CAMP GRAY HISTORY
It all started with a simple dream way back in 1953.
Monsignor Francis Xavier Gray, pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Baraboo, WI, dreamed of a “place where youths would be free and away from the temptations of the streets; where they could enjoy nature and become acquainted with it firsthand. . . a place where they could commune, under supervision, with their Creator and away from paths so frequently leading to delinquency.”
After personally scouting many potential sites, Monsignor Gray became enamored with an unoccupied, uncultivated, 100-acre wooded tract west of Highway 12, about 8 miles northwest of Baraboo.
To experience the growth of Camp Gray over the past many, many decades, keep scrolling! We’re always on the hunt for more information about the history of this great place. Please email us if you have any Camp Gray historical information or artifacts that you’d like to share! Thanks!
June 1987
Camp Pool!
Up ’til now, swimming took place in the pond that would later become “Lake Jake”. However, a new, in-ground, concrete swimming pool was built in 1987.
January 1994
Jake Czarnick-Neymier
Camp Gray’s first lay director, Jake Czarnick-Neymier, was hired by the Board of Directors. Jake played a huge role in kick starting enormous growth in both the summer and year-round programs.
June 1994
Summer Camp Growth
The mid-to-late 90s saw an abundance of growth of our Summer Camp Programs. The Counselors in Training (CIT) Program (now known as the Leaders in Training – LITs) was launched in 1994; the Explorer Village welcomed its first campers in 1996; the Voyageur program sent campers down the rivers of the northwoods for the first time in 1997; The Pathfinder program launched in 1998, and finally, campers were given the opportunity to spend extended time out at the stables starting in 2000 with the launch of the Ranch program.