A GUIDE TO THE COMMUNISTIC COMMUNITIES
OF OHIO
BY KENNETH WILLIAM MCKINLEY
One of the greatest obstacles to the
study of the social sci-
ences has been the inability to
experiment. Human lives cannot
be molded and adjusted like so many
pieces of metal or so many
chemical elements. For this reason it is
important that history
be made the laboratory of the social
sciences. The author of this
brief guide, therefore, feels justified
in presenting in an historical
periodical an introduction to one phase
of what might be termed
social experimentation in Ohio.
However, it must be remembered that the
persons responsible
for starting what are now spoken of as
experiments did not them-
selves look upon their work in this
light. It is likely that the pro-
mulgators of each of the communities,
which will be briefly de-
scribed, zealously believed that they
were inserting the wedge
which would result in remaking the
world. It is this sincerity
that makes the communities worthy of
study.
It is the purpose of this article to
make available a classifica-
tion of those Ohio communities which
have been founded with the
idea of common ownership of property as
one of the basic prin-
ciples in their operation. The author
realizes that he is incapable
of interpreting and explaining
thoroughly the theories of the pro-
moters of these communities or the
reason for their ultimate
failure. He intends to give places,
names and dates together with
sources for further information
concerning each community. He
will leave it to the "original
prejudice" of those who will use it
to prove what they wish from the facts
presented.
The Shaker communities and the Zoar
community have been
the subject of considerable writing. It
is the hope of the author
that this guide will stimulate interest
and study in the other com-
munistic communities of the State as
well.
(1)
2
OHIO ARCH/EOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Shakers.1
Union Village, near Lebanon, Warren
County, Ohio.
Union Village, known in the vicinity as
Shakertown, was the
parent community of all the villages of
United Believers west
of the Alleghany Mountains. When news of
the revival move-
ment in the West reached the Shaker
village of New Lebanon, in
New York, three missionaries--John
Meacham, Benjamin S.
Youngs and Issachar Bates--were sent to
convert the western
people to Shakerism. Their first two
converts were Malcolm
Worley, a wealthy and influential
citizen of Bedle's Station (which
became Union Village), and Rev. Richard
McNemar, one of the
leaders of the New Light secession from
the Presbyterian Church.
The settlement was begun in 1805
and soon consisted of 126
members. By 1811 there were 300 members at Union Village.
In 1903 there were only ninety Believers
in the State of Ohio.
The land, consisting of 4,500 acres of
the richest soil in the State,
was owned by the community as a whole
and the members lived
in well equipped dormitories and ate in
a common dining hall.
Their offices were among the most
luxuriously appointed in the
State.
The sect indulged in queer forms of
dancing, or "shaking,"
and believed that they were often in
communion with the "spirits."
The sect ceased to exist in Ohio some
time after 1907 but accord-
ing to the report of the Bureau of the
Census on Religious Bodies:
1926 there were six active communities, consisting of 192 mem-
1 John Patterson MacLean, Shakers of
Ohio (Columbus, Ohio, 1907); Charles
Edson Robinson, A Concise History of
the United Society of Believers Called Shakers
(East Canterbury, New Hampshire, 1893); The
Testimony of Christ's Second Appearing
(Lebanon, Ohio, 1808); The Shaker (Albany,
New York, 1871-?), passim.; The Shaker
Manifesto (Shakers, New York, 1871-99), passim.; William
Alfred Hinds, American
Communities (Chicago, 1902) 26-62; U. S. Bureau of the Census, Religious
Bodies:
1926 (Washington, D. C., 1926), II, 441-5; Morris Hillquit,
History of Socialism in the
United States (New York, 1903), 29-31; Charles Gide, Communist and
Co-operative
Colonies (London, 1930), 90-102; Alexander Kent,
"Cooperative Communities in the
United States," in U. S. Department
of Labor, Bulletin, no. 35 (1901), 665-78; Edwin
Erle Sparks, The Expansion of the
American People (Chicago, 1900), 379-80; Robert
Allerton Parker, A Yankee Saint-John
Humphrey Noyes and the Oneida Community
(New York, 1935), 155-9; Ralph
Albertson, "A Survey of Mutualistic Communities in
America," in Iowa Journal of
History and Politics (Iowa City, 1903.), XXXIV (1936),
379-80; Shaker collections of manuscript
journals and diaries (in Ohio State Archaeo-
logical and Historical Society Library;
Western Reserve Historical Society Library;
Library of Congress). For further
references see: John Patterson MacLean, A Bibli-
ography of Shaker Literature (Columbus, Ohio, 1905).
