District History

The first district name used was Wilmington which covered New Hanover, Pender & Brunswick Counties. The second was Fayetteville which, by the 1940’s, became Northern. Western, which was formed on October 1, 1936, is the oldest district name still in use. Neither the territory of Western District nor that of Central has changed much since they were formed. Central was a name change from the Lumberton District which was listed as one of the six districts in February 1941.

A Bladen-Columbus District was mentioned in the Wilmington Morning Star of April 7, 1933. The Bladen County District was formed on March 1, 1939. Bladen and Columbus Counties have also used South Central District, Middle District and Lakes District as names. South Central may also have been used by Columbus County alone. The Waccamaw District is Columbus and Bladen Counties today.

By 1969 there are 4 district names in use, Western, Central, Waccamaw and Coastal.

In October 1947 the Wilmington District became the Coastal District when Pender broke away to form the Pender District. This district merged back into Coastal in early 1957.

On October 13, 1999 the council board approved the splitting of Coastal District into three newly named districts effective January 1, 2000. The three new districts were Masonboro, Northeast Cape Fear and Brunswick.

Today the council operates with 6 districts; Western, Central, Lakes, Masonboro, Northeast Cape Fear and Brunswick.

During the 1950’s and until sometime in 1968 each of the four council districts also had a division with a division committee to oversee African-American Scouting.