List of American Utopian communities

Last updated

A list of American Utopian communities.

Contents

1800s

NameLocationFounderFounding dateEnding dateNotes
Old Economy Village Pennsylvania George Rapp 18241906A Harmonites Village. The Harmony Society is a Christian theosophy and pietist society founded in Iptingen, Germany, in 1785.
Nashoba Tennessee Frances Wright 1825 (BBC)1828 (BBC)An abolitionist, free-love community. (LEP)
New Harmony Indiana Robert Owen 18251829Harmonites Village
New Philadelphia Colony Pennsylvania Bernhard Müller [1] 18321833A libertarian socialist community
Oberlin Colony Ohio John J. Shipherd and 8 immigrant families [1] 18331843Community based on Communal ownership of property [1]
Brook Farm Massachusetts George Ripley
Sophia Ripley
18411846A Transcendent community. Transcendentalism is a religious and cultural philosophy based in New England.
North American Phalanx New JerseyCharles Sears18411856A Fourier Society community. The Fourier Society is based on the ideas of Charles Fourier, a French philosopher.
Hopedale Community [2] Massachusetts Adin Ballou 18421868A community based on "Practical Christianity", which included ideas such as temperance, abolitionism, Women's rights, spiritualism and education. [3]
Fruitlands Massachusetts Amos Alcott 18431844A Transcendent community.
Skaneateles Community New YorkSociety for Universal Inquiry18431846A Society for Universal Inquiry and Reform community.
Sodus Bay Phalanx New YorkSodus Bay Fourierists18441846A Fourier Society community.
Wisconsin Phalanx [4] WisconsinAlbert Brisbane [5] 18441850A Fourier Society community. [4]
Clermont Phalanx Ohio Followers of Charles Fourier18441845A Fourier Society community.
Prairie Home CommunityOhio John O. Wattles [1]
Valentine Nicholson [1]
18441845A Society for Universal Inquiry and Reform community.
Fruit HillsOhioOrson S. Murray [1] 18451852A community based on Owenism and anarchism. [1] Maintained close contact with the Kristeen and Grand Prairie Communities.
Kristeen CommunityIndianaCharles Mowland [1] 18451847Founded by Charles Mowland and others who had previously been associated with the Prairie Home Community. [1] A Society for Universal Inquiry and Reform community.
Bishop Hill Colony Illinois Eric Jansson 18461862A Swedish Pietist religious commune.
Spring Farm ColonyWisconsin6 Fourierite Families [1] 18461848A Fourier Society community.
Oneida Community New York John H. Noyes 18481880A Utopian socialism community. Oneida Community practices included Communalism , Complex Marriage , Male Continence, Mutual Criticism and Ascending Fellowship.
Icarians Louisiana, Texas,
Nauvoo, Illinois,
Iowa, Missouri, California
Étienne Cabet 18481898A group of egalitarian communes based on the French utopian movement, founded by Étienne Cabet, after led his followers to the United States.
Amana Colonies Iowa the Community of True Inspiration 1850s1932The Amana villages were built one hour apart when traveling by ox cart. Each village had a church, a farm, multi-family residences, workshops and communal kitchens. The communal system continued until 1932.
Raritan Bay Union New Jersey Marcus Spring
Rebecca Buffum
18531858A Fourier Society community. [1]
Aurora Colony Oregon William Keil 18531883Christian utopian community
Free Lovers at Davis HouseOhioFrancis Barry [5] 18541858A community based on Free love and spiritualism. [5]
Reunion Colony Texas Victor P. Considerant 18551869A utopian socialism community.
Octagon City KansasHenry Clubb
Charles DeWolfe
John McLaurin
18561857Originally built as a Vegetarian Colony.
Workingmen's Co-operative Colony (Llewellyn Castle) [6] Kansasfollowers of James Bronterre O'Brien 18691874A community based on the political reform philosophy of Chartist James Bronterre O'Brien.
Danish Socialist Colony [7] Kansas Louis Pio 18771877A utopian socialist community
Shalam Colony New Mexico John B. Newbrough
Andrew Howland
18841901A community in which members would live peaceful, vegetarian lifestyles, and where orphaned urban children were to be raised.
Home, Washington WashingtonGeorge H. Allen
Oliver A. Verity
B. F. O'Dell
18951919An intentional community based on anarchist philosophy
Nucla Colorado Colorado Cooperative Company 1896Established following the Panic of 1893. Originally called Piñon. [8] [9]

1900s

NameLocationFounderFounding dateEnding dateNotes
Arden Village Delaware Frank Stephens
Will Price
1900Currently ActiveAn art colony founded as a Georgist single-tax art community.
Zion, Illinois Illinois John Alexander Dowie 19001907A Utopian Christian religious community, reorganized following fraud allegations and founder's death into modern city.
East Wind Community Ozark County, Missouriunknown1973presentA secular and democratic community in which members hold all communities assets in common.
Equality Colony Washington Norman W. Lermond
Ed Pelton
19001907 Socialist Colony
Fairhope Single Tax Corporation, Fairhope, ALAlabamaFairhope Industrial Association1894currently still in operationFairhope was first settled in 1894 by Georgist. The Single tax experiment was incorporated as the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation under Alabama law in 1904. The municipality of Fairhope was incorporated in 1908. [10]
The Farm (Tennessee) Lewis County, Tennessee Stephen Gaskin 1971presentHippie Buddhist-inspired vegetarian community. De-collectivized in 1983.
Freeland Association WashingtonDissident members of the Equality Colony19001906 [5] A socialist commune. The first settlers dissident members of the nearby Equality Colony. [11] While the Freeland Association dissolved in 1906 [5] the census-designated place (CDP) of Freeland, Washington continues to exist.
PostTexas C.W. Post 1907now Post, Texas
Llano del Rio California Job Harriman 19141918Unbuilt project by architect and planner Alice Constance Austin with strong emphasis on shared domestic work
Twin Oaks Virginia1967currently active

See also

Related Research Articles

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A utopia is an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its citizens. The opposite of a utopia is a dystopia.

