Post War Film Provides a Terrific Trip Back in Time
Camp Miakonda, the sixth oldest Boy Scout Camp in the United States, can trace its history back to 1917 when a 78-acre farm, located just west of Toledo on Sylvania Avenue, was purchased to start the camp. Over the years, the small encampment grew in popularity and expanded to 198 acres. By the 1940s, Miakonda was hosting scouts from all over the Midwest for its popular summer camps. One of Camp Miakonda’s most memorable features was the world's largest swimming pool, created by damming a creek that flowed through the property and filtering the water. Miakonda also featured tree houses, a teepee village staffed by a Native American, and a one-hundred-foot Sea Scout "ship" built on an island in a lake that was hand-dug during the Great Depression.
This recruiting film, shot immediately after World War II, showcases all of the above amenities and stars Hollywood star Joe E. Brown, originally from nearby Holgate, Ohio.