Foundation of the Girl Scouts

March the twelfth is both National Girl Scouts Day and the anniversary of the founding of the Girl Scouts in Savannah, Georgia, by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912. The Girl Guides had been formed in Scotland in 1911, and when Juliette returned to the United States she formed a group here with advice from Robert Baden-Powell. In 1915, the name was changed to Girl Scouts, and Juliette Low became the first president.

She married William Low in 1886, but time and frequent separations took their toll. They agreed to a year's separation, where Juliette hoped to postpone, if not prevent, the divorce William pushed for. He'd already begun to drink heavily and have numerous affairs, but divorce was scandalous during this time period. Circumstances would have it that William died before the divorce was finalized. Juliette died in January 1929 at age 66 of breast cancer. She had willed her carriage house to the Girl Scouts, and it became their first headquarters.

This history of the Girl Scouts is the reason they hold their cookie sales fundraiser in March. The organization has grown over the years. As of 2006, there were 312 regional councils with 236,000 local troops in the United States. Today it is estimated there are nearly 2.6 million Girl Scouts in the country. Juliette Gordon Low would have been proud.

_____________________________