History

 

The Order of the Arrow was founded to serve a useful purpose to cause the Scout Oath and Law to spring into action in all parts on the nation. To this day, we (the Order) are dedicated to this high purpose.

             The order is a thing of the individual rather than through the masses. The principals of brotherhood, cheerfulness and service springs to life in each of us. What each Arrowman dose counts towards the successes we can have as an organization.

             The order is set in the outdoors. It was born in a island in the wilderness. It needs and is nurtured by the sun and the rain, the mountains and the plains and the woods the water and the starlit sky.

             From the life in the wilds comes a precious ingredient that our country and any other country needs to survive-self reliance, making us strong in times of stress. On of the Orders Greatest Achievements is, and will continue to be the strengthening of the scouting movement as an outdoor experience.

             Dr. E. Urner Goodman, founder of the Order of the Arrow, once said:

 

             “The Order is a thing of the spirit rather than of mechanics.  Organizations, operational procedures, and all that go with them are necessary in any large and growing movement, but they are not what counts in the end. The thing of spirit is what counts.

 

 

Brotherhood- in a day when there is too much hatred at home and abroad

 

Cheerfulness- in a day where the pessimists have the floor and cynics are popular.

 

Service- in a day when millions are interested in getting or grasping rather than giving.

 

 

            

             The Order of the Arrow was founded during the summer of 1915 at Treasure Island, the Philadelphia Council Scout camp.  Treasure Island was part of the original land grant given to William Penn by King Charles II of England. The camp was located on a 50-acre wooded island in the Delaware River between New Jersey and Pennsylvania, 30 miles upriver from Trenton and 3 miles from Point Pleasant. Historical records indicate that it was an early camping Ground of the Lenni Lenape or Delaware Native Americans.

 

In May of 1915 a young man named E. Urner Goodman was selected to serve as summer camp director of Treasure Island. Another Young man, Carroll A. Edson, was appointed assistant director in charge of the commissary. Both men where 24 years old.

             Goodman had been a scoutmaster in Philadelphia and had a considerable experience in scouting and camping. Edson was a graduate of Dartmouth College and had also been in Scouting for several years. After their appointments where announced they spent many hours together planning their summer camping season and both did considerable reading and research to better prepare themselves for their new responsibilities.

             Among the books Goodman read several where about camping. One of these that the summer camp operation contained a description of a camp society that had been organized at a camp to perpetrate its traditions and ideas from season to season. Goodman and Edson agreed that they wanted to establish a similar society at their camp. They wanted some definite recognition for those scouts in their camp who best exemplified the scout oath and law in their daily lives.  Since the Delaware valley was rich in Indian tradition and the island had been used in early times as an Indian campground is seemed only natural to base this honor society on the legend and traditions of the Delaware Indians.

             Shortly after it had been announced that he was selected to serve as assistant camp director Carroll Edson went home for a weekend visit, during that visit he attended a meeting where Ernest Thompson Seton, Chief Scout of the Boy Scouts of America was speaking. Seton described how when organization an earlier youth movement called the woodcraft Indians, he has much success by utilizing American Indian ceremonies at camp. This crystallized Goodman and Edson’s Ideas of using their Lore and Legends of the Delaware Indians and their new brotherhood.

             As the result they prepared a simple yet effective ceremony that in turn led to the organization of what was later to become known as the Order of the Arrow. It was agreed from the beginning that the procedure and programs of the programs of the organization where to be based on the ideals of democracy. In their initial decision Goodman and Edson reflected those ideals by planning to elect members into the first lodge from the troops encamped from the troops encamped at Treasure Island.

             Thus from the beginning a unique custom was established that members where elected by non-members. There has been no change in this since the organization was founded. The original name, Wimachtendienk, Wingolasuchisk, Witahemui, was suggested by Horace P. Kern that had done most of the research on the Delaware Indians.         