COMMUNISTIC COMMUNITIES OF OHIO 3
bers at that date. Of these, two were in
Maine, two in New York,
one in New Hampshire and one in
Massachusetts.2
Watervliet, near Dayton, Montgomery
County, Ohio.
The village of Watervliet, called Beaver
Creek, Beulah, or
Mad River at different times in the
early Shaker records, was
located in sections thirteen and
fourteen of Van Buren township,
Montgomery County, Ohio, and was divided
by Beaver Creek.
The first convert to Shakerism at this
settlement on Beaver Creek
was John Huston who declared his faith
some time in October of
1805. According to Charles Nordhoff, this society had, in
1875,
two families, containing a total of
fifty-five members and owning
thirteen hundred acres of land,
"much of which they let to ten-
ants." They had a wool-factory,
which was their only manufac-
tory. This society became extinct about
1900, at which date the
remaining members were moved to Union
Village.3
Whitewater, near Preston, Hamilton
County, Ohio.
Negotiations were begun in 1820 for the establishment of a
Shaker society at a little settlement on
Darby Plains, Union town-
ship, Union County, Ohio. However, it
was found that the situa-
tion of the settlement was very
unfavorable and the Shaker con-
verts were moved to Whitewater in 1824.
The Whitewater com-
munity was situated on the Dry Forks of
the Whitewater in the
northwest part of Hamilton County, with 400
acres in Butler
County. It consisted of seventy-seven
members in 1835, one
hundred in 1875, and forty-three in
1903. They owned 1,457
acres of land at one time. The community
was ordered dissolved
in 19O7.4
2 Charles Nordhoff,
The Communistic Societies of the United States (New York,
1875), 200-4; John Patterson MacLean,
"Shaker Community of Warren County, Ohio,"
in Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society Publications (Columbus, Ohio,
1887-), X (1901) 251-304: Henry Howe, Historical
Collections of Ohio (Columbus, 1896),
II, 751-3; Beverley W. Bond, The
Civilization of the Old Northwest (New York, 1934),
488-9; Daniel Drake, Natural and
Statistical View, or Picture of Cincinnati and the
Miami Country (Cincinnati, 1815), 40-41.
3 MacLean, Shakers of Ohio, 190-226; Nordhoff, op. cit., 205-6;
The History of
Montgomery County, Ohio (Chicago, 1882), 176-7 of part 2; A. W. Drury, History
of
the City of Dayton and Montgomery
County, Ohio (Chicago, 1909), 856-7.
4 MacLean, Shakers of Ohio, 227-69 (Substantially
the same article that was pub-
lished in the Ohio State Archaeological
and Historical Society Publications, XIII
[1904], 401-33); History of
Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio (Cincinnati, 1894),
397-8.
4
OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
North Union, Cleveland, Ohio.
The Shaker community known as North
Union was founded
in 1822 and was located eight miles east
by south of the Public
Square, in Cleveland, Ohio. According to
Nordhoff "the society
was most numerous about 1840, when it
contained two hundred
members. It is now [1875] divided
into three families, having
one hundred and two persons." John
Patterson MacLean stated
that there were sixty-seven members in
1879. Perhaps this last
number did not include the persons under
twenty-one years of
age. The community owned 1,355 acres of
land in one body. The
society was dissolved on October 24,
1889, and the members
moved to Watervliet and Union Village.5
West Union, Knox County, Indiana, Begun
in
Adams County, Ohio.
Conversion to Shakerism of the settlers
on Eagle Creek,
Adams County, Ohio, was begun in 1805.
After five or six years,
or in 1811, the 150 Believers from Eagle
and Straight Creeks
were moved to Union Village and Busro in
Knox County, Indiana.
The Busro settlement was located sixteen
miles north of Vin-
cennes on Busseron Creek in Busseron
township of Knox County.
