One of the most important documents in the history of Galveston and Brazoria Counties is preserved not in a museum or a library but in the Galveston Island headquarters of the Bay Area Council, Boy Scouts of America. Dated March 28, 1919, the document is a report from the Galveston Rotary Club to its officers and members with a recommendation to form a Boy Scout movement in Galveston. The three-page document still survives to this day and is now commonly referred to as the Bay Area Council Charter. As early as 1920, the Daily News, the oldest newspaper in Texas, carried a regular column called "The Scout Roundup."
On August 14, 1962, Mrs. Mary Moody Northern donated a check for $100,000 to the council to build a new headquarters (where we are still housed today.) She made the donation in honor of her late husband, Edwin C. Northern, a longtime Scouter who was active in the council. Today, the council serves more than 8,000 youth through the leadership of more than 2,000 adult volunteers.