Click here to join us at this historic birthday party celebration for Camp Juniper Knoll. Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana Council Historian Carol Macola shares with us the early history of the camp.
On June 19, 1924, Camp Pleasant in Wisconsin opened for summer sessions for 620 girls, utilizing tents in two units and a huge waterfront for swimming and boating. It took two years of negotiations, with assistance from Board of Directors member Augusta Rosenwald’s husband, Julius Rosenwald, for the forty acres on Pleasant Lake to belong to Girl Scouts of Chicago and Cook County Council. As the result of a contest, the camp was renamed Camp Juniper Knoll (JK) for the 1925 summer sessions, along with an expansion to three units: Sunny Ridge, Sleepy Hollow (later Gypsy Hollow), and Frontier. That year, Juniper Knoll was also selected to host a National Training Camp for Region 7 (Great Lakes Region).
The camp grew rapidly, with the dining lodge (now Low Lodge), kitchen, storehouse, more sleeping tents, and a hospital tent in 1926. An annual camp scrapbook was put together, a tradition that continued for over fifteen years, with photographs, artwork, news columns, and poetry. By 1928, Book Nest was completed, along with a new boat landing for canoes, rowboats, and later sailboats.
An exciting guest came to Juniper Knoll during the summer of 1926 and helped with the waterfront: Olympic swimmer Johnny Weismuller, who went on to play Tarzan in the movies. (Second from the left in photo two.)
With more units, Girl Scouts were placed in units based on age, experience, and interests. Girl Scouts could be pirates in Treasure Island, Scotsmen in Bonnie Highlands, pioneers in primitive Frontier, Native Americans in Shining Waters (renamed Shonghela), or Robin Hood’s merry men in Lone Cedar (later Greenwood).
By the late 1930s, Treasure Island suffered erosion and had to close; the new Clippership took on the sea-faring concept, with a small lodge nearby named Clipper’s Cabin. A gong was hung in the meadow near Book Nest to call the girls to meals and to various all-camp events.
While swimming, boating, and outdoor cooking were scheduled activities, treasure hunts, song contests, dramatics, and nature arts were also routine. By the 1950s, a Camper Council with representatives from each unit planned a “backward day,” water carnivals, progressive dinners, circuses, an all-camp birthday party, and the last campfire for the session. Different units had hikes around the lake, canoe trips, overnights, truck trips (to Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay), and horseback riding at Horseshoe Bar Ranch. Some units put on puppet shows for other units; one built a seesaw, one lashed a swing, and others prepared games for camp participation. The ten-day sessions at camp were full of adventures!
In 1952-1953, property adjoining Juniper Knoll was purchased, originally with the idea of a second camp. Named Acorn Hill, it became part of JK, with its units: Wilderness, Citadel (for Counselors-In-Training –CITs), Natnaquwa (primitive unit), and Waterfront Primitive.
In 1963, Juniper Knoll hosted eight Canadian Girl Guides as part of a camper exchange. In 1968, the camp hosted three camping institutes for GSUSA and Region VII.
Juniper Knoll has changed over time. Voyager and Chalet were added to the units; Scottish Highlands was absorbed into another unit. By 1962, Sunny Ridge and Wilderness had been moved, and then Sunnyridge (new spelling) had been renamed Shonghela, as it was no longer on a ridge. Gypsy Hollow and Voyager succumbed to erosion problems. Embers was built as a staff house, but it was lost to a fire in more recent times. The waterfront was also moved from its location to Acorn Hill’s swimming and boating area, again due to erosion. Health Center replaced Growing Well. Promise Lodge was built, truly allowing for camping all year round. The old dining hall was named Low Lodge with the building of Bensinger in 1962, which has since been replaced with our beautiful new dining hall.
One hundred years later, the Low Lodge, Clipper’s Cabin, Book Nest, and the staff cabins still remain reminding us of where we started. Yurts and cabins are taking us forward along with tent camping and outdoor cooking. Pleasant Lake continues to be our prize as we add more water vessels, such as sailing paddle boards. Juniper Knoll has a historical past and an exciting future.
