The Ford Dining Hall was built in 1924 at a cost of $10,000, the first year that summer camp was held at Camp Miakonda. It was a major gift to the Toledo Council and was built as a memorial by Mrs. Caroline Ford for her late husband, Edward Ford, founder of the Edward Ford Plate Glass Company of Toledo. When it opened in 1924, its walls held a zebra skin, a buffalo head, and a deer head. Nearby stood an ice house where ice was cut and stored in winter, then used to cool food perishables during the warm summer months before refrigerators existed. Beneath the kitchen, an underground room still exists that was used as a root cellar for storing items such as potatoes through the summer. The building originally had screened-in porches used as dining areas. The dining hall was built through the efforts of executive board member George P. MacNichol, grandson of Edward and Caroline Ford, who became Council President in 1925. He began bringing real Native American Indians to teach Indian Lore at Makonda's famed Tipi Village during summer camp starting in 1925, and Lake MacNichol at Pioneer Scout Reservation is named in his honor. John Claerhout was born in Toledo in 1929, became an Eagle Scout there, and joined the Miakonda summer camp staff at age 14 in 1943, continuing through 1958 when he left as a professional Scouter for Cleveland. As a Scout he attended the 1946 Toledo Council Philmont trip with 15 adults, later served for two years as Miakonda's summer camp director while a professional Scouter in Toledo, and went on to serve in councils in Chicago, Omaha, and Los Angeles. He later joined the national BSA headquarters staff and rose to the No. 2 position in Professional Scouting nationally as National Director of Operations, overseeing all high adventure bases including Philmont Scout Ranch. He also served as National Director of Exploring and made the program co-ed, and as National Director of BSA Program, which included oversight of the national Order of the Arrow organization. In 1957 he organized the first Toledo Council Order of the Arrow Lodge. His Miakonda summer camp family night productions were extraordinary and famous, featuring Indian dancers, live horses, patriotic plays, and more, drawing people who parked their cars and walked over a mile to see them. He was a showman and a gifted administrator.