Take a look at our timeline of Girl Scout milestones throughout history to see the amazing accomplishments we’ve achieved together.
Our Movement began in Savannah, Georgia, in March 1912, when a courageous woman named Juliette Gordon Low, 51, made an historic call to her cousin. "Come right over! I've got something for the girls of Savannah, and all of America, and all the world, and we're going to start it tonight," she said. She gathered 18 girls to start the first patrols.
Since 1912, Girl Scouts has welcomed with open arms any girl willing to live up to the ideals of the Girl Scout Promise and Girl Scout Law.
The first recorded sale of Girl Scout Cookies was in 1917 in Muskogee, Oklahoma. A local Girl Scout troop decided to sell cookies to raise money. They were simple sugar cookies, made at home by Girl Scouts and their families.
The first Native American Girl Scout troop was formed with girls of the Onondaga Nation in central New York State.
The 1912 preamble to the Constitution of the Girl Scouts of the USA read, "We affirm that the Girl Scout Movement shall be open to all girls and adults who accept the Girl Scout Promise and Law."
Girl Scouts led community relief efforts during the Great Depression by collecting clothing, making quilts, carving wood toys, gathering food for the poor, assisting in hospitals, participating in food drives and canning programs, and providing meals to undernourished children.
From the earliest days, horses have been with Girl Scouts, in residential camp settings or in special equestrian units called Mounted Troops. There was even an official uniform for Mounted Troops, consisting of a woolen jacket and riding breeches.
A promotional pamplet, Who Are the Girl Scouts?, is first published in 1927. Revised several times, in 1934 this pamplet is also printed in Italian, Polish, and Yiddish, in response to heavy demand from the field for help in reaching girls of a shifting population.
Girl Scouts donated over 15 million hours of service to aid the war effort, including collecting rubber for tires, picking milkweed pods for fiber to fill life jackets, growing Victory Gardens, and running bicycle courier services.
Wing Scouts was officially established in 1941. Not long after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, GIrl Scouts worked with the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) to develop a threefold purpose for Wing Scouts: to make girls air-minded, to make them aware of the importance of U.S. air supremacy, and to prepare them for careers in aviation. The first Wing Scout training course was sponsored by the NAA in 1942.
From its inception, Girl Scouts of the USA has been committed to developing and enhancing the self-esteem of all girls and was a pioneer in carrying the Girl Scout program to girls of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.
The Girl Scout Senior Roundups were massive, memorable events, held in 1956, 1959, 1962, and 1965. The first of these special encampments was held in 1956 in Milford, Michigan, and was intended to give Senior Girl Scouts a sense of belonging to the organization, along with a chance to meet and work with both Girl Scouts from across the United States and Girl Guides invited from other countries.
In 1953, Girl Scouts thanked their founder by collecting and contributing "Dimes for Daisy" to purchase, fully restore, and furnish Juliette Gordon Low's birthplace in Savannah, Georgia. Every year thousands of Girl Scouts, after spending years planning and earning money, travel from across the country to enjoy a Girl Scout Heritage visit to the Birthplace.
Girl Scouts of the USA redesigned its program for girls ages 7 to 13, creating four program age levels in 1963: Brownie, Junior, Cadette, and Senior.
In the fall of 1970, Eco-Action, a nationwide Girl Scout program for environmental action, was launched. The program strove to increase girls’ awareness of the interconnectedness of everything in the environment—including themselves—and to take action to protect it.
Dr. Gloria D. Scott is elected the first African American woman to hold the office of National President of Girl Scouts of the USA in 1975.
The Girl Scout Daisy program began in 1985, extending Girl Scouting to five-year-olds. In its first year, Girl Scout Daisy membership reached 61,000, accounting for almost 3 percent of the total Girl Scout membership.
A major initiative of Girl Scouts in 1990 was Right to Read, a national service project aimed at improving literacy among members of Girl Scouts’ own communities. As Honorary National President, Barbara Bush helped launch RIght to Read, and through this program, nearly 4 million Girl Scouts strove to hone their own literacy skills and helped ensure that many other Americans did so as well.
The 1993 Be Your Best campaign—a national service project—encouraged Girl Scouts to promote healthy living, keeping fit, and eating right in their communities. This endeavor also led to the first annual Girl Scout Be Your Best Day in 1995, celebrated on March 14.
Girl Scouts Beyond Bars, a 1992 collaboration with the National Institute of Justice, was a program that facilitated mother-daughter prison visits, offered parent education and transitioning programs for the mothers, and provided education and activities for the girls, with the hope of easing the traumatic effects of separation and helping the girls develop resilience and life skills.
Connie Matsui is elected the first Asian American woman to hold the office of National President of Girl Scouts of the USA in 1999.
To help counter the under-representation of girls in science, techology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers, Girl Scouts officially launched its STEM program in 2000, although Girl Scouts has been fostering girls' interest in science for decades.
Girl Scouts launches Leadership Journeys in 2008. Each Journey has girls using Girl Scouting’s three keys to leadership—Discover, Connect, Take Action. The series also ties to the fifteen outcomes of the Girl Scout Leadership Experience and the three processes (girl-led, learning by doing, and cooperative learning) that make Girl Scouting unique.
Patricia Diaz Dennis is elected the first Hispanic woman to hold the office of National President of Girl Scouts of the USA in 2005.
As part of the Girl Scout Promise, Girl Scouts vow to "help people at all times" and respond to the needs of their communities. As just one example of many, Girl Scout Gold Award recipient Maris organized and helped plant caliper trees in New Orleans East to help reforest the landscape following Hurricane Katrina.
" In 2011, Anna Maria Chávez became the first Latin American woman to be chosen as CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA."
In 2012, Girl Scouts celebrated being 100 years young. Commemorating a century of leadership, fun, and friendship, Girl Scouts continues to ensure that every girl has the opportunity to reach her fullest leadership potential. By this year, Girl Scouts is 2.3 millions girls strong. With girls in nearly every zip code, Girl Scouts provides a total of more than 70 million hours of direct service to communities.
"The commemorative coin honoring 100 years of Girl Scouting was designed and produced by the United States Mint. It features three Girl Scouts on the obverse (heads) side and the iconic organization's trefoil logo on the reverse (tails) side. The bills authorizing the United States Mint to mint and issue up to 350,000 of the silver dollar coins passed in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate in October 2009. President Obama signed the legislation on October 29, 2009."
"Girl Scouts is launching the first Girl Scout Gold Award Alliance Directory, celebrating the highest achievement in Girl Scouting. Scheduled for limited release in Fall 2013, the Girl Scout Gold Award Alliance Directory will showcase an elite group of women who have earned the Golden Eagle of Merit, Golden Eaglet, Curved Bar, First Class, and Girl Scout Gold Award. These women embody the best of community leadership, and their work has had a lasting positive impact on both their communities and the country."
It’s not a surprise to most that Girl Scouts has had an incredible 100-year history. In that time, we have grown from a mere 18 members to 3.2 million members, and we have achieved countless victories for girls and young women across the country. Thanks to the support of people like you, our Movement will continue to grow, and we will continue to build girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.
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