Ford Dining Hall
⎯⎯⎯
John Claerhout Toledo Boy Scout

Ford Dining Hall, also, John Claerhout Toledo Boy Scout. ⚜️. Ford Dining Hall. The Ford Dining Hall was built in 1924 at a cost of $10,000 which was the first year that summer camp was held at Camp Miakonda. It was a major gift to the Toledo Council and was built as a memorial by Mrs. Caroline Ford for her late husband, Edward Ford. He was the founder of the Edward Ford Plate Glass Company of Toledo. When the Ford Dining Hall opened in 1924 it had on its walls a zebra skin, a buffalo head and a deer head. There was an ice house near it where ice was cut and stored in the winter then used to cool the food perishables at the dining hall in the warm summer months. This was before there were such things as refrigerators. Underneath the kitchen of the dining hall there still exists an underground room that was used as a root cellar, a moderately cool place where things such as potatoes would be stored throughout the summer. The dining hall originally had screened in porches around it that were used as dining areas. The Ford Dining Hall was built as a result of the efforts of executive board member George P. MacNichol who was the grandson of Edward and Caroline Ford. He became our Council President in 1925. It was George MacNichol who started bringing real Native American Indians to teach Indian Lore at Makonda's famed Tipi Village during summer camp starting in 1925. Lake MacNichol at Pioneer Scout Reservation is named in his honor., John Claerhout Toledo Boy Scout. John Claerhout was born in Toledo in 1929. He became an Eagle Scout here and worked on the Miakonda summer camp staff starting at age 14 in 1943 and continued through 1958 when he left as a professional Scouter, transferring to Cleveland. He attended the 1946 Toledo Council Philmont trip as a Scout along with 15 adults. He was the summer camp director at Miakonda for two years, when he was a professional Scouter in Toledo. He later served in councils in Chicago, Omaha and Los Angeles. He served on the national BSA headquarters staff, rising to the No. 2 position in Professional Scouting nationally as the National Director of Operations where he oversaw all high adventure bases including Philmont Scout Ranch. He also served as the National Director of Exploring and made the program co-ed. He also was the National Director of BSA Program which included overseeing the entire national Order of the Arrow organization. John was the organizer of the first Toledo Council Order of the Arrow Lodge in 1957. His Miakonda summer camp family night productions were both extraordinary and famous and included Indian dancers, live horses, patriotic plays and more. People would park their cars and walk over a mile to Miakonda to see them. He was a showman and gifted as an administrator.