One nation...indivisible....

B.S.A. Regions

It's a great country any way you slice it!

At the 1969 National Jamboree there was a Region 11 Band. There was a Region 4 Band at the Jamboree in 1964, and at the 1960 Jamboree there were Region 4 and Region 7 Bands.

What does that mean? Where might they have come from?

At the BSA's first National Jamboree in Washington, D.C., in 1937 there was a National Jamboree Band which was organized and directed by Maurice D. Taylor of Montrose, Pennsylvania . Afterwards, the individual BSA Regions were invited to organize Scout Bands to play at later National Jamborees up until 1977. Then, for the 1977 Jamboree, BSA returned to the original scheme and asked Bill Nelson of Lubbock, Texas to organize and direct a single National Jamboree Band. And since then Bill has directed the National Jamboree Bands in 1981, 1985, 1989, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2005, and 2010.

Still we wonder: where were these Regions that might have sent bands to the National Jamborees between 1950 and 1973? There were 46 states in the Union when the B.S.A. was founded in 1910, but by the time the B.S.A. first divided up the U.S.A. into eight "Sections" in 1913 there were 48 states, New Mexico and Arizona having joined in 1912. Then, in 1921, this division into eight Sections was replaced by a division into 12 Regions, which continued until the early 1970's, when it was in turn replaced by a division into six Regions. Then in the 1980's the B.S.A. adoped the current division into four Regions. So during the time that Regions had Scout Bands at the National Jamborees, the system of 12 Regions was in effect.

This was the system adopted by the B.S.A. in 1921. At first glance it might seem that they simply assigned each State to one of the regions. But actually they assigned each Local Council to a region, and since a number of the Councils had territories that crossed State lines, the boundaries of the 12 Regions don't really follow state lines. For example, Region 4 contains Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia - except that the north-eastern corner of West Virginia is in Region 3 and the western tip of Virginia is in Region 4. And if you look at Wyoming, you see that there are parts of the State in each of four different Regions.

But wait - there's more to the U.S.A., and even more to the BSA! Alaska, which became the 49th State in 1959, was in Region 11. Also in 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state and was in Region 12. Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands were part of Region 2. Region 6 included the Panama Canal Zone. In the aftermath of World War II many Americans were serving overseas and organized Scouting units which became an unofficial Region 13.