This community was evidently in
existence before the removal of
the Eagle Creek Believers as Peter
Cartwright is said to have
visited Shakers at Busro in 1808. In
September, 1812, the Busro
Believers were forced, by fever and the
plundering of their settle-
ment by militia, to seek refuge with the
Ohio Shakers. Early in
1814, however, they returned to Busro
and remained there until
1827 when the Society broke up and its
members removed to
Union Village, Pleasant Hill and South
Union.6
Darby Plains Shakers, Union County,
Ohio.
The nucleus of what later became
Whitewater settlement was
formed in a little settlement referred
to as Darby Plains in Union
5 Nordhoff, op. cit., 204-5;
MacLean, Shakers of Ohio, 112-89; Charles A. Post,
Doans Corners and the City Four Miles
West (Cleveland, 1930), 120-3ff.;
William R.
Coates, A History of Cuyahoga County
and the City of Cleveland (Chicago, 1924),
264-7.
6 MacLean,
Shakers of Ohio, 270-346; William Warren Sweet, Circuit-Rider Days
in Indiana (Indianapolis, 1916), 9-11; Samuel S. McClelland,
"Busro," in The Mani-
festo (1885), 110-2, 139-141, 164-6, 183-5, 205-7; Louis
Basting, "The Believers of Indiana
in 1811," in The Manifesto (1890),
11-14.
COMMUNISTIC COMMUNITIES OF OHIO 5
township, Union County, Ohio, in 1820. The Believers at this
place moved to Whitewater, Hamilton
County, in 1824.7
Separatists.
The Separatist Society of Zoar, Zoar,
Tuscarawas
County, Ohio.
The Separatists who settled in
Tuscarawas County, Ohio,
emigrated from Germany "primarily
for the purpose of secur-
ing religious liberty; secondarily for
better opportunities of ob-
taining a livelihood." Joseph
Bimeler (Bameler) was chosen the
leader of the 225 people who
settled in Ohio in 1817 and signed
articles of agreement for a community of
goods on April 15, 1819.
It ceased to be a communistic community
in September, 1898,
when the property was distributed to the
individual members.
There have been published so many good
accounts of Zoar that it
will not be necessary to describe the
community in detail in this
Guide.8
Mormons.
Kirtland, Lake County, Ohio.
Sidney Rigdon, who had been a member and
minister of the
Baptist Church, one of the founders of
the religion known as
Campbellism and who later became a
leader of the Mormon
Church, was employed as the regular
pastor of a church at Mentor,
Ohio, in the fall of 1826. While at
Mentor he sometimes preached
in the near-by settlement at Kirtland.
After converting most of
his congregation to Campbellism he
gradually presented his ideas
concerning the common ownership of
property, which idea, by the
7 See paragraph above on the Whitewater
community.
8 Edgar B. Nixon, The Society of
Separatists of Zoar, MS. (doctoral dissertation,
in the Ohio State University Library);
E. O. Randall, "History of the Zoar Society,"
in Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society Publications, VIII (1899/1900),
1-105 (later published in a separate
volume); Nordhoff, op. cit., 99-118; Hinds, op. cit.,
91-123; Albertson, "Survey of
Mutualistic Communities," loc. cit., 881-2; Sparks, op. cit.,
384-7; Hillquit, op. cit., 34-37;
"The Colony of Zoar," in The Penny Magazine (London,
1832-1846), VI (1837), 411-2; Edgar B.
Nixon, "The Zoar Society: Applicants for Mem-
bership," in Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Society Quarterly (Columbus,
Ohio, 1887-), XLV (1936), 341-350; Alexander Gunn, The
Hermitage-Zoar Note Book and
Journal of Travel (New York, 1902), passim.; Webster P.
Huntington, "Gunn of the
Zoarites," in The Ohio Magazine (Columbus,
1906-1908), I (1906), 499-510; Bertha M.
H. Shambaugh,-Amana That Was and
Amana That Is (Iowa City, 1932), passim.;
Kent, "Cooperative
Communities," loc. cit., 563, 587-94; Frederick A. Bushee,
"Com-
munistic Societies," in Political
Science Quarterly (Boston; New York, 1886-) XX
(1906), 644ff.; George B. Landis,
"The Society of Separatists of Zoar, Ohio," in
American Historical Association Annual
Reports (New York, 1885-) (1898), 163-220,
6
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
way, was not in accord with the ideas of
Alexander Campbell.
