Troop 7 History
History — Eagle Scouts — Scoutmasters — Eagle flags
Boy Scout Troop 7 was founded in 1922 which was three years before City of Coral Gables incorporated. The newspaper clipping at the right was published in May of 1926. After the hurricane in October of 1926, telephone poles that were downed were collected and George Merrick's construction company had the poles ready to be delivered to a site between the fairways of the Granada Golf Course.
On the evening of March 30, 1971, the cabin burned and was condemned. Only the chimney remains. In September of 1971 the City of Coral Gables and Scoutmaster Douglas Carlton who was an attorney and J. Rex Hawkins, Vice President and Secretary respectively of George Merrick Troop 7 of Coral Gables Inc., signed a 99 year renewable lease for the land. Now we have a building which became a reality after a lot of hard work by many Scouts and friends of the troop. The new building was dedicated in July of 1976 in memory of Mr. Rex Hawkins, a troop committee member for many years (a plaque is inside the front door.)
A historical marker was erected in 2008. See www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=74784.
The first Scoutmaster was Albert H. Bartle for the first three years and then a committee member until 1938, setting the standard for excellence and longevity (16 years) for others to follow. The troop had its first three Eagle Scouts by September 1923 when the troop rechartered. Their names were John Dix, George Montgomery and Edward Purcell.
WBZ in Boston was the first radio station to be licensed in 1921. In 1924, Troop 7 gave a radio demonstration at the Tropical Gardens Seminole Village which was a tourist attraction by an Irish immigrant on the south side of the Miami River at 19th Avenue. The date of the newspaper clipping is cut off but faintly in the middle Sept 15, 1924 is written. This was a Monday and we can see it was published on a Tuesday and the demonstration was on Sunday. You would never see a headline like this today.
BSA picked this up in a weekly pictorial of Scouting activities. Notice the dog has been airbrushed out.
The above picture is displayed in the Scout House and is on the Florida Memory website. www.floridamemory.com/items/show/138902
Once upon a time during BSA's anniversary week Scouts would go to local city government offices and run the city for an hour or two. This newspaper clipping is from the 36th anniversary in 1946.
Another clipping from February 1956
In 1970 Shaun Crownover is in the Coral Gables City Clerk's office.
Troop 7 had a historic flag collection prior to the Cabin burning. Flags then were made of cotton. On Thursday night of the 1968 Republican National Convention at the Miami Beach Convention Center, when Richard Nixon gave is acceptance speech for his first nomination, a Troop 7 Color Guard carried the flags onto the stage during the opening ceremony.
The troop purchased a new set of nylon flags and they were displayed on a large pioneering project at the 1974 Scout Show in the Miami Beach Convention Center. The history of each was researched in libraries and eight Scouts recorded the flag descriptions at the WVCG 1080 AM studio in Coral Gables on a reel to reel tape. Christmas lights surrounded the flags and were switched on during the playing of each flag's history. See our historical flag section.
Troop 7 has an active camping program. Joe Magruder, who was in Troop 21 in Coconut Grove as a boy in the early 1930s and as an adult leader, was the Tequesta District Camping Chair from 1967 to 1975 and created a camping award in his name in 1976 that was presented to the troop with the most camping nights during a calendar year and had the required attendance percentage. Troop 7 received it many times before it was retired in the Scout House in 2020 when South Florida Council realigned the districts. Pictured is Magruder presenting the rotating trophy and plaque to Scoutmaster Thomas Dixon.
The first Court of Honor held after the Scout House dedication in 1976 was for four Eagles and three Bronze Palms. The four Eagles are in the front row and two of the Palms in the rear.
Five of the seven were present for the Centennial celebration. The blond hair boy in rear died several years ago and the one in the blue neckerchief wasn't present.
