The History of
Frederick Chapter #1
Izaak Walton League of America

 

   "There was a lot of wild hunting and fishing...the Izaak Walton League helped stop that" said G. Hunter Bowers, now 98 years old and a charter member of the Frederick Chapter #1.  The Chapter was chartered in September, 1923, just 12 months after the National organization was founded in Chicago.  To the best of our research, the Frederick Chapter was the first in Maryland and is one of the two oldest chapters in the nation.  Fifty members signed the charter that proudly hangs in the Chapter house on Reels Mill Road just outside of Frederick City.
   Hunter Bowers, still active in the Bowers Lumber Company, remembers that hunting and fishing laws were just being established and it was often difficult to convince many out-doorsmen that seasons and limits were needed and must be lawfully enforced.  The Frederick Chapter began to encourage outdoor and hunter ethics as early as 1923.
   Chapter meetings were held in the YMCA Building and later in the National Guard Armory.  Fishing clinics, featuring fly fishing were held at the Armory too.  To reach your favorite fishing hole, a horse and buggy carried you along a dirt road to the Chesapeake Bay, the Potomac River and to the trout streams of north west Frederick County.
   During 1948 the Chapter membership agreed to meet at a country tavern on old Route 240 south of Frederick near the Monocacy River bridge.  Membership flourished and the Frederick Chapter earned the 1949 National Award for the greatest numerical increase in a single year.  By the mid fifties, the meetings moved to the Frederick Hotel in downtown Frederick.
   The State of Maryland granted the Articles of Incorporation to the Chapter in 1953.  A few years later, Chapter member Lewis Battistone, county tavern, architect and farm owner, gave the Frederick Chapter four and one half acres on Reels Mill Road for the purpose of building a Chapter house.  Lewis also dedicated a nearby pond for a community fishing lake which the Ikes maintained.  The Lake Committee remained active with Julian Delphy and Leroy Strawsbury providing leadership.  They are both still members of the Chapter today.
   The gift of land to the Chapter inspired the members to plan a chapter house for meeting and other events.  With the energy of the Building Committee, headed by "Buzz" Baumgardner, the Chapter house of stone and vertical cedar siding was constructed using mostly volunteers.  It was also financed by bonds purchased by members.  The building was dedicated by National President Jack Binford in 1963.
   The years of the early 1960's continued to be active with the Chapter sponsoring a national competition to build a better squirrel box for increasing the squirrel population.  The box would have to be one that squirrels would readily enter, could withstand weather and the test of time, and could be constructed inexpensively for wide use of conservation groups.  Squirrel populations were showing a steady decline as their homes were lost to timbering.  The contest featured  $1000 in prize money and was nationwide in scope.  Entries by the hundreds were received from across the country.  The winner was from Michigan and the 2nd and 3rd places were taken by designers in Arizona and Wisconsin.
   The Wood Duck box program also received much attention as hundreds of nesting boxes were installed along stream bottoms.
   The Frederick Chapter received a membership boost in 1962 as the Frederick County Beagle Association merged with the Ikes, helping the Chapter to achieve membership awards annually for a full decade.  Dog trials became a regular event.
   The seventies were a period of conservation activities, including stream clean-ups, tree planting, installation of duck and squirrel boxes, hosting scout troops and conducting dog trials.  Like so many chapters, a period of slowdown occurred during the eighties.
   Sensing the need for assisting small chapters to rebuild, the Maryland Division suggested that large, thriving chapters become big brothers to waning ones.  Charlie and Leila Wiles from the Wildlife Chapter received endorsements from the Wildlife Ikes to serve as big brother to the Frederick Chapter and assist in building new activities.  By 1989 the Wileses working with Buzz Baumgardner, who served the Chapter for 35 years, began recruiting new members and sponsoring new programs.
   Hunter Safety programs were introduced with the help of the Wildlife Achievement Chapter.  Today, Frederick Ikes sponsor three courses annually with a dozen qualified instructors from the membership of 37 members.
   The younger, energetic membership of the 1990's is very much outdoors oriented with float trips and fishing parties occurring many times a year.  Their trips include West Virginia canoe trips, and Chesapeake Bay charter fishing trips.  Hunting doves does not take a backseat as the members take to the fields each fall.
   A junior air rifle program was started in 1991 to help young people become safe shooters.
   The Chapter leadership has extended to the Maryland Division during the past several years as two time past Chapter President "Buzz" Baumgardner, Jr. became State Vice President for Region I.  Although a small chapter, it has twice earned the Maryland Division Ike Builders Award for conservation and membership.
   Frederick #1 is located in fast growing Frederick County where recreational shooting is becoming more confined and restricted due to population growth.  To help provide safe shooting facilities for members and the public, the Chapter embarked on a refurbishing of it's outdoor ranges.
   Friendliness and communications help this small, but growing chapter to get a 50% turnout at many Chapter meetings.

This history was originally published in the Maryland Waltonian and was written by Charles Wiles.
Frederick Chapter #1 presently has over 200 members.