History of Troop 56 and Troop 1056

HISTORY OF TROOP 56 AND TROOP 1056

Troop 1056 began in June, 1957 when Troop 56, Timber Trails Council, was officially chartered at St. Francis DeSales Church, just south of the City of Muskegon in Norton Township. The first scoutmaster was Thomas McManaman. At the time, it was not uncommon to find Boy Scout troops in almost every church and school. In fact, at nearby Lincoln Park School, there was Troop 252.

In 1966, St. Francis moved across the street to a new, architectural marvel of a church. The old church became Wilma Hall, and the troop continued to meet there. In 1968, Norton Township became the City of Norton Shores. Troop 56 continued to prosper, and put out eight Eagle Scouts by 1973.

In 1975, Timber Trails Council merged with Grand Rapids-based Grand Valley Council to form West Michigan Shores Council. Shortly after this time, on May 1, 1977, Troop 56 officially disbanded, leaving St. Francis with no scout troop. It would remain that way until the early 1980s. By this time, the nearby Lincoln Park troop had also disappeared, leaving two Cub Scout packs, but no troops, in northern Norton Shores.

In 1986, Dr. Rick Peters (affectionately known as "Doc") reorganized the troop, which became Troop 1056. The troop was officially chartered by the BSA in May, 1987. The troop would continue to grow, serving kids mostly from the Catholic school system, until the mid-1990s, when scouts from Pack 4252 at Lincoln Park started joining 1056 to further their scouting experiences. In 2004, the troop again became mostly scouts from the Catholic school system.

In 1995, Doc Peters retired his post as scoutmaster. Dean Runk, a relative newcomer to Troop 1056, acquired the position. He would remain there until 2001, when Cliff Nelson became the current leader of our troop. Troop 1056 is supported by Cub Scout Packs 4056 of St. Francis school, 4252 of Lincoln Park Elementary, and 4033 of St. Michael's school. We currently have an enrollment of just over 20 boys, and almost as many leaders.

Troop 1056 also actively participates in the community, doing food baskets every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We also try to schedule a river cleanup canoe trip on Father's Day weekend every summer.

Update!

Deacon Gary Flynn, a former Troop 56 Scoutmaster, contacted us recently supplying us with some more details on the history of Troop 56. We thank him for this, as we really know very little about the history of the original troop. Here is what he had to say:

"I found your web page and discovered there was no history of Troop 56 and the scouts that started the original troop. My name is Gary Flynn and I was one of the first original scouts in the troop.

I was the first Senior Patrol Leader and first Junior Assistant SM and the third Scoutmaster of troop 56, Thomas McManaman was the first. He taught 7th grade at St Francis and I was in his class. That year the school was filled to capacity and our class met in a back room which was part of the convent. I was in Scouting for 4 years. I was part of Troop 14 at Ruddiman Terrace. Troop 14 was so large, they met in two different places and the Scoutmaster was Ralph (Deac) Bennett. He died when I was 12 and the troop fell apart. This is important because I was also an original family at St. Francis and the Church met at the Terrace. This was a precursor of organizing a Troop at St. Francis along with Arvid Burgland, who was a leader of Troop 3. Tom Mcmanaman was the first SM, Leon Preston became SM after him and the troop began to grow and became very active. I became SM after Leon Preston stepped down. I was Asst SM and the committee asked if I would become the SM. I was 18 and took over the Troop. We had a very involved Committee and the parishioners supported the Troop financially by purchasing our infamous doughnut sales. We grew in leaps and bounds and outgrew the council (Timber Trails). We were so big we asked for two campsites at Gerber. This was denied and we held our own summer camp "Camp 56." We had two properties, one near Ludington adjoining the State forest, and another near Montague. At one point we were the largest Troop in Region 7 which included Detroit and Chicago, having a membership of over 100 Scouts."

In 2007, due to little support from St. Francis de Sales, the troop was welcomed by Our Lady of Grace Church who became an additional Chartered Organization. The troop moved meetings and equipment to OLG.

AT A GLANCE

FUTURE EVENTS

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

NOVEMBER

Theme Is: Cooking

11-27-08 - HAPPY THANKSGIVING

11-27-08 - THANKSGIVING MEAL BASKETS DELIVERY: Please meet @ Reeths Puffer @ 10:00 AM.

11-28-08 - SCOUT NIGHT WITH THE LUMBERJACKS: Scout Night with the Lumberjacks, Lumberjacks Vs. Bloomington. Game time 7:00 PM. Scouts/youth $5.00, $8.00 adults. Ticket order and money due November 24.

11-??-08 - COMMITTEE MEETING: Please meet @ Our Lady of Grace Parish @ 7:00 PM. We are helping to carry out the scouts plans.

Themes:

December 2008: Tracking

January 2009: Hobbies

February 2009: Weather

March 2009: Wilderness Survival

April 2009: High Adventure

May 2009: Orienteering

KEY:

New Items

Time Changes

Rescheduled

Thursday, November 27, 2008