History

THE TROOP’S ROOTS DATE BACK TO 1918

Our troop started out in 1918 as Troop 7. At the time the population of West Chester was ~12,000 people, and there were 6 existing Boy Scout troops in the vicinity. There were ~50 boys eligible to charter with the new troop. It was agreed to meet at the West Chester United Methodist Church once a week, and to open up the troop to all boys of eligible age.

When the Chester County Council was officially established in 1919, it was determined that there was also a Troop 7 in place in Malvern, Pennsylvania. It turned out that their charter pre-dated ours, so we went ahead and selected the next available troop number; thus, we’ve officially been Troop 14 since the time of our first re-chartering on March 25th, 1919. The Methodist Episcopal Church of West Chester, Pennsylvania was listed as our sponsoring institution for 104 years.

The first Scoutmaster was Pierce H. McDermond. Accompanying him were two Assistant Scoutmasters, J. Holland Heck and Harry E. Buhn. The first operational Troop Committee consisted of James L. King, George J. Palmer, and Howard Reeves.

The troop started with 9 boys: Stuart S. Dowlin, Walter S. Emory, Howard F. Harvey, Alfred C. Parson, Everett H. Reagan, Pusey J. Singer, Paul LeRoy Thomas, Burford McCarthy, and Albert H. Hall. When the charter was put into effect, all of these boys achieved the rank of Tenderfoot.

In the spring of 2023 the troop was rechartered by the First Class Leadership Development.