Abilene ? The 75th anniversary of a local Boy Scouts camp that once attracted thousands of people each weekend has spurred leaders and volunteers to start restoring it.

Volunteers spent eight weeks in May and June restoring and rebuilding dining facilities, sleeping quarters and a decaying totem pole brought to Brown Memorial Camp from Alaska in 1931. The camp will be rededicated during a ceremony on Saturday.

“You can’t really re-create the history and memory of this camp,” said Matt Devore, executive dir-ector of the Coronado Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. “If not for this 75th anniversary and our dreams, this property might easily be forgotten.”

Opened in 1927, the 250-acre camp contained lakes and beaches, a zoo, golf course, tennis courts, baseball diamonds, boating, canoeing and hiking trails all free of charge. At its peak in the early 1930s, it attracted up to 20,000 people each weekend.

But the Great Depression and the 1935 death of its founder, Abilene millionaire C.L. Brown, led to the camp’s eventual deterioration. The lakes were drained, the golf course torn up and the animals shipped away.

Devore’s dream is to develop several new attractions at the camp, including a fort for children, a castle at the end of a stone bridge, an aquatics area and a tornado shelter built to look like an Indian lodge. Devore said that about $200,000 already has been raised for the camp, but his goal is to reach $825,000.

“The grassroots interest in developing this property has been enormous,” he said.

Today, about 3,000 young people and adults use the land each year for Boy Scout training and camping. Devore said he hoped increased maintenance and development would double the number of people who use it.

“The long-range plan is to develop this property into a Cub Scout camp and a training facility for adult leaders, but I also want it to be open to youth ministries, high schools and Boy and Girl Scouts,” Devore said.

Despite some neglect, Salina resident E.W. Van Meter, who serves on the Boy Scouts’ regional camp inspection team, said Brown Memorial Camp is in remarkably good condition.