Juliette Gordon Low

Juliette Gordon Low (October 31, 1860 – January 17, 1927) was the founder of Girl Scouts of the USA, with the help of Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scouting Movement. Baden-Powell and Low shared both a love of travel and support of the Girl Guides. Juliette Low joined the Girl Guide movement, forming a group of Girl Guides in Scotland in 1911.

In 1912 she returned to the U.S., forming the first American Girl Guide troop in Savannah, Georgia, that year. In 1915 the United States' Girl Guides became known as the Girl Scouts, and Juliette Gordon Low was the first president. She stayed active until the time of her death.

Her birthday, October 31, is commemorated by the Girl Scouts as "Founder's Day."

Early life

Juliette Magill Kinzie Gordon was born on October 31, 1860, in Savannah, Georgia. She was named after her grandmother, Juliette Augusta Magill Kinzie, and nicknamed Daisy (a common nickname at the time) by her uncle. She was the second of six children born to William "Willie" Washington Gordon II, a cotton broker with the firm Tison & Gordon (later renamed to W. W. Gordon & Company), and Eleanor "Nellie" Lytle Kinzie, a writer whose family played a role in the founding of Chicago.