In 2012, the Girl Scout Movement will celebrate its 100th anniversary. Here at Girl Scouts of Rhode Island, Inc., we have our own rich history which began in 1914 and features the vision, passion and hard work of many women of courage, confidence and character. Women with a ‘Rhode Island accent!’ Some highlights from our history:

• 1914: The first Girl Scout troop in Rhode Island began meeting at Darlington Congregational Church in Pawtucket, led by Elizabeth Bury, a nurse at Memorial Hospital. Within three years, troops were organized in Providence, Woonsocket, Barrington and Westerly, open to all girls from ages 10 to 17.
• 1917: The Red Clover Troop of Newport became the first in the state to register officially with the national organization. The first girl to be pinned in Troop 1 was 15-year-old Catherine “Kit” Hammett.
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• 1919: Girl Scouts of Rhode Island was chartered by the national organization and incorporated in Rhode Island to coordinate local efforts, organize troops in new areas, train leaders and provide camping opportunities. Each city or town established its own council.
• 1920: Prudence Island became the site of GSRI’s first resident camp. Legend has it that the next year, Mira Hoffman of Barrington, the woman who became commissioner of the new state council, drove around the state until she found property that would make a more suitable camp for the girls. The mother of two sons – and no daughters – was instrumental in the purchase of a former farm of 23 acres on Larkin Pond in West Kingston now known as Camp Hoffman.
• 1921: Camp Hoffman opened. Girls were instructed to pack, among other things, bloomers and semaphore flags! A week of camping cost $2.
• 1923: The first RI Brownie pack met in Newport. Edith Ballinger Price, who became its leader, went on to become national chairwoman of the Brownies from 1925–1932. Though still in her 20s she became known as the “Great Brown Owl.” The prolific author and illustrator wrote the first Brownie handbook. Her work appeared in Girl Scout magazines for 40 years.
• 1928: Mira Hoffman was named the fifth national president of Girl Scouts of the USA.
• 1934: Mariner Scouts, originated in RI, were introduced at a Girl Scout convention in Boston. Kit Hammett is credited with pioneering the program, which went national. She joined the national staff two years later, at age 34.
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• 1944: Near the end of World War II, GSUSA sent Kit Hammett and five others to set up camps for the United Nations to aid children in Greece, Egypt and Palestine. In Greece, she was responsible for the recreational and vocational training of 50,000 children who had fled German occupation. In the ‘50s and ‘60s, she developed GSUSA’s outdoor program and toured 46 states to train 14,000 volunteers in how to camp.
• 1962: Rhode Island councils consolidated into one statewide organization: Girl Scouts of Rhode Island, Inc.
• 1974: After several moves over several decades, GSRI purchased and renovated the historic Canal House building on Charles Street in Providence for its headquarters. The building, on the banks of the Moshassuck River, was the site of the city’s first grist mill, in 1642. During the Civil War period, it served as a station on the “underground railway” for slaves making their way to Canada.
• 1976: GSRI marks the Bicentennial with “Gansett Gam”: 150 girls and adults from 48 states march in the Bristol Fourth of July parade, visit the Tall Ships in Newport, make new friends and share swaps at their Hoffman headquarters.
• 1990: The Sarah Hazard Nomer Museum was established at Camp Hoffman in the newly built House-by-the-Side-of-the-Road. Among the collections are vintage uniforms, camp memorabilia, and a medal awarded to Kit Hammett by the Greek government. Troops can visit the museum by appointment.
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• 1996: Kit Hammett was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.
• 2007: Thirteen communities from southeastern Massachusetts became part of Girl Scouts of Rhode Island, Inc., which also includes the sole Connecticut community of Pawcatuck.