The idea did not appeal to the people of
Mentor but it soon got a
foothold at Kirtland. Isaac Morley
became converted and invited
all who entertained the same belief to
gather at his farm.
According to The History of Geauga
and Lake Counties,
Ohio (1878), the community soon numbered one hundred mem-
bers. When, in the fall of 1830, the
four missionaries of Mormon-
ism--Parley P. Pratt, Z. Peterson,
Oliver Cowdery, and Peter
Whitmer -- came to the Western Reserve
and approached Rigdon
with the idea of converting him to
Mormonism they were intro-
duced to the "family" at
Kirtland, and immediately, seventeen of
the members of that community accepted
Mormonism. This group
became the nucleus of the Ohio
"Stake of Zion."
It is not certain whether or not the
community continued to
own all property in common after the
advent of the Latter Day
Saints. Ryan states that Mormonism's
"cornerstone was socialism,
the common ownership of all property,
both real and personal, and
the surrender of all individual action
in religious, social and busi-
ness life to the church." M. R.
Werner, in his Brigham Young,
stated:
Brigham Young's problem was to maintain
enough public spirit in a
communistic order of society to make
every man willing to help another.
The Mormon community was not communistic
in the modern sense of the
term, for every man was allowed to get
and to keep as much as he could,
but at the same time it was necessary to
provide for the needs of the whole,
and it was Brigham Young's job to make
his Saints see the value of con-
tributing to the community. That was the
most difficult job in the com-
munity.
Whether the Mormon community was
actually communistic
or not, it was certainly cooperative to
a very high degree.,
9 History of Geauga and Lake
Counties, Ohio (Philadelphia, 1878),
247-8; Daniel
J. Ryan, Historic Failures in Applied
Socialism (Columbus, 1920), 32-33; Journal of
History (published by Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints,
Lamoni, Iowa; Independence, Missouri,
1908-1925), II (1909), 399-428, III (1910), 3-20;
M. R. Werner, Brigham Young (New
York, 1925), 418-50; Hamilton Gardner, "Com-
munism among the Mormans," in The
Quarterly Journal of Economics (Boston and
Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1886-), XXXVII
(1923), 134-74; W. A. Linn, The Story of
the Mormons (New York, 1923), passim.; Gide, op. cit., 108-10;
James H. Kennedy,
Early Days of Mormonism (New York, 1888); The New International
Encyclopaedia.
Second edition (New York, 1928), XVI,
265-71 (contains a good bibliography).
COMMUNISTIC COMMUNITIES OF OHIO 7
Spiritualists.
Spiritualistic Community, Franklin
Township,
Clermont County, Ohio.
In the disposition of the land of
Clermont Phalanx (q. v.) the
central plot which contained the
buildings became the property of
a Spiritualistic community of some one
hundred persons at the
head of which was John O. Wattles. The
members decided to
move the largest of the buildings nearer
to the Ohio River and
while they were working on the new
building the flood of 1847
surrounded it with water. The building
was partially occupied at
the time and one night in December,
1847, as the occupants of the
unfinished building were dancing to
while away the time the walls
caved in and killed seventeen of the
members of the community.
This tragedy ended the life of the
community.10
Moravians.
Moravian Mission Settlements in the
Tuscarawas Valley, Ohio.
There is some question as to whether the
Moravian Mission
settlements can be classed as
communistic societies. The common
ownership that existed in the villages
was more a matter of con-
venience and a continuance of Indian
custom than of theory. If
Schoenbrunn, Gnadenhutten, Lichtenau,
and Salem were com-
munistic then all of the Indian villages
that existed in Ohio should
be included in this guide. Since the
scope of this guide is limited
to the activities of the white man a
discussion of the Moravian
Mission will suffice.
The site of Schoenbrunn was selected by David
Zeisberger
in the spring of 1772 and the
first settlers arrived May 3, 1772.
