By the middle of the 1920's Scouting was growing at a tremendous pace. There were, at that time, living in the great city of New York men who were dreaming of vast unspoiled woodland acres as a solution to a problem which weighed heavily on their minds and hearts. This group was the New York City Boy Scout Foundation which, in 1924, was headed by a man of great foresight as well as an abundance of Boy Scout training. His name was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who shortly thereafter became Governor of New York State and eventually guided the destiny of the United States as President throughout the Depression era and World War II.

When Franklin Roosevelt was chosen as President of the Boy Scout Foundation, the Camps at Kanawaukee Lakes in the Palisades Interstate Park were being used for the Boy Scouts of New York City. Year after year the attendance at camp had risen steadily until the possibilities of camp expansion were exhausted. The camp was simply too small and no more wild lands were available in the vicinity with which to enlarge the camping facilities.

Accordingly, about 1924, Roosevelt's far reaching vision and limitless energies started the ball rolling toward the acquisition of a new Boy Scout Camp Site large enough to meet the demands of any eventuality. Certain members of the Foundation searched diligently, for two years, within a fifty mile radius of New York City, but to no avail. It was deemed absolutely essential, in the first place, to acquire a very large parcel of land. Other requirements were that the land should contain lakes, streams, swamps, and timberlands, and should not be traversed by numerous highways. Naturally, no such camp site could be found within fifty miles of New York. After examination of many maps and another year of careful investigation, it was found that options could be placed on thirty-two small parcels of land and farms in the region of Ten Mile River, all of which adjoined to form an area of approximately eleven thousand acres. Furthermore, this aggregation of land contained all of the several essential requirements desired.

Trained and trustworthy Scout Officials had been charged with the investigations and bound to the policy of a "tight mouth." It was fairly well known that the Boy Scout Foundation had raised more than a million dollars for the purpose at hand and that there were many who would prey on that million if afforded the opportunity. As a testimony to the trustworthiness of Scouts, no one except the purchasers knew where the new camps were to be established until October 7, 1927 when the thirty-two proportionate land owners were invited to Monticello for the purpose of signing the deeds and receiving payment for their lands.