Epiphany Parish charters Scouts BSA Troop 401.

History of Catholic Scouting in Mason City
Holy Family chartered Troop 10 and St. Joseph chartered Troop 114 from the 1940s until the early 1980s.  In a reorganization, the Knights of Columbus chartered Boy Scout Troop 401 from 1987 - 2015, and in 2016 the charter reverted back to the parish- now the merged St. Joseph and Holy Family Parishes that is Epiphany Parish.

The Catholic Cub and Boy Scouts started at the two churches circa the 1940s and the units were reorganized/merged in the 1980s as the part of the Catholic school changes in the K-8 grades at the Holy Family and St.  Joseph schools.  This is when the Central Catholic name was first used.

The current Cub Scout Pack 401 at Newman Elementary (then Central Catholic) dates back to 1984.

Troop Committee
John Knipper- Chair
Mary Manness- Treasurer
Marty Goepel- Advancement Chair
Charlie Enright

Michael Marlow- Charter Organization Representative

Scoutmaster: Jim Wolf
Assistant Scoutmasters: Aaron Foth, Tony Servantez, Jeff Watermiller

Contact us: call Jim Wolf at 423-5001

In North Central Iowa/Mason City area:

• Pilot Knob State Park
• Camp Tanglefoot in Clear Lake
• Tosanak Recreationn Area by Marble Rock
• MacNider Campground
• Macintosh State Park
• Lake Cornelia by Belmond & Clarion
• Wilkerson Park by Nora Springs
• St. Joseph Church grounds in Mason City

In Iowa:

• Pikes Peak State Park (on Mississippi River) also visited Effegy Mounds National Monument
• Cedar Bend Park (by Waverly) - canoe trip on the Winnebago River

• Many Point Scout Reservation in northern Minnesota, 2019
• Cherry Scout Reservation by Cedar Rapids, 2015-2018
• Mitigwa Scout Camp by Marshaltown, ~2014
• Ingawanis Adventure Base (~2000s to ~2012)
• Winnebago Scout Reservation: Boy Scout resident camps until about the late 1990s
  • open from 1959 to 2012, closed and sold to Floyd County in 2012

• Eagle Cave in Wisconsin
• Boundary Waters in Minnesota (several times late 1990s and early 2000s) 

• Summit Bechtel Scout Reservation in West Virginia (2018)

What's in a number? The "official" Troop number since the late 1990s is 1401. At that time due to some administrative reorganizing in Winnebago Council, all the units were renumbered. The Boy Scouts Troops in the Mason City area added a 1000 series to their origional numbers, so 401 became 1401, 12 became 1012 and so on. 

Cub Scout Packs got a 4000 series, so Newman's Pack 401 became 4401, Pack 9 became 4009 and so on.  The Cedar Falls/Waterloo area units received 2000 and 3000 series numbers.

The reason of why number 401 was chosen for the troop  is unknown, but is theorized to have been inspired by Mason City's zip code of 50401.

Catholic Chartered Scouting Units
Cub Scout Pack 401 is chartered by Newman Catholic Elementary School
Boy Scout Troop 401 is chartered by Epiphany Parish

Cub and Boy Scouts in Mason City
The Mason City Public Elementary Schools also have Cub Scout Packs.
 Trinity Luthern Church (T-14) and Wesley Methodist Church (T-12) charter Boy Scout Troops.