By 1776 the town consisted of a church,
a schoolhouse and sixty
cabins. It was abandoned April 19. 1777,
and the inhabitants
moved to Lichtenau. Gnadenhutten was
founded in the fall of
1772 by Joshua Sr., an elder, and
a company of Mohicans. The
inhabitants were forced to leave the
village for a site on the San-
dusky River on September 11, 1781. After
a winter full of hard-
ships a part of the group returned to
Gnadenhutten for the crop
10 History of Clermont County, Ohio (Philadelphia, 1880), 3434.
8
OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
that had been left at that place. Here,
on the eighth of March,
1782, Colonel David Williamson and a company of militia mur-
dered ninety-six of the Moravians in
cold blood. Lichtenau was
established on April IO, 1776, three
miles below the mouth of the
Walhonding on the east side of the
Muskingum River. For a
while all of the Moravian Indians were
concentrated at Lichtenau
but in December of 1779 Zeisberger and
his followers left Lich-
tenau and established New Schoenbrunn
across the river from the
earlier village of Schoenbrunn. In the
spring of 1780 John Hecke-
welder and his group left Lichtenau and
established Salem on the
west bank of the Tuscarawas in what is
now Salem township,
Tuscarawas County, Ohio. All the
villages in the valley were de-
serted when the Moravians were forced to
emigrate to "Sandusky
Creek" in September of 1781. After
a winter on the Sandusky the
people were removed to Michigan.11
Owenites.12
Yellow Springs Community, Yellow
Springs,
Greene County, Ohio.
Probably the first of the communistic
communities inspired
by Robert Owen in the United States, the
Yellow Springs com-
munity was begun in the spring of 1825
and was discontinued
January 3, 1827. Daniel J. Ryan stated,
that it lasted only three
months but John H. Noyes related that
after three months the
community broke up into small groups but
that their property con-
tinued to be kept in common. Noyes
quoted a memoir which states
11 Eugene F. Bliss (ed.), Diary of
David Zeisberger, a Moravian Missionary
among the Indians of Ohio (Cincinnati, 1885); Edmund DeSchweinitz, The Life
and
Times of David Zeisberger (Philadelphia, 1870); Samuel P. Hildreth, Contributions
to
the Early History of the North-West,
Including the Moravian Missions in Ohio (Cin-
cinnati, 1864), 76-160; George Henry
Loskiel, History of the Mission of the United
Brethren among the Indians in North
America (London, 1794), III, 81-208
Francis
C. Huebner, The Moravian Missions in
Ohio (Washington, D. C., 1898); Joseph E.
Weinland, The Romantic Story of
Schoenbrunn (Dover, Ohio, 1928); A True History
of the Massacre of Ninety-sis
Christian Indians, at Gnadenhuetten, Ohio, March 8,
1782 (Gnadenhuetten,
Ohio, 1882); Maurice Frederick Oerter, A Book of Remembrance,
the Tragedy of Gnadenhuetten (Dover, Ohio, 1932).
12 G. D. H. Cole, Robert Owen (Boston,
1925); ibid. Second edition (New York,
1930); Frank Podmore, Robert Owen, a Biography (New
York, 1924); William L.
Sargent, Robert Owen and His Social
Philosophy (London, 1860); George B. Lock-
wood, The New Harmony Movement (New
York, 1905); Hillquit, op. cit., 51-73; Gide,
op. cit., 120-7; Parker, op. cit., 145-69;
Albertson, "Survey of Mutualistic Communi-
ties," loc. cit., 395-6; Bushee,
"Communistic Societies," loc. cit., 625-8; Sparks, op.
cit.,
389-92; National Library of Wales, Bibliography
of Robert Owen, the Socialist (New
York, 1925).
COMMUNISTIC COMMUNITIES OF OHIO 9
that it lasted a year. This may be
correct and the date, January 3,
1827, given by William A. Galloway as
the day when the property
was signed back to its original owner
may have been the date of
a "post-mortem" activity.13
Kendal Community, near Canton, Stark
County, Ohio.
Kendal Community was formed with the
thought of carrying
out Owen's ideas. The land was purchased
in June, 1826.
The colony was never incorporated and it
seems to have lasted
about two years. Many of the members of
the Coxsackie com-
munity of New York after its break-up
emigrated to Kendal.
