Ryan Kathman
Ramsey County Review - staff writer

    It began, as the story goes, in 1928, with a visit from an unwelcome critter to a campfire at what is now known as the Fred C. Andersen Scout Camp in Houlton, Wis.

    At that time, the Boy Scout executive for the St. Paul area, Frank Neibel, had decided that scouting had been around in the Twin Cities for 18 years and a group of its veteran members should gather for a discussion of scouting affairs. One night, while huddled around a campfire at what was informally known as "the river camp," a curious skunk wandered out of the underbrush and ventured into the middle of the campfire circle, causing the leaders to panic and scatter. Although reports are vague as to whether the assembly suffered a spraying or not, the event was memorable enough to warrant a second annual meeting the following year and a tradition was born.

    Along with it, the "Order of the Odor" was established, a group that, about 50 years later, began a historical scouting memorabilia collection that would eventually become the North Star Museum of Boy Scouting and Girl Scouting. That group, which has operated primarily as a "museum without walls" since 1976, finally found its own space in downtown North St. Paul in January when it signed a purchase agreement with Ramsey County to obtain the building along East Seventh Avenue that formerly housed a county library branch.

    That purchase was settled April 18 when the North Star Museum closed on the deal with the county, having gained approval in the form of a zoning change from the North St. Paul City Council in February. The museum hopes to open its doors for a limited program this fall, with a grand opening next spring.

    That group of founders, affectionately and collectively known as "Skunks," are still going strong and are anxious to be able to visit their impressive historical collection (the artifacts total over 150,000) inside their new spacious North St. Paul home.

    "I think they're going to like it because it's a big building," current Order of the Odor member Jim Rupert said of his fellow Skunks from around the region. "We've got some really neat displays with stuff that goes back to 1910."

Rank and files

    Rupert has been an adult scouting leader for 24 years and was a Boy Scout himself for six years before that, making it to the highest rank of Eagle Scout - an accomplishment of which he is still very proud.

    "I still think about being an Eagle Scout every day," Rupert said. "You get past the point where the medal and badge and certificate are important. It becomes a state of mind."

    Nevertheless, it is items like medals, badges and certificates that line the walls of the storage space donated by 3M for the North Star Museum where the bulk of its collection is currently stored. According to Claudia Nicholson, the museum's new executive director, the Order of the Odor members began to preserve the memorabilia they came across starting in the 1970s when the wife of a veteran who had passed away disposed of his extensive scouting collection.

    "Having a permanent home has always been on (the Order's) agenda, it's just been hard finding a suitable place," said Nicholson, who is the museum's only paid staff member, hired recently from a regional search. Having worked for the Minnesota Historical Society until 2002, Nicholson's role will be guiding the transformation of the former library into a professional-looking museum space.

    "We're really about history," she said. "We're just using Boy Scouting and Girl Scouting as the lens to look at history."

    Although the museum is a non-profit organization not officially supported by the Boy Scouts of America or the Girl Scouts of the USA, chairman John Guthmann, a Twin Cities lawyer and also an Eagle Scout, said the groups have been "very enthusiastic" about the North Star's preservation efforts.

    Both (national organizations) are about the present and the future, so history isn't exactly their mission," Guthmann said. "But they're not uninterested in history, so the fact that we can provide a historical perspective enriches their program and I think they appreciate us for that."

    Guthmann said both Ramsey County and the city of North St. Paul have been very welcoming to the museum so far, citing the donation by Fire Chief Scott Duddeck of a table at last month's Home and Garden Fair as an example. Ramsey County Board Chair Victoria Reinhardt said she believed the former library (which has since found a new, smaller home at the North St. Paul Community Center) becoming   a   scouting museum would serve as a "nice transition."

    "There's a rich history for scouting and for those who have been involved in it," said Reinhardt, a former Girl Scout. "It's not only adding to the history of North St. Paul in having it there but also to scouting in general."

Change in the air

    This summer, the museum will begin the arduous task of relocating its artifacts into the former library and setting up displays, according to Nicholson. She is also planning to reach out to the community with summer activities like a pinewood derby display during some of North St. Paul's summertime Friday night car shows.

    "We want to reach out to the larger public," Nicholson said. "We want to keep the place lively and changing."

    Considering that the museum has operated for almost 30 years chiefly through the efforts of volunteers, she anticipates having that continued support when it comes to managing the visiting hours of the museum. Both she and Guthmann said they hope current Boy and Girl Scouts will contribute as well as veterans like the Skunks, who may lead tours through the museum.

    Although Rupert will probably be a prime candidate for such a task, at present, he is consumed with helping to plan this year's Order of the Odor gathering, which still meets annually at the Fred C. Andersen Scout Camp and, to his knowledge, has done so ever since that first fateful get-together in 1928. This year, the event will be held on Tuesday, May 31.

    "We have a good time," Rupert reported. "The highlight of the evening is the presentation of an award - a little plaque which proclaims the recipient as the 'Skunk of the Year'" (Rupert won the honor himself in 1993.)

    Rupert continues to interact with current Scouts as well as the veterans, and hopes the acquisition of a home for the North Star Museum only helps to facilitate that involvement. Occasionally, he said he is asked to participate in a new Eagle Scout's award ceremony called a Court of Honor.

    "I tell the boys that there are very few things they can do as a teenager that will make them feel good every day for the rest of their lives."

    Unless of course, on one of those days, they happen to cross paths with a real skunk.