Freemasonry's relationship with Scouts started with a Freemason named Daniel Carter Beard.  Bro. Beard was made a Mason in Mariner's Lodge No. 67, New York City, NY, and later affiliated with Cornucopia Lodge 563, Flushing, NY.  In the late 1800's he founded a male youth program called the "Society of the Sons of Daniel Boone."  By 1905, the program had become "The Boy Pioneers."  The man who would create the first "Boy Scouts," and be known as its founder, was Lord Robert Baden-Powell of Great Britain.  Lord Baden-Powell, who was not a Mason, read of Beard's program and, based on his own military experience, developed what is known as the "Boy Scouts."  In 1910, the Boy Scout program came to America when Bro. Beard merged his organization into the "Boy Scouts of America" and became its first National Commissioner.

  Bro. Beard, known affectionately as "Uncle Dan" by millions of Boy Scouts, worked tirelessly to create the Scouting Program that we know today.  He developed the elements of the Scout badge and the Scout uniform, and wrote and illustrated various early publications of the BSA.  Bro. Beard exemplified the Masonic ideals throughout the Scouting program.