100th Anniversary of the Eagle Scout

Arthur Rose Eldred was born in Brooklyn, NY on August 16, 1895. Raised in Oceanside, Long Island, NY, and joined Scouting in 1910.  His Troop was one of the two local troops, selected by Chief Scout Executive James E. West to serve as honor guard for General Robert S. Baden Powell. “BP”, the founder of the Boy Scout movement, multi-city lecture touring on January 31, 1912.

Arthur earned his first class badge in March, 1911. Like many of the first few Eagle Scouts, Eldred did not receive either a Life or Star Badge (Life proceeded Star until 1922), but went straight to Eagle. At this time, First Class was considered the highest rank in Scouting, but Scouts could be “Merit Scouts” by earning the required merit badges to become a Life Scout, Star Scout and an Eagle Scout. In the early days of the BSA, these awards might be likened more to super merit badges rather than ranks.

Eldred completed the required 21 merit badges for Eagle in April of 1912. In the August 1912 issue of Boy’s Life, Eldred was listed in the Honor Roll section as having received the following merit badges: Civics, Cooking, Cycling, Electricity, Firemanship, First Aid to Animals, Gardening, Handicraft, Horsemanship, Interpreting of French, Life Saving, Painting, Pathfinding, Personal Health, Poultry Farming, Public Health, Swimming, Chemistry, Dairying, Business, and Plumbing.

In a letter dated August 21, 1912, James E. West formally notified Arthur Eldred that he had the honor of being the first Eagle Scout of the Boy Scouts of America. In this letter, West informed him that the Eagle badge would be presented at a later date. A primary reason for this was that the dies for the badge had not yet been made. Eldred received the actual badge on Labor Day 1912.