Butler-Boyce House / W. D. Boyce

This handsome Italian Villa, with paired arched windows, is adorned with combined cupola and railing. Edward Butler (1814-1881), merchant, banker and first treasurer of Calhoun County, built the residence in 1858-61 on land once owned by author James Fenimore Cooper. William D. Boyce (1860-1929), founder of the Boy Scouts of America, purchased the house and sixty acres as a summer home in 1894. For many years it was the home of Myron B. and Anne Ells. Mrs. Ells founded the Marshall Historical Society in 1961. W. D. Boyce William D. Boyce, a Chicago publisher, founded the Boy Scouts of America. Boyce first became acquainted with the scouting movement while in London in 1909. He lost his way in the midst of heavy fog and was rescued by a Boy Scout who took him to the address he had been seeking. Offering the young boy a tip, he was told that Boy Scouts did not accept money for doing a good deed. Impressed by this organization, Boyce returned home with pamphlets, badges, and a uniform. He incorporated Boy Scouts of America, now Scouting/USA, on February 8, 1910.