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!
January 1998
Phil DeLong
Phil DeLong, who had previously served as Camp’s Assistant Director, was hired in 1998 to replace Czarnick-Neymier as Camp Director.
September 1998
Family Camp is Born!
“As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.”
– Saint John Paul II
We couldn’t agree more with the Holy Father! Back in 1998, Camp Gray hosted our first ever Family Camp. All these years later, we continue to provide opportunities for families to come together at Camp Gray!
August 2000
Year-Round Programming
Thanks to the creation of many programs in the mid-to-late 90s, once the turn of the century arrived, Summer Camp at Camp Gray was humming like a well oiled machine. Because of this, DeLong decided that the time was right to take advantage of the availability of Camp’s beautiful 225 acres by creating a year round program, with the purpose of serving Diocesan schools and churches with a wide variety of retreats.