How Girl Scouts Began

Ever wonder how Girl Scouting began? Let Juliette Gordon Low tell you the story!

An Important Friendship

	Sir Robert Baden-Powell and his wife Olave.

I married William Low when I was 26 years old. He was an Englishman, so we lived in Great Britain during most of our years of marriage. While I was in Scotland in 1911, I met two very important people—Sir Robert Baden-Powell and his sister Agnes. We became very close and remained friends for the next 16 years. Sir Robert started the Boy Scouts in England and it seemed like such a purposeful activity that girls would be interested in it too. And so they started the Girl Guides. I ran my own Girl Guide "troop" that year.

My Own Girl Guide "Troop" in Scotland

My original idea was that girls could learn the same things boys were learning—knot tying, signaling, first aid, etc. But while people saw such military skills as being beneficial to boys, they viewed them as frivolous for girls.

The area where I lived was very poor, and many girls had to leave their homes and go into the cities for work in order to help their families make a living. City factories were very filthy and unsafe back then. I thought that there ought to be some way the girls could help their families earn money without having to leave home. I thought that they might raise poultry to feed the rich people who stayed at the nearby hunting lodges. This was very successful. We branched out and learned how to spin wool which the girls went on to sell.

How I Started Girl Scouting in the U.S.

When I came back to America, I called my cousin and told her that I had "…something for the girls of Savannah, and all America, and all the world…" and that we had to get started on it right away. And we did!

Juliette Gordon Low with some of the nation's first Girl Scouts.

It wasn't easy—people seemed convinced that this would be one more thing I'd start and then lose interest. And money was always a concern. At one point I even sold my pearls to finance the organization.

But I never had any doubts that it would be successful. After all, I knew that girls could do anything they set their minds to. What started out as a group of girls meeting to study nature or learn to play basketball in my backyard grew quickly.

When America entered into World War I, I wrote to President Wilson and offered him the Girl Scouts' services. Girls went to help out the Red Cross, planted victory gardens, and helped to sell millions of war bonds.

Watching the Seed Grow

	The Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace in Savannah, Georgia.

I had 15 years to watch my program grow. In January 1927, I lost my battle to cancer. I had been fighting it for the last few years, and had kept it a secret from all but my closest friends. I found that I had to spend less and less time actually running the Girl Scouts, and more time creating an organizational structure that would ensure that the Movement didn't die with me. I guess I succeeded. In 1927 there were 167,925 Girl Scouts and now there are over 3.7 million girls and adults!

If you want to learn more, come visit the house I grew up in! It's called the Birthplace. It's a national center in Savannah, Georgia. When you are here, you can try things I did when I was your age.