Harvey A. Gordon was one of the early pioneers of the Order. Like most of the other early leaders, Gordon was a Scout professional. He was the only Arrowman to ever receive the Distinguished Service Award (DSA) posthumously as one of the 11 inaugural DSA recipients.

Gordon started in Scouts as a volunteer. He became Scoutmaster of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Troop 42 in 1913. In 1917 he was hired by Philadelphia Council to be Chief Field Executive and was inducted into Wimachtendienk by Unami Lodge. In 1919 Gordon became Chief Field Executive for the Greater New York Councils. In 1919 he became the Chief Camp Director of Kanohwahke Lakes, a national reserve for Scout camps.

In 1924 at the fourth Grand Lodge Meeting hosted at Gordon’s camp, Gordon was initiated as the Order’s 30th Third Degree (Vigil) member. At that Grand Lodge Meeting Gordon was elected to his first of four consecutive terms as Grand Lodge Scribe.

Gordon continued as Chief Camp Director at Kanohwahke Lakes until 1928 when he was selected to be the Director of Construction for Ten Mile River Scout Camps. In that capacity Gordon planned and constructed five camps for the five boroughs of New York. The camps were Camp Aquehonga (Staten Island), Camp Ranachqua (The Bronx), Camp Man (Queens), Camp Manhattan (Manhattan) and Camp Brooklyn (Brooklyn).

In 1930 Gordon was transferred to the national office in New York City as the first National Camp Engineer. In that role Gordon was in charge of the layout for the BSA subcamp at the 1933 World Jamboree and the pioneering gateway for that subcamp. Gordon also was Director of Physical Arrangements for the 1935 and 1937 National Jamborees. Gordon died after a long illness in 1938.