Kinsmen Scout Hall

In 1920, Harold (Hal) Rogers founded the Kinsmen Club, an organization based in Ontario that provided opportunities for returning World War I veterans to serve their community. It spread across the region, with multiple branches opening under the “Kin” umbrella. The mandate of the boys’ club (no women or members over age forty were initially invited) included service, personal development, family values, and national pride.

In 1970, the Kinsmen Club of Niagara-on-theLake opened, with Kinsmen Scout Hall as its headquarters. The group became part of an association that has grown to include 500 clubs with 16,000 members. Kinsmen Scout Hall remains active, with bimonthly meetings from September to June. Their motto is to devote themselves to “serving the community’s greatest need,” and for half a century they focused their fundraising efforts on cystic fibrosis research and natural disaster relief.

Though these loftier contributions have been serious, the Kinsmen are expansive about defining the community’s greatest needs—as evidenced by ongoing activities that include an annual Show & Shine Car Show, bicycle wine tours, euchre social nights, and a night celebrating many people’s de facto next of kin, the official bartenders for Niagara-on-the Lake.

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