Fallbrook’s historic Scout Hut near Fire station #1 is beginning to show signs of deterioration.
Once the center of civic activity, this peculiar looking building tucked away in an odd location, is still in occasional use by the Fire District, but not widely known to most of Fallbrook today. Hidden behind Pine Tree Lumber in the cul-de-sac at the end of East Hawthorne St and Orange Ave, not everyone has reason to pass by here.
In the 1930s and 1940s, almost everyone in the Village of Fallbrook knew of the Scout Hut. Fallbrook’s Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts met here regularly. The Hut was a polling place for Fallbrook. Other civic clubs and even a church Bible Study often scheduled meetings here. During WWII, it was the site of USO parties for servicemen. The Woman’s Club sometimes used the Scout Hut during the 1940s when they were temporarily without their own building.
The history of the Scout Hut begins with Fallbrook Kiwanis Club. The Kiwanis were the sponsors of Fallbrook Boy Scout troop #31. Since their founding in 1924, the Boy Scouts had been meeting at the Methodist Church Social Hall on Fig Street. a heavily used meeting place for many Fallbrook groups. Although the Boy Scouts constructed a playground for the Methodist Social Hall as one of their projects, they found scheduling regular dates for themselves at the Social Hall to be difficult. The Kiwanis wanted the Boy Scouts to have their own home to post their flags, store equipment, and have a regular place to meet.
On November 1st 1929, the Fallbrook Kiwanis Club voted to build a Scout Hut. The Kiwanis formed a building fund committee. The first cost estimate was for about $500. (1) The Kiwanis planned to use donated materials, and volunteer labor from the community.
They selected the present site, which was still High School property in those days. The Scout Hut would be just east of the historic adobe school Bus Barn and school superintendent James Potter’s home, that was at the corner of Ivy and Vine. The adobe bus barn was built by High School boys from the Pala Reservation (2) Superintendent Potter was an early supporter and volunteer Scoutmaster of the Fallbrook Scouts. (3)
Eight months after work began by the Kiwanis, the Boy Scout Hut was completed on July 24th 1930. The new building was described as being all wood, the main room of the hut being 20 X 40 feet in size, including 2 dressing rooms and lavatories. There was a 10 X 12-foot kitchen with built-in cupboards and sinks. There was a large fireplace. Heavy roughhewn beams were shown in place of the ceiling. Wrought iron electric fixtures were used throughout. The floor was of red cement and the exterior entirely shingled. The final cost was $1,100 to $1,200. (4)
From concept thru construction, the building had always been referred to as the Boy Scout Hut. Yet in January 1931, School Superintendent James Potter announced that the Scout Hut was for both boys and girls. The Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts separately used the hut for their regular meetings. (5)
Although the Scout Hut stood on High School property, the Kiwanis continued to administer the building they had built for the Boy Scout troop they sponsored. However, the Hut saw such heavy use from other local groups, that in 1935, a refurbishing of the small building was necessary. In January 1935, the Kiwanis turned the administration of the Scout Hut over to the High School board of trustees. The High School would continue to administer the Scout Hut until 1962, when the Fire District assumed ownership.
Ownership Note: Years after the High School moved its campus to the Ellis property on Stagecoach Lane in 1957 and completed their new gymnasium and athletic field, the High School then sold the surplus gymnasium and athletic fields on Ivy Street, the so-called “Potter property”, for $65,000 to the Fallbrook Fire District in June, 1962. By a prior agreement, the Fire District turned around and sold the old gymnasium “Potter Hall” and the swimming pool to the Boys Club a few months later for $30,000. Today, this is the Boys & Girls Club. The buildings across Ivy Street were turned over to the Elementary School District.
The Fire District then built Fire Department facilities on their remaining portion of the 9 acre “Potter property”, which included the Scout Hut. The Scout Hut has been used as a fire district meeting room ever since 1962, while continuing as a scout meeting place.
