that was made up of Mercer, Boyle, and Jessamine Counties, with and the Daniel Boone Council of Winchester, Kentucky and the Frankfort Council.
These were among the councils who merged to create the Blue Grass Council in 1927 in Lexington, Kentucky.

Kentucky also claims an early unofficial girl's scouting group (Campfire Girls were one of three groups as affiliated girl's version of Boy Scouts at the time. "Girl Scouts" formed March 1912 by Juliette Gordon Low in Savannah, GA and years later they could not work out a deal to merge with the Campfire Girls. Campfire Girls (1) A group called "Girl Scouts," that had been organized in 1910 in Des Moines, Iowa, by Clara A. Lisetor-Lane;
(2) A group called "Girl Guides," that had been sponsored in 1910 by the Rev. David Ferry of Spokane, Washington;
(3) Camp Fire Girls, which had been announced in April 1911 in New York..), an 8 girl patrol of Boy Scout Troop #17 in Louisville in July 1911. The first official troops was formed in 1917 in Scottsville.<ref name="Kentuckiana">{{cite web|url=http://www.kyanags.org/about/council_history.aspx|title=Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana Council History|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20070302114402/http://www.kyanags.org/about/council_history.aspx|archive-date=2007-03-02}}</ref>

In 1914, the BSA gave local councils the power to ban African Americans from Scouting.{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}} In 1922, the BSA revised that ban and allowed local Councils to create "shadow Councils" for their black and other racial/ethnic minorities.{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}} Until 1974, some southern councils of the Boy Scouts of America were still racially segregated. (The Old Hickory Council in North Carolina did not integrate until 1974.){{Citation needed|date=July 2010}} The Louisville Area Council, headquartered in Louisville, was the first BSA local Council to develop such a "shadow Council" and board members of that "inter-racial council" were permitted to serve on the Louisville Area Council's board without vote.{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}}  The BSA's "inter-racial council" program ended in 1954; Louisville accepted their first black Boy Scout Troops in 1959; and their first black Cub Scout Packs in 1963.{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}}

Most [[Girl Scouts of the USA]] units were originally [[Racial segregation|segregated]] by [[Race (classification of human beings)|race]] according to state and local laws and customs. By the 1950s, the GSUSA began significant national efforts to desegregate the camps and maintain racial balance. One of the first desegregations was Camp Shantituck in Kentucky, which was accomplished by Murray Walls in 1956.<ref name="walls">{{cite book | title = Human Rights Report: New Great Black Kentuckian poster unveiled | url = http://www.state.ky.us/agencies2/kchr/pdf/Winter%20newsletter%202005.pdf | access-date = 2006-09-08 | date = Winter 2005 | publisher = Kentucky Commission on Human Rights | pages = 3 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060923073929/http://www.state.ky.us/agencies2/kchr/pdf/Winter%20newsletter%202005.pdf | archive-date = 2006-09-23 }}</ref>