January 28, 1825, there was incorporated
the Social Library of
Kendal, Stark County, Ohio. The exact
connection between this
Library and the Owenite community at
Kendal has not been de-
termined.14
Fourierites.15
Clermont Phalanx, on the Ohio River, in
Clermont County, Ohio.
Clermont Phalanx owned about 900 acres
of land about thirty
miles up the Ohio River from Cincinnati
and had about 120 mem-
bers. It was the result of a convention
of Socialists held in Cin-
cinnati in February, 1844, at which
meeting letters from Horace
Greeley, Albert Brisbane, and William H.
Channing, encouraging
a practical application of their views,
were read. Wade Loof-
bourrow was elected president of the
community and a certain
Green, secretary. The community was
begun on May 9, 1844, and
lasted until the fall of 1846. It was
incorporated by the State of
Ohio February 23, 1846.16
13 John Humphrey Noyes, History of American Socialism (Philadelphia,
1870),
59-65; Ryan, op. cit., 28-9;
Hinds, op. cit., 138-142; William Albert Galloway, The
History of Glen Helen (Columbus, Ohio, 1932), 47-53; R. S. Dills, History
of Greene
County, Ohio (Dayton, Ohio, 1881), 665, 674; Albertson, "Survey
of Mutualistic Com-
munities," loc. cit., 397;
Hillquit, op. cit., 67-8.
14 Noyes, op. cit., 78-80; Hillquit, op. cit., 72-3; Ryan, op.
cit., 29; Albertson,
"Survey of Mutualistic
Communities," loc. cit., 398; State of Ohio, Session Laws
(Columbus, etc., 1803-), XXIII (1825),
101.
15 Charles
Sotheran, Horace Greeley and Other Pioneers of American Socialism
(New York, 1915); Albertson,
"Survey of Mutualistic Communities," loc. cit., 399-404;
Gide, op. cit., 120-4, 127-32.
Hillquit, op. cit., 77-117; Bushee, "Communistic Societies,"
loc. cit., 628-31; Phalanx (New York, 1843-1845), continued
as Harbinger (New York,
1845-1849).
16 Noyes, op. cit., 366-76; Ohio,
Laws, XLIV (1844), 159; Ryan, op. cit., 29; Hinds,
op. cit., 224; Clermont County, Ohio, 343-4.
10
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Columbian Phalanx, Franklin County,
Ohio.
An organization known as Columbian
Phalanx was evidently
in existence some time before August 15,
1845, as an announce-
ment in the Harbinger of that
date stated that the rumors con-
cerning the dissolution of Columbian
were false and that the
organization was very much alive. A
letter from a member, pub-
lished in the Harbinger dated
October 4, 1845, described the activ-
ities of the community and stated that
the Beverly (Morgan
County) Association had joined them and
also that some of the
members from Integral Phalanx had joined
them. It is not known
when the community dissolved.17
Ohio Phalanx, Belmont County, Ohio.
Ohio Phalanx was originally known as
American Phalanx.
It was situated on the Ohio River about
seven or eight miles
below Wheeling. The land for this
community had been secured
in December, 1843, and the activities
began in earnest in 1844.
The final dissolution took place on June
24, 1845. E. P. Grant and
H. H. Van Amringe were active in
organizing this experiment.
Ohio Phalanx owned 2,200 acres of land and had about one
hundred members.18
Prairie Home Community, near West
Liberty,
Logan County, Ohio.
Prairie Home Community was begun in 1843
by John O.
Wattles, Valentine Nicholson and others
and lasted about a year
until October, 1844. It had about 130
members, many of whom
were Hicksite Quakers and nearly all of
whom were born and
raised in the West. A. J. MacDonald,
whose manuscript records
have been used extensively by Noyes,
visited this place about two
months before it broke up and gave a
very complete description
of it. Noyes published this
description.19
17 Noyes, op. cit., 404-7; Ryan, op.
cit., 30; Hinds, op. cit., 224.
18 Noyes, op. cit., 354-65, 650;
Hinds, op. cit., 224; Ryan, op. cit., 30.
19 Noyes, op. cit., 316-27; Hinds, op. cit., 224;
Ryan, op. cit., 30-31.
COMMUNISTIC COMMUNITIES OF OHIO II
Trumbull Phalanx, Braceville, Trumbull
County, Ohio.
Trumbull Phalanx was begun