Midwestern United States One of the four census regions of the United States of America

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Road verge one of a number of terms for a vegetative strip beside the carriageway of a road

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Hopedale, Massachusetts Town in Massachusetts, United States

Hopedale is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,911 at the 2010 census.

League of American Bicyclists non-profit organisation in the USA

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Commune Community of people living together, sharing common interests

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Rosabeth Moss Kanter American economist

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Foundation for Intentional Community Nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization in the United States providing publications, referrals, and support services for intentional communities and those seeking to join one

The Foundation for Intentional Community (FIC), formerly the Fellowship of Intentional Communities then the Fellowship for Intentional Community, provides publications, referrals, support services, and "sharing opportunities" for a wide range of intentional communities, cohousing groups, ecovillages, community networks, support organizations, and people seeking a home in community. The FIC is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization in the United States.

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Altruria was a short-lived utopian commune in Sonoma County, California, based on Christian socialist principles and inspired by William Dean Howells's 1894 novel, A Traveler from Altruria.

The Hopedale Community was founded in Milford, Massachusetts, in 1842 by Adin Ballou. He and his followers purchased 600 acres (2.4 km2) of land on which they built homes for the community members, chapels and the factories for which the company was initially formed. The area was later split from Milford and became the town of Hopedale, Massachusetts.

Cheltenham, St. Louis Neighborhood of St. Louis in Missouri, United States

Cheltenham is a neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. It is bound by Forest Park on the north, Macklind on the east, Manchester Avenue on the south, and Hampton Avenue on the west. Businesses located in Cheltenham include the St. Louis Community College at Forest Park, which is built on the site of the former Forest Park Highlands amusement park, as well as The Green Shag Market vintage/antique mall. It is also the former home of FOX-affiliate KTVI, as well as the St. Louis Arena. Cheltenham once covered the Clayton-Tamm neighborhood. See the 1878 Cheltenham and Additions map.

Adonai-Shomo was the name given to a commune which existed from 1861 to 1896 in Massachusetts.

William W. Davies Founder and leader of a Latter Day Saint schismatic group called the Kingdom of Heaven, which was located near Walla Walla, Washington from 1867 to 1881.

William W. Davies was the leader of a Latter Day Saint schismatic group called the Kingdom of Heaven, which was located near Walla Walla, Washington, from 1867 to 1881.

American Union of Associationists organization

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Utopian socialism is the first current of modern socialism and socialist thought as exemplified by the work of Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier, Étienne Cabet, Robert Owen and Henry George. Utopian socialism is often described as the presentation of visions and outlines for imaginary or futuristic ideal societies, with positive ideals being the main reason for moving society in such a direction. Later socialists and critics of utopian socialism viewed utopian socialism as not being grounded in actual material conditions of existing society and in some cases as reactionary. These visions of ideal societies competed with Marxist-inspired revolutionary social democratic movements.

The Woman's Commonwealth was a women's land-based commune first established in Belton, Texas. It was founded in the late 1870s to early 1880s by Martha McWhirter and her women's bible study group on land that was inherited when the women's husbands died or quit the home.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Morris, James M.; Kross, Andrea L. (2009). The A to Z of Utopianism. Scarecrow Press. ISBN   0810863359.
  2. Spann, Edward K. (1992). Hopedale: From Commune to Company Town, 1840-1920 (Urban life and urban landscape series ed.). Ohio: Ohio State University Press. ISBN   0814205755 . Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  3. Spann, Edward K. (1992). Hopedale: From Commune to Company Town, 1840-1920 (Urban life and urban landscape series ed.). Ohio: Ohio State University Press. p. 71. ISBN   0814205755 . Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  4. 1 2 McCarville, Colin (2012). "Ceresco: A Utopian Community in Ripon, Wisconsin". Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin. Archived from the original on 21 August 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Morris, James Matthew; Kross, Andrea L. (2004). Historical Dictionary of Utopianism. Scarecrow Press. pp.  108 and 111. ISBN   0810849127 . Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  6. Entz, Gary R. (2013). Llewellyn Castle: A Worker's Cooperative on the Great Plains. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN   9780803245396.
  7. Miller, Kenneth E. (1972). Danish Socialism on the Kansas Prairie. Kansas State Historical Society.
  8. "Colorado's Utopian Colonies: Greeley and Nucla". Denver Public Library History. 2013-08-28. Retrieved 2016-12-20.
  9. "Frontier in Transition: A History of Southwestern Colorado (Chapter 7)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2016-12-20.
  10. Fairhope 1894-1954, The Story of a Single Tax Colony, Paul E. and Blanche R. Alyea, University of Alabama Press 1956
  11. Charles Pierce LeWarne, Utopias on Puget Sound, 18851915, Seattle, University of Washington State Press, 1975; pp. 114-28.