Girl Scout Little House
Borger, Hutchinson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This community landmark has its origins in Borger's prewar oil boom. In early 1941, Hudson Davis opened a car dealership here, moving his family from Amarillo. Hudson and his wife Ruby immediately became involved in civic activities, with Hudson joining the Lions Club, Chamber of Commerce and other groups. Ruby and her daughter had been active in Girl Scouts in Amarillo, and so Ruby helped start a Girl Scout troop in Borger. She She and Margaret Elliot, principal of the Weatherly School, called an organizational meeting, and more than one hundred girls and their mothers attended. Ruby became president of the Borger Girl Scout Council. World War II building restrictions and supply shortages delayed construction of a community center intended as a permanent meeting place for the Girl Scouts. In July 1945 Hudson Davis became president of the Lions Club, and directed the organization to sponsor construction of a headquarters building for the local scout troop. Fritz Thompson donated land near the community hospital, and Borger school superintendent Curtis Cryer obtained plans from Amarillo architect Macon O. Carder for the new building. Construction of the Girl Scout Little House became a community-wide effort, with all material, money and labor being donated. The U-shaped building features an irregular course rock finish, low-pitch roof with cross gables and exposed rafter tails. The stone veneer of the building is dolostone from the Alibates formation. Since its completion, the building has been the site of many community activities as well as a meeting place for the Girl Scouts and Lions Club. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark-2008
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Borger boomed on Panhandle oil in the 1920s and '30s, and civic-minded newcomers like Hudson and Ruby Davis helped knit the young town together. Ruby organized a Girl Scout troop that drew more than a hundred girls, and after wartime shortages delayed construction, the Lions Club rallied a community-wide effort to build this rock headquarters—faced in dolostone from the local Alibates formation—completed in the years after World War II.
Why it matters
The Little House captures how mid-century American towns built lasting community institutions through volunteer labor and civic clubs.
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Related people
- · Hudson Davis
- · Ruby Davis
Themes & tags
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