Three Harbors Council

Three Harbors Council is a local council of Scouting America, formerly know as the Boy Scouts of America, serving three southeastern Wisconsin counties: Milwaukee County, Racine County, and Kenosha County. Its name and logo refer to the three major port cities of Milwaukee, Racine, and Kenosha on Lake Michigan.

History

In 1915, the Milwaukee Council was formed, changing its name to the Milwaukee County Council in 1929. In 1917, the Racine Council was formed, changing its name to the Racine County Council in 1927. In 1917, the Kenosha Council was formed, changing its name to the Kenosha County Council in 1929. In 1961, the council changed its name to Kenosha Council. In 1972, Kenosha Council and Racine County Council merged to become the Southeast Wisconsin Council.
The council was formed from a merger of Southeast Wisconsin Council and Milwaukee County Council in 2011. Southeast Wisconsin Council was itself formed from a merger of the former Racine County Council and Kenosha Council in 1972.

Districts

The council is subdivided into the following administrative districts:

The Aurora District serves the northern portion of Milwaukee County.
The Southern Shores District serves the southern portion of Milwaukee County.
The Red Arrow District serves Kenosha County and Racine County.
The Scoutreach District overlays all three physical districts with outreach programs.
Service Center

In 1911 Milwaukee established a Scout office on East Mason Street between North Water Street and North Broadway. As Scouting became more popular, a larger office was leased in 1959 at West 37th Street and West Wisconsin Avenue. The need for a new building became apparent as a result of a long-range study completed by community leaders in 1977; after several years of study and planning, the architectural firm of Plunkett Keymar Reginato designed the building. In 1980, an initial gift of $220,000 from Wayne F. Weiss Trust enabled the council to purchase and begin to develop the property. Other funding came from a variety of sources—-the largest contribution of $500,000 being from Walter and Olive Stiemke. Upon the completion of the building in June 1985, the employees of Gammex Inc. donated a replica of The Ideal Scout. The bronze life-size sculpture of a Scout in uniform is high and rests on a brick pedestal. It is a copy of the 1915 original and was cast in 1985.

Camps

Camp Oh-Da-Ko-Ta

Camp Oh-Da-Ko-Ta, located in Burlington, Wisconsin, offers complete year-round facilities for Cub Scout packs, Scouts BSA troops, and Venturing Crews. The camp encompasses of beautiful rolling hills and woodlands including waterfront on Dyer Lake.
After camping at the lake in 1927, 73 acres of farmland were purchased by Kenosha businessman Charles Nash and donated to the Kenosha council in 1929. Buildings were constructed in the spring of 1929, and the campground was named Oh-Da-Ko-Ta in a dedication ceremony on July 21, 1929.

Former camps

In the early years of Scouting, troops would often receive permission to set up temporary camps on privately owned land. For example, the early Racine council set up a cabin they called "Wigwam" in the River Bend area above Horlick's Dam, which was a popular place for camping by families and local clubs. Eventually, councils began buying or renting land to form larger and more permanent camps. This table summarizes the camps that were used over the years by Three Harbors Council and its parent councils.

Camp	Began	Ended	Duration
Backus	circa 1925	after 1947	23 or more
Chickagami	1916 or 1920	1936	17 or 21
Chippecotton	1936	1962	27
Davidson	1933	1938	6
Davidson	before 1956	before 2011	unknown
Deerhaven	1951	1971	21
Freeman	1947	before 1956	unknown
Indian Mound	1917	2022	105
Journal	1922	1946	25
Journal	1946	1972	27
Journal	1972	1997	26
Ka-Ha-Gon	1967	1971	5
LeFeber	1930	2015	86
Lyle	1962	2015	54
Oh-Dah-Ko-Tah	1924	1929	6

Indian Mound Scout Reservation

Indian Mound Scout Reservation was operated from 1917 through 2022. It was named for the 'turtle' Native American mound at the camp in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, off of Silver Lake. During the summer months, IMR catered primarily to the council's Cub Scouts. IMR hosted several Cub Scout day camps in cooperation with several nearby councils, including Northeast Illinois Council and Potawatomi Area Council. On a year-round basis, Scouts BSA, Cub Scout and Venturing units could rent the cabins and other facilities. The main attractions of the camp included a mine-themed program area, a castle, a wooden land ship, mini golf course, and a sand beach.
Beginning November 1, 2022, Three Harbors Council ceased operations at Indian Mound Scout Reservation. This decision was driven by the Council's financial obligations in the BSA's bankruptcy settlement. The 292.5-acre property was sold in 2023 to the Forest County Potawatomi Community for US$6.5 million.

LeFeber Northwoods Camps

Three Harbors Council decided in 2015 to close its LeFeber Northwoods Camps, which had served the Boy Scouts of the Milwaukee County Council and then the Three Harbors Council.
The property is located near Laona, Wisconsin on Hardwood Lake. The camp had an extensive history as a logging camp prior to its purchase and donation to the council in 1930. It primarily served Boy Scout summer camps and featured an excellent program drawing in campers from Michigan, Illinois, and several councils located in Wisconsin. The property is of sub-boreal Wisconsin wilderness around Hardwood Lake with a deeply ingrained history in the region's timber industry. The camp was established in 1930 on land formerly owned by several timber companies, nestled in the midst of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, where Scouts had access to hundreds of miles of hiking, biking, and boating opportunities.
When it was operated by Milwaukee County Council and Three Harbors Council, it offered a wide variety of program features and merit badges. It used the patrol cooking method.
On December 11, 2015, the camp was sold to James Flannery, who started logging part of the camp. A non-profit organization called The Baden-Powell Northwoods Experience negotiated with the owner and operated the camp under the name "LeFeber Northwoods Camps", to offer four one-week programs for Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts in the summer of 2016.

Robert S. Lyle Scout Reservation

The Robert S. Lyle Scout Reservation was a wilderness Boy Scout Camp. The reservation, located northeast of Antigo, Wisconsin, encompassed two lakes, Aninnan and Perch, and had the Wolf River running through it.
Like LeFeber, Lyle was one of the few Scout camps that used patrol cooking, where food is provided, but the Scouts cook the meals themselves. The camp offered a dining hall option but the vast majority of troops elected to participate in patrol cooking. Lyle was one of the few Scout camps that ran an open program, meaning Scouts were free to work on merit badges or do activities of their choice during program time. This unique structure helped teach the Scouts time management as they figured out which part of camp they want to experience next.
Lyle was established in 1962 and closed in 2015. The Scout Reservation was named in honor of Robert S. Lyle, a B-17 Bomber of the 338th Bombardment Group who lost his life on a mission on July 29, 1944. Lyle was a resident of Racine, and was 23 years old at the time of his death. His family donated the land to the Racine County Council.

Journal (Erin)

The Milwaukee Journal originally donated land in 1922 to the former Milwaukee County Council for a Scout camp that was named Camp Journal.
This first camp was located on on Watertown Plank Road west of Highway 100 in Wauwatosa, which is now part of Underwood Creek Parkway.
However, this site was small and quickly surrounded by development, so the Journal helped the Scouts buy a plot northwest of North Avenue and Lilly Road in Brookfield, moving Camp Journal to this site in 1946.
Finally in 1972, the camp was moved to its current site in the town of Erin near Hartland.
Camp Journal was sold to Quad/Graphics in 1997 and is now known as Camp/Quad.
Quad/Graphics allows Scout units to use the camp several weekends each year, at which time Scouts refer to it as "Camp Erin".
The company established a conservation easement on the land in 2009, so it can never be developed.

Ka-Ha-Gon

Located at, Camp Ka-Ha-Gon was purchased by the former Racine Council in 1967. It was sold to a private foundation when the Racine and Kenosha councils merged in 1971, and they sold it to the Racine County park system in 1982. It is now known as W.R. Wadewitz Nature Camp and is still occasionally used by Scout units looking for a rustic camping experience near home. Wadewitz Nature Center is also the beneficiary of many Eagle Projects, seeing around 3 per year between 2000 and 2022.

Chippecotton

Land for Camp Chippecotton was donated to the former Racine Council in 1936.
This camp was on the shore of Pleasant Lake in Walworth County, across the lake from Girl Scout camps Pottawatomi Hills and Juniper Knoll.
The camp was referred to generically for many years, receiving the name "Chippecotton" in a contest in 1953.
The camp was sold in 1962, because its 100-Scout capacity was now too small for the council, and the proceeds of the sale were used to develop the recently acquired Camp Lyle.