It is important to understand that Eagle Scout was not originally a rank, nor were Life Scout and Star Scout. Instead, they were a part of the merit badge system. Eagle was awarded to any First Class Scout who earned 21 merit badges.
The first change made to “Eagle Scout” happened between June and August 1911, before any Scout had ever completed the requirements and earned it. The June 1911 Official Handbook for Boys described it as “Wolf Scout”. The August 1911 version of the handbook changed this to “Eagle Scout”.
The first Eagle Scout medal was awarded in 1912 to Arthur Rose Eldred, a 17-year-old member of Troop 1 of Rockville Centre, Long Island, New York. Records show that not only BSA’s founders sat on Eldred’s Board of Review, but it also included Lord Baden-Powell who just arrived in the United States earlier in the day of January 31, 1912.
Between the time of Eldred’s Board of Review and the awarding of the medal later that year in September 1912, another change took place. The original design of the medal that was published in the 1911 Boy Scout Handbooks was the profile of an eagle in flight. This design was never approved by the national board, however, and was changed to the now familiar design of today so that the medal awarded to Arthur Eldred was the same as those awarded today.
Daniel Carter Beard
Scouting Founder & Eagle Scout
In 1914, the merit badge requirements to earn Eagle Scout were changed so that 11 specific merit badges had to be part of the 21 previously required. This was the first time that the concept of “Eagle-required” merit badges was considered.
On February 15, 1915, Scouting founder Daniel Carter Beard (Uncle Dan) became an Eagle Scout at the age of 64. In 1922, Uncle Dan became the only Eagle Scout ever to be awarded the “Gold Eagle Badge”, considered the predecessor to the Distinguished Eagle Scout honor.
Many early BSA records have since been lost or destroyed so some of the details of the history of Eagle Scout are drawn from newspaper accounts or other sources. As a result, we can’t be sure about some of the history of Eagle Scout, but it is believed that at 7:30 PM on December 19th, 1919, Hamilton Bradley of Rome, NY became the first black Eagle Scout according to the Rome Daily Sentinel.
1927 was a banner year for Eagle Scout changes that were the first steps of its transition from part of the merit badge program to a bonafide rank with the addition of a tenure requirement of 1 year as a First Class, one additional required merit badge, bringing it to 12, and the introduction of a service requirement.
In 1936, First Class Scouts could no longer earn Eagle Scout. The Star and Life ranks became mandatory prerequisites for Eagle and a 13th reqwuired merit badge was added. Finally in 1936, Eagle Scout officially became a rank.
The 1950s saw the last adults to earn Eagle Scout when the BSA national board approved the age restriction for Eagle Scouts to youths under 18 in 1952 followed by and increase in the required Eagle merit badges to 16 and the introduction of the service and leadership requirements.
n 1965, the requirements for the service project and specific troop leadership were defined, and the number of required merit badges returned to 11. The Eagle Scout candidate was required to plan, develop, and carry out a leadership service project. Since then, both the required merit badges and the total merit badges have changed but otherwise Eagle Scout has remained mostly the same.
Although adults 18 and older have been barred from earning Eagle Scout since 1952, an 88 year old man, Walter Hart, was awarded his Eagle Scout in 2007. “How?” you ask. Well, Walter earned 23 merit badges as a Boy Scout, 2 more than needed for Eagle Scout. But, he didn’t receive Eagle Scout because he left Scouting to join the US Navy during World War II. Fast forward to the new milenium when in 2006, Walter was going through his Scout memorabilia and found his paperwork showing he had completed the requirements for Eagle Scout. He contacted the Scout offices and less rgan a year later joined the ranks of Eagle Scouts.