             Soon after camp opened Goodman explored the island to find the most appropriate setting for the ceremonial ground. He selected a site in the south woods of the island, for removed from the ordinary activities of camp. And Edson agreed that it would be an ideal spot it was considerably off the beaten path and because of its location it was an excellent site.

             The site chosen was a natural amphitheater clearing with sloping ground on one side which lent itself well to spectator seating. The site was cleared of brush and a path cut thought the thick underbrush from the camp to the site.

             Friday, June 16, 1915 dawned bright and clear on Treasure Island. In addition to the heavy heat that often hangs over the Delaware valley there was something else it the air. It was a palpable indescribable feeling of expectancy and mystery. By sundown the air had changed with tense excitement. Those who where present always remembered the first induction into what is known today as the Order of the Arrow.

             As the darkness fell like a curtain on a setting stage of anxiety suddenly swept away. Camper where lined up single file by Harry Yoder who acted as a guide and a guardian of the trail. In total silence the campers followed the guide by a roundabout routine through the woods to the site of the council fire. The path led down a small ravine across which lay an old fallen tree. The boys where unaware that they approaching the fire until suddenly it was reveled, it was built in a triangle shape, behind it in long black robes stood the cofounders of the Order of the Arrow: E. Urner Goodman, Chief of the Fire and Carroll A. Edison Vice Chief of the Fire. The Chief of the fire wore on his robe a turtle superimposed upon triangle. Denation leadership, and the vice chief of the fire them called a Sachem, wore a turtle without a triangle. (The turtle is the Totem of the Unami Lodge.)

 

             By 1917 news of the Wimachtendienk, Wingolasuchisk, Witahemui, spread to other scout camps and inquires began. Goodman spoke to many interested scouts and scouters, and as a result, lodges where established in New Jersey, Maryland, New York and Illinois.

             From 1915 until 1921 the Order grew slowly. World War I kept scouts and leaders busy with many other problems and projects. In 1921 steps where taken to establish the Order on a National basis. The early years has produced a sufficient experience to from a foundation on sound basic policies.

             The First NOAC (National Order of the Arrow Convention) was held on October 7^th 1921 in Philadelphia at which national lodges was formed Composed of four delegates from each of the local lodges. This group adopted a constitution and a statement of policies and committees where appointed to develop plans for making the order effective as a national honor campers brotherhood.

             Following the convention there was a steady growth in lodges and membership. In 1922 after the national lodge meeting in Reading Pa., the Order of the Arrow became an official program experiment of the order of the Boy Scouts of America.

             For several years conventions of the National Lodges where held annually. After 1927 they where held at two-year intervals. During the convention of 1929 it was suggested that the order become an official part of the Boy Scouts of America and a component part of its program.  At the session of the National lodge in 1933 held at the Owasippe Camps of the Chicago Council, this purpose was made and ratified by the delegates. 

             On June 2^nd 1934 at the National Council Annual Meeting in Buffalo, N.Y., the Order of the Arrow program was approved by the National Council.

             In May 1948, the executive board upon recommendations of its committee on camping officially integrated the Order of the Arrow into the scouting movement. The order’s National lodge was dissolved and supervision shifted to the Boy Scouts of America.

             In 1974 the reorganization of the Boy Scouts of America, the National Order of the Arrow committee became a subcommittee of the National Boy Scout committee.  In 1998, the order became recognized as scouting’s national honor society.

             The growth of the Order of the Arrow through then years has never been based on an aggressive promotional plan. It came about because councils believed in the ideals expressed by the order and voluntarily requesting that lodges be formed. The soundness of providing a single workable honor society, rather than many, is evident. More than 1 Million Boy Scouts and Scouters have been inducted into the Order during the past 87 years. There are now more that 183,000 active members.

 

 

Adapted from the Order of the Arrow Handbook © 2004 Boy Scouts of America.

                                                                                                   

Founder of the

Order Of The Arrow

Dr. E. Umer Goodman

Carroll A. Edson

Today’s Order Sashes

Today's Symbol For the Order Of the Arrow

Order of the Arrow

Mischigonong Lodge 89 Website