Old Missoula

Camp Fire Girls Get Early Start in Area

A membership of 37 girls started the Camp Fire Girls organization in Missoula in 1914. The organization was formed by the Girls Club of Montana State University only four years after the organization was charted nationally.

Mrs. Elers Koch was guardian and Mrs. Stahlhint was assistant guardian. In the first year the girls won the first prize award of $35 in the Fourth of July parade.

The second group was formed in the high school under Miss Steere before 1920. By 1922 the Camp Fire group in the high school became so large that Miss Hazel Swearingen organized a group of younger girls. In 1930 a group was started at the Paxson School and in 1932 three independent groups were formed. That year the national field secretary met with the local organization to discuss the principles of the movement.

First Training Institute

In December 1932 the national headquarters in New York asked Missoula to form the first board of sponsors and Mrs. George Wilcox was made the first chairman. The national headquarters held its first training institute in Missoula in 1934. Thirty-nine persons were registered for the course.

In the fall of 1934 there were seven active groups functioning in Missoula. The first guardian association was formed with Mrs. Charles Hulse as chairman. The following year the first summer camp for Camp Fire Girls was maintained at the Epworth League campgrounds on Flathead Lake with 35 girls attending.

Office Established

In 1936 the Camp Fire Girls were included as one of the agencies of the Community Chest and an office was established. The first full-time professionally trained staff member was Janet Jackson who was hired in September 1938. The organization was chartered as a local council Feb. 1, 1939. At that time membership of the 18 groups totaled 261.

Camp Watanopa, Indian for “camp by the lake in the mountains,” was located at its present site at Camp Paxson on Lake Seeley in 1940. That season 175 girls attended camp.

First District Conference

The first district Camp Fire Girls conference in Montana was in Missoula with delegates attending from Oregon, Washington and Idaho as well as Montana. In January 1945 articles of incorporation were drawn up for the organization.

Three years later membership had increased to 828 and in 1949 Missoula again hostessed a region meeting. In the fall of 1954 one of the first Horizon Club conferences in the region was conducted at Camp Watanopa with more than 100 girls attending. The Horizon Club program was established as a division of Camp Fire Girls for high school students in 1941.

Becomes District Council

The council became a district council in January 1956. The first district chairwomen were Mrs. Jack Hallford, District 1; Mrs. Walter Rowland, District 2, and Mrs. Jack Hoon, District 3.

Membership was at an all-time high in June 1956 when Mrs. J. R. Thomson resigned. Mrs. Thomson served as executive director for 13 years. The executive director is Vivian Allgaier, and the 1959-1960 council president is Mrs. Frank Blackmer.

Activities of Camp Fire Girls dating from its organization in 1914 include grand council fires, father-daughter banquets, doughnut sales, birthday projects, citywide first aid and baby courses, Christmas seal sales, doll dressing projects, caroling, conservation projects and flag lore demonstrations.

Wartime projects emphasized service – knitting, sewing and the continuing collection of scrap metal and kitchen fats. Camp Fire Girls also helped the war effort with toy drives, cookies for AWVS, and bond pledges for ambulances.

Award Recipients

Women and men in Missoula who have received the Gulick award, the highest national award given to board and council members who have made a significant contribution to the organization are Mrs. A. P. Apgar, Mrs. Floyd Clark, Mrs. S. J. Coffee, Mrs. Robert Kitt, and Mrs. A. S. Merrill, 1947; Judge Ralph Arnold, 1948; E. H. Myrick and Mrs. Lester Bachman, 1949; Dan Kind, Mrs. Allen Barnes, Mrs. Ralph Fields, 1950; Mrs. Barnes and Mrs. Fields, 1951; Mrs. Leo Smith, 1952; Mrs. Dan Corr, 1953; Dr. Gordon Castle and Mrs. C. R. Pilcher, 1954; Mrs. Frank Grady and Mrs. R. G. Ostergren, 1955; Mrs. M. Y. Foster and Mrs. Ralph Hand, 1957; Mrs. Jack Gibson and M. A. McFarlane, 1958.

Wakan Service Awards

 

The Wakan service award, a national award given locally to leaders who have made an outstanding contribution, has been presented to the following: Mrs. R. G. Ostergren, 1950; Mrs. John Ferrlan and Mrs. George Harrsch, 1951; Mrs. L. H. LaFaver, Mrs. Karl Johnson, 1952; Mrs. Charles Syverson, Mrs. Frank Carlin and Mrs. Ed Faulstich, 1953; Mrs. Jack Gibson, 1954; Mrs. D. L. Cornelison, Mrs. Gaylord Ross and Mrs. Aaron Steadman, 1955; Mrs. Cecil Brown, Mrs. V. I. McDonald, Mrs. Harry Malone and Mrs. U. A. Kollpa, 1956; Mrs. N. D. Robinson, Mrs. Leonard Brewer, Mrs. James Evans and Mrs. Charles Farrell, 1957; Mrs. O. C. Gore, Mrs. Fremont Wilson and Mrs. Walter Rowland, 1958; Mrs. Odell Lash and Mrs. Walter Koehler, 1959.