Site of 3rd National Boy Scout Jamboree - Newport Beach, CA - Scouts Monuments and Memorials on Waymarking.com

A small historical marker monument grabbed my attention as I biked by and had to stop and read it:

THE SITE OF THE 3RD NATIONAL BOY SCOUT JAMBOREE HELD ON THE IRVINE RANCH JULY 17-23, 1953 NEWPORT BEACH HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Numerous websites mention the history behind this large event in 1953. Wikipedia sums it up well and reads:

The 1953 National Scout Jamboree of the Boy Scouts of America held its event where Newport Center and Fashion Island now sit. It was the third national jamboree, the first to be held west of the Mississippi River, and had 50,000 scouts from all 48 states and 16 foreign countries.[1] Thousands of tents were pitched in the area accessible only by a muddy two-lane trail called Palisades Road (part of which is now the southern end of Bristol Avenue). The road was soon paved, and later the name was changed to Jamboree Road in honor of the event. One attendee, David Sills, then a young Boy Scout from Peoria, Illinois, would later move to Irvine as an adult and serve four terms as mayor of the city.

Another online article mentions this historic event and reads:

Jamboree Road is one of the major thoroughfares in Orange County, running from just west of Irvine Lake, all the way south to Pacific Coast Highway.

But it used to be just a gravel road running from the Irvine Ranch Boy Scout Troop 36 Clubhouse, near Irvine Boulevard and Myford Road, down to Newport Beach, about 8 miles of road. It was created in 1953, in preparation for the third National Boy Scout Jamboree held July 17-23, 1953.

The Jamboree was the first ever held west of Mississippi River. It was a big event for Orange County, perhaps one of the key events putting Orange County on the map.

The site of the Jamboree is located where today's Newport Center and Eastbluff communities in Newport Beach now stand.

At the height of the festivities, the Jamboree was a city unto itself. People called it, "Jamboree Town". Peggy Goetz, wrote an article about the Jamboree which appeared in the Irvine World News...

"It had a fire company, a bank, a theater, a hospital, a telephone office, a U.S. Post Office, stores and even a zoo. People called it "Tent City" and "Jamboree Town." It had about 50,000 residents living in more than 25,000 tents."

If you know what the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is to the town of Sturgis, South Dakota, the Boy Scout Jamboree had the same significance in Orange County just over 50 years ago. Today, just the name of Jamboree Road is the only living reminder of that event.

The web link below gives a very detailed account of the 1953 National Boy Scout Jamboree and includes a few pictures of the land where it was held.

Fleur-de-lis?: No Who placed the Monument or Memorial?: Newport Beach Historical Society

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