photo by: Elvyn Jones

Kadyn Woods, 11, of Lawrence, receives instructions from Gary Keehn, archery in the schools coordinator for the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, at Saturday's 100th anniversary of Lawrence Boy Scout Troop 52. The troop founded in January 1918 is the oldest Boy Scout troop in Lawrence.

The temperatures were a bit chilly for Saturday’s 100th anniversary celebration of Lawrence’s oldest active Boy Scout troop, but that didn’t bother Boy Scout Dillon Genicke. In fact, the weather was ideal for roasting marshmallows, he said.

Dillon, 11, kept busy toasting treats for those visiting the west campus of Lawrence United Methodist Church for Lawrence Boy Scout Troop 52’s big bash. His station was one of several the Scouts had set up on a lot west of the church — the event also featured a petting zoo, an archery range, hands-on wood branding and a bounce house.

Dillon has been a member of Troop 52 since February of this year. He said he thought being in a century-old troop was “cool” but confessed he didn’t know much about its history.

“Nope,” he said. “I guess I’ll be finding out.”

Luckily, the troop’s adult leaders are ready to share its history with the Scouts and the community, said John Milburn, an assistant Troop 52 scoutmaster.

“We’re the oldest Boy Scout troop in Lawrence,” he said. “There were older troops 50 and 51, but they are no longer around.”

It’s a troop that has Jayhawk crimson and blue blood in its history, Milburn said. James Naismith, the inventor of basketball and the first coach of the sport at the University of Kansas, was once a swimming merit badge instructor for the troop, and legendary KU coach Phog Allen was a scoutmaster in the 1920s, he said.

Sue Reiske, the troop’s Scouting advancement chair, dug up a lot of facts about the troop’s early history. She said that although there had been individual Boy Scouts in Lawrence before World War I, they didn’t start to formally organize into troops until after the war broke out. Once Troop 52 was formed in January 1918, its Scouts got busy helping the war effort, Reiske said. The troop collected 4,500 peach pits, which provided filtering materials for 1,000 gas masks for troops in the trenches of France, she said. They also scouted out and identified the location of walnut trees needed for the production of airplane propellers and gun stocks.

“They located enough walnut trees to provide 20 million board feet of wood when harvested,” Reiske said.

The troop’s Scouts and leaders would contribute to another war effort four months after the United States entered World War II, Reiske said.

“They had a scrap-metal drive in March 1942,” she said. “They went out at 8 a.m. and came back at noon with 6 tons of scrap metal.”

Troop 52 currently has about 25 Boy Scouts, Milburn said. Although it’s sponsored by the Lawrence United Methodist Church, the troop is open to kids throughout Lawrence, he said.

The troop has recently looked to grow its membership, Milburn said, but that’s often difficult when sports, school clubs and technological diversions are all competing for kids’ attention.

“Many kids get involved with technology and don’t care about outdoor activities,” he said. “We have a big focus on STEM activities of technology, rocketry and engineering. We try to adapt to the kids and not make them adapt to us. But we do sell the great outdoor adventure.”