Boy Scout Troop 1 (Troop 44)

Van Alstyne's troop was the first in Grayson County, and a local history dates its organization to 1912 under W. F. Barnett. It records the troop's first Eagle Scout badge in 1930, to John Taylor, with Rea Nunnallee next. Bells disputed the seniority: its own troop was chartered July 6, 1922, with confectioner Eldridge Craig as scoutmaster. Craig granted that Van Alstyne came first but claimed Bells held the oldest continuous troop. Sherman's Scout council followed in 1924, according to the Handbook of Texas.

What the plaque says

Boy Scout Troop 1 (Troop 44) Boy Scout Troop 1 (Troop 44) The U.S. Congress chartered the Boy Scouts of America organization in 1910. Just two years later, three Van Alstyne boys, Rowland Barnett, Otis White and Rae Nunnallee, received a Boy Scout storybook. Barnett made a Christmas wish and, in March 1913, the Van Alstyne troop received its charter--one of the first in the state. W.F. Barnett, Rowland's father and Van Alstyne school superintendent, became the troop's first scoutmaster. Within a few years, Troop 1, as it was known then, helped establish other boy scout troops in the area, beginning with the communities of Anna and Elmont. The Van Alstyne troop worked from its founding date to serve its community. Through the 1920s, the troop helped in a citywide cleanup to control disease and insect population. In the 1940s, the troop's number changed to 44, and in 1948, the city donated land for a scout hut, which has since been used for meetings. In 1959, the troop took part in the relay of the Pan American Games torch as it traveled from Mexico City to Chicago. The Van Alstyne troop also became the first integrated troop in the Texoma Valley Council. Beginning in 1917, Van Alstyne's First United Methodist Church became an official sponsor of the troop, which has since been sponsored by other local organizations and churches, as well as being continuously supported by the Methodist church. Scout leaders have included many men and women from the community, including one whose interest was piqued in 1912 by the storybook. Rae Nunnallee was an active troop member for 70 years, joining as a boy and later serving in a number of key roles, both locally and nationally. For his dedication and service, the chapel at nearby Camp Grayson was named in his honor. Setting an example others in the community have followed, Nunnallee generously gave his time, labor and care for the boy scouts in Van Alstyne. (2003)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary — 19 mi
  A 289-acre sanctuary in McKinney that Bessie Heard founded at the age of 80, with five habitats, a 50-acre wetland and 6.5 miles of trails.
• Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site — 22 mi
  The small frame house beside the Katy tracks in Denison where Dwight Eisenhower was born in 1890, bought by townspeople in 1946 and given to Texas in 1958.
• Sam Rayburn House State Historic Site — 23 mi
  The two-story farmhouse west of Bonham that the longtime Speaker of the House built in 1916 and kept as his home, left as he lived in it and open as a museum since 1975.
• Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge — 24 mi
  A 1946 refuge on the Big Mineral Arm of Lake Texoma, laid over land bought for Denison Dam and the site of the vanished railroad town of Hagerman, now a winter stop for geese.

More markers nearby

• Site of Campus of Old Columbia College — steps away
• Howe Lodge No. 430, A. F. & A.M. — 0.3 mi
• First Christian Church — 0.5 mi
• First United Methodist Church of Van Alstyne — 0.5 mi