In 1917, the first Girl Scout troop for disabled girls was organized in New York City. When the United States entered World War I, Girl Scouts served their country on the home front, working in hospitals, growing vegetables, and selling defense bonds. After the war came The Golden Eaglet, a feature film about Girl Scouting shown in theaters across the country, and The American Girl, a popular magazine for young girls.

 By the time Girl Scout membership reached 137,000 in 1926, the organization had its own national training center for Girl Scout leaders, Camp Edith Macy in upstate New York. Membership diversified in the twenties and thirties with the introduction of Black and Native American troops. The year 1934 saw the beginnings of Girl Scout cookie sales when Philadelphia Girl Scouts sold the first commercially baked Girl Scout cookies. With the coming of war in the early forties, Girl Scouts again served on the home front, collecting fat and scrap metal and growing Victory Gardens.

 The post-war years brought the restoration of the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace and its dedication as a national program center for girls in 1956 and the division of girl membership into the Brownie, Junior, Cadette, and Senior Girl Scout age levels in 1963. Eco-Action, a nationwide environmental program, and the swearing-in of the first Black National President, Gloria D. Scott, were turning points of the seventies, followed in the eighties by introduction of a younger age level, Daisy Girl Scouts, and a series of publications dealing with contemporary issues, such as child abuse, youth suicide, literacy and pluralism. 

 During the current decade, Girl Scouting experienced a renewed emphasis on physical fitness with the inauguration of a health and fitness national service project in 1994 and the Girl Scout sports initiative in 1996. Throughout its history, Girl Scouting has held on to its traditional values while maintaining a contemporary outlook, a dual focus expected to continue into the next century.