abstract
| - The Quapaw Area Council is the largest in Arkansas in both area and members and is headquartered in Little Rock.[8] In 1927, the Pulaski County Council was renamed the Quapaw Area Council and covered several counties. In 1934, the Kanawha Area Council of Jefferson County was split between the Quapaw Area Council and the De Soto Area Council, which had a council office in El Dorado (Union County). In 2002 and 2012 respectively, the Eastern Arkansas Area Council and Ouachita Area Council merged with the Quapaw Area Council. These mergers enlarged the Quapaw Area Council from seventeen counties to thirty-nine counties. The first permanent camping facilities for the Quapaw council was Camp Quapaw, opened in 1925. It was located on the Saline River west of Benton in Saline County. This early facility was limited so between 1930 and 1931, fifty-five additional acres were purchased, and a mess hall was constructed. The numbers of scouts attending camp increased which led to an overuse of the facilities. Additionally, the Army Corps of Engineers was considering a dam on the Saline River. This would have flooded a section of the camp.[8] In 1975, the council acquired Camp Kiwanis, in order to accommodate more Scouts and camping activities. Camp Kiwanis was an unimproved site which included over 2,900 acres west of Damascus, Arkansas. It was renamed the Cove Creek Scout Reservation and opened in 1976. Camp Quapaw was then closed and later sold.[8] In 1981, the portion of Cove Creek that was used as a permanent summer camping was names Camp Montgomery, after Nile Montgomery a previous scout executive, and the lake was named Lake Butler, for Richard C. Butler Sr., a supporter of the local scouting program.[8] In 2001, the Cove Creek Scout Reservation and Camp Nile Montgomery where renamed the Gus Blass Scout Reservation and Camp Rockefeller in honor of Gus Blass II and Lieutenant Governor Winthrop P. Rockefeller both of whom were supporters of the Boy Scout program for many years.
|