Troop Background and History

Troop 765 got its start in 1998, chartered by St. Edward Catholic Church. In 1881 a lot in the town square of Jeffersontown at Watterson Trail and Taylorsville Road was purchased for the site of St. Edward Church. The church was completed in the autumn of 1884 and blessed on October 26th of that year. For over 70 years parishioners attended "the little church in the town square".

In the summer of 1960, construction of a new church began, to be situated on Sue Helen Drive in Charlane Heights, Jeffersontown, where it is still located. The first Mass was offered there on February 9, 1961. St. Edward School became a reality at this time to offer education to the youth of the families that belonged to the parish. Shortly thereafter, a Pack and Troop were chartered. The Troop eventually folded but the Pack lived on.

In 1998, a group of families decided to re-charter a Troop at St. Edward. The first Scoutmaster of this re-chartered Troop was Jim Karas. Space was scarce so it was decided to move the meetings to the Jeffersontown Police Station in 1999. Steve Byers took over the leadership duties of the Troop in 2000. In late 2000, the J-Town Police Station decided to cancel the use of their facilities to all outside groups so our Troop was once again looking for a new home.

St. Michael Church was built during the 1970's on the outskirts of Jeffersontown. As subdivisions began popping up in the 1990's, St. Michael Parish decided to build a school under the guidance of Father Bill Griner. Shortly thereafter a Pack was chartered at St. Michael with the help of Paul Fitch, Assistant Scoutmaster of our Troop and Jim Gnadinger, Cubmaster of Pack 175 at St. Edward. The Pack number was 765.

Our Troop leaders, called on Father Bill Griner to see if we could move our Troop to St. Michael and Father Bill welcomed us with open arms. So in 2001 we moved our Troop to St. Michael. We changed our Troop number to 765 to match the Pack number and Jim Gnadinger became the first Scoutmaster of this new Troop. As St. Michael has grown, so has Troop 765.