Made in Pa.: Phila corner where Girl Scout cookies began marks legacy of a nationwide fundraiser

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- The sale of more than 200 million boxes of Girl Scout cookies each year can be traced back to a single experiment at Broad and Arch streets in 1932, where a group of Philadelphia Girl Scouts and their parents launched what would become the most successful youth-led fundraiser in the country.

Long before online ordering and cookie-tracking apps, the first batches were baked in ovens at Philadelphia Gas and Electric, now PECO.

Kim E. Fraites-Dow, CEO of Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania, said the idea came from parents who worked at the company and volunteered with the Girl Scouts.

"So in 1932, there were girls and parents in Philadelphia who, the parents worked at what is now PECO. So, Philadelphia Gas and Electric at the time, and they were volunteers for Girl Scouts, and they had ovens at their location on North Broad Street. And so they asked the company, would you mind if we try to bake, you know, in bulk, some cookies to help these girls with their fundraisers?" she said.

Fraites-Dow said the aroma drifting down the street quickly drew customers.

"And people were walking by, and they're like, 'What's that smell? OK, we need some of that,'" recalled Fraites-Dow.

The following year, cookies were baked again at the same location.

By 1934, the Girl Scouts of Greater Philadelphia partnered with Keebler to produce Refoils, launching the first commercial cookie sale. Promotions went out to churches, streetcars, radio stations and newspapers. Boxes held 44 cookies, and at six boxes for $1.35, buyers saved three cents. Between 110,000 and 114,000 boxes were sold, helping pay off a balance for Camp Indian Run.

"They saved money to do programs, to travel, to do amazing projects," Fraites-Dow said. "And so the first year was kind of an experiment, and the second year was a commercial cookie sale."

The success quickly spread.

"So it was so successful that it was picked up by our national organization just two years later. And now it's the largest girl in business in the world," she said.

Today, cookie shipments arrive by helicopter or truck, and troops nationwide sell roughly 200 million boxes annually at an average of $6 each. Seventy-five cents of every dollar earned is reinvested into the Girl Scouts organization.

Fraites-Dow said the tradition continues to honor the "entrepreneurship and vision and revolutionary spirit of people in the city."

This year's cookie season began in mid-January, but cold weather prompted an extension.

"We actually extended our sales through March 22nd this year," she said. "So if you see a girl in your neighborhood, please talk to her, ask her about what she's planning to do with her cookie proceeds, and buy a box of cookies during cool."

The business model now used nationwide still traces its roots to that Center City corner where a few determined Girl Scouts first turned baking into a movement.