What goes around comes around. During World War II the Parkville Girl Scouts collected scrap iron to be recycled for the war effort. Their collection created a pile two stories high. In exchange for the scrap iron they received cash, which they invested in war bonds.

Those bonds matured in the early 1950’s. The Parkville Girl Scout troop, lead by Jeanette Robbins, used the proceeds from the bonds to build a cabin on a hillside east of Highway 9. The same hillside is now part of the Parkville Nature Sanctuary and the remains of the Girl Scout cabin now constitute the Jeanette Robbins Meeting Place. The meeting place features the original fireplace wall and cabin floor, with a 3 foot high brick wall around it constructed using the original bricks from sections of the cabin walls.

When the history of this site became known to local Girl Scout service units #602 and #603, they wanted the Girl Scouts’ connection with the site to continue. After an agreement with the Parkville Nature Sanctuary Committee, the girls and their co-leaders, Debra McArthur and Vickie Raines, began collecting and recycling aluminum cans to raise funds for a sheltering roof over the Jeanette Robbins Meeting Place.

Architect Kelly Batcheller, a former Girl Scout and member of the PNS Committee, has designed a unique roof for the location. The roof is funded by the recycling efforts and a grant from K.C. 150 Legacy Fund. Beverly Lumber has discounted materials. Construction of support pylons was donated by Russ Downing Construction and his crew. B&B Rental has donated a generator to power our tools every work day.

Volunteers from the Parkville Nature Sanctuary Committee, local community, and friends of the Girl Scouts began cutting lumber on July 14th and have worked nearly every weekend since. The Parkville public works crew has hauled lumber from City Hall to the cabin.

If you have walked along the "Girl Scout Cabin trail," you will have had to wend your way through the construction area. We would like to finish "raising the roof" by the end of October, so if you have an interest in volunteering on this historic project, please call Jim Reed at 741-0820.