Juliette Gordon Low registered the first American Girl Guides troop of 18 Savannah girls, the seed of what became Girl Scouts of the USA.
On March 12, 1912, Juliette Gordon Low made a now-famous telephone call to her cousin Nina Anderson Pape, declaring, 'I've got something for the girls of Savannah, and all of America, and all the world, and we're going to start it tonight!' That day, she formally organized and registered the first American troop of Girl Guides, composed of eighteen girls from Savannah, Georgia.
This act represented a genuine historical first: the introduction to the United States of an organized, structured outdoor and educational movement for girls, modeled on Baden-Powell's Boy Scouts and Girl Guides in Britain, but adapted for American girls of all backgrounds. At a time when most organized activities for girls emphasized domesticity and passivity, Low's troop encouraged girls to engage in camping, sports, first aid, astronomy, and community service—radical departures from Victorian-era expectations for young women.
The troop's founding is now commemorated annually by the Girl Scouts of the USA as the organization's official founding date. From this single Savannah troop, the movement expanded into a national organization eventually serving millions of girls, embedding lessons of self-reliance, leadership, and civic engagement into generations of American women. Low sold her valuable pearl necklace to help finance the fledgling organization's early operations, demonstrating her personal commitment to its success.