National Scouting Museum

National Scouting Museum
Location 1329 West Walnut Hill Lane
Irving, Texas
Coordinates 32°53′08″N 96°58′18″W / 32.8856°N 96.9718°W / 32.8856; -96.9718
Founded 1959
Website
National Scouting Museum

The National Scouting Museum, located at 1329 West Walnut Hill Lane in Irving, Texas, is the official museum of the Boy Scouts of America.

Locations

The museum was first opened in 1959 in North Brunswick, New Jersey as the Johnston Historical Museum. With the relocation of the Boy Scouts of America National Headquarters from New Jersey to Texas, the museum closed in 1979.[1] In 1986 the museum reopened on the campus of Murray State University in western Kentucky.[2]

Museum officials had predicted that 120,000 people annually would visit the Kentucky location, in the Land Between the Lakes area, but by the late 1990s, yearly attendance was under 20,000.[3] In October 2002 the museum moved to its present location in Irving, Texas.[4] The museum is currently scheduled to relocate to Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico. [5]

Current exhibits

The museum contains 53,000 square feet (4,900 m2) of floor space exhibiting a wide variety of artifacts relating to the history of the Boy Scouts. It also contains displays on activities of the Boy Scouts. Exhibits include paintings by Norman Rockwell and Joseph Csatari, High Adventure, National Scout Jamboree, Order of the Arrow, Scoutcraft through the years, Scout values, Eagle Scouts, and a historical collection tracing uniforms, themes, and documents from the beginning of the Scouting movement in America. Among the museum's artifacts are the Eagle Scout medal of Arthur Rose Eldred, the first Eagle Scout.[6] A focal point of the complex is a man-made mountain structure with virtual-reality features; a screen at the foot of the structure allows visitors to simulate bike-racing through the mountain or kayaking down its waters.[7]

Earthquake Damage

On May 16, 2009, the museum is thought to have been damaged after a 3.3 earthquake struck four miles (6 km) south of Euless, TX. The quake appeared to have cause at least 5 cracks to form, including 1 or 2 that are about an inch thick. The damage was only cosmetic and estimated to be about $100,000 to repair. [8]

References

  1. ↑ "Boy Scouts Open a Museum in Kentucky". Chicago Tribune. June 29, 1986.
  2. ↑ "National Scouting Museum to Get New High-Tech Home in Kentucky". Lexington Herald-Leader. May 23, 1986.
  3. ↑ Associated Press (November 24, 2000). "National Scouting Museum Moves To Texas". Victoria Advocate.
  4. ↑ "National Scouting Museum Officially Opens With Grand Opening Celebration; Crowds Scout Out Dallas/Fort Worth's Newest Family Attraction". PR Newswire. October 21, 2002.
  5. ↑ "National Scouting Museum to Move to Philmont". Boy Scouts of America. Retrieved December 4, 2016.
  6. ↑ "BSA's first Eagle Scout". Eagle Scout Resource Center. Retrieved June 24, 2008.
  7. ↑ Deborah Voorhees (October 18, 2002). "National Scouting Museum". Dallas Morning News.
  8. ↑ Scott Gordon (June 8, 2009). "Quake Damages Irving Scouting Museum". NBC 5 DFW.
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