This weekend there were a couple of Century Celebrations in our community. Saturday afternoon was the dedication of the Boy Scout Headquarters at the Culver Academies Woodcraft Camp. Easterday Construction Co., Inc. was pleased to have the opportunity to build this new structure.
The Headquarters is a slightly smaller version of the camp’s existing cabins. It is cedar post and beam construction with a shingle roof. The building foundation consists of concrete piers. The original cabin design was such that the units could be moved to new locations as necessary. The project was completed on a tight budget and with an aggressive schedule. Initial discussions about building the cabin began in mid May followed by design, permitting and construction which were completed on Wednesday of last week, July 21, 2010. There are previous entries showing some of the construction and background information here and here.
The ceremony at Culver Academies coincided with a Jamboree being held in Washington, D.C. celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America. I learned this weekend that Scouting was started by Lord Baden-Powell, a Lieutenant in the British Army, upon his return from the Boer War in 1908. The Boy Scouts of America was formed by W. D. Boyce in 1910 and that is the anniversary that was celebrated this past weekend. Culver Academies’ legend is that the actual birthplace of the Boy Scouts of America was at the then Culver Military Academy in 1910.
Nearly 100 people attended the ceremony. Julius W. Hegeler II was presented a plaque thanking him for his donation through his charitable arm, the Julius W. Hegeler II Foundation, which made the facility possible. Several representatives of Culver Academies as well as local and regional representatives of the Boy Scouts of America spoke.
Also celebrating 1oo years this weekend was the First National Bank of Monterey(FNBM). It took $25,000 in 1910 to establish a National Bank. From those small beginnings in 1910, FNBM has grown to a 280 million dollarbank serving Monterey and the surrounding area through branches in Winamac, Culver and North Judson. Several hundred people helped celebrate at an Open House held at the Monterey School on Sunday afternoon.
Joe DeHaven, President and CEO of the Indiana Bankers Association, was guest speaker and awarded the Board of Directors of FNBM a plaque commemorating the occasion. Bank President Claiborn (Clip) Wamsley spoke relating some of his personal experiences from his 60 years with the bank.
Kelly Field spoke relating some of the bank’s history. Notable highlights included FNBM’s move to insure deposits long before the FDIC was created, FNBM’s issuance of their own currency and FNBM’s collaboration with 5 other small banks to change State Law in 1981 to allow a bank branch to be established in a town where another bank already exists.
Easterday Construction Co., Inc. has had a long history of affiliation with the First National Bank of Monterey. We have expanded the Monterey facility several times including most recently in 2009. We remodeled and expanded the Winamac facility, built the Culver facility and have completed several projects at the North Judson facility. Larry Berger, past president of Easterday Construction, has served on the Bank’s board of directors for more than a decade.
Work is proceeding. The decking is in place and we’re installing shingles today. The schedule is for completion the end of next week.
We have cut out a BSA emblem from plywood which CEF staff are painting for installation when the project is complete.
See previous Boy Scout Headquarters entry here.
Culver Educational Foundation Boy Scout Headquarters under construction at the Culver Academies Woodcraft Camp
This year is the 100 year anniversary of Scouting in America and as a tribute Culver Educational Foundation has contracted Easterday Construction Co., Inc. to build a new Boy Scout Headquarters in the Woodcraft Camp at Culver Academies. The structure is a scaled down version of a woodcraft camp cabin. It is a modified post and beam construction built nearly entirely out of cedar. The original cabins were designed to sit on piers so that they could be moved if necessary. There are historical pictures of the original cabin being moved from one location to another on campus.
Easterday Construction has been responsible for the construction of many projects at Culver Academies over the years and family legend has it that our founder, my great grandfather, Russell L. Easterday, began his construction career with James I. Barnes Construction on a project for the Culver Academies back in the 1920’s.
In recent years at the Culver Academies Woodcraft Camp we built the new Boys’ Showers, renovated both the old girls’ showers and the old boys’ showers, built the new Craft Pavilion and a new Counselor’s Cabin. All of these have had coordination issues due to accelerated time schedules, environmental preservation regarding site requirements, aesthetics necessary to fit the existing facilities and sensitivity to the safety, security and needs of the young children the camp serves.
On this project as well as the Counselor’s Cabin and Craft Pavilion pictured, we were assisted by Scearce Rudisel Architects with design issues and obtaining the State Plan Releases. Mary Ellen Rudisel Jordan and her staff have been helpful and responsive on these projects and the fact that she has a former Woodcraft Camper a Chipmunk from the last graduating class of Woodcraft Chipmunks on her staff hasn’t hurt!
We received a nice letter from Rebuilding Together today thanking us for our assistance to the Culver Lions Club. One of the hardest workers in the Culver Lions Club is Leroy Bean and he is a former ECC employee. Currently Will Pearson in our office is a member of the Lions and has helped them with recommendations and estimates for a home here in Culver. We have loaned tools for the project and put them in touch with reputable sub-contractors for some of the work. Over the years we have also served as a storage facility for excess materials that the Lions have accumulated for use on projects such as these. We’re happy to be able to help them with this effort. The work they are doing is admirable. To steal the Culver Chamber of Commerce’s tag line, the Lions and the work they do in Culver are things that makes Culver “A Nice Place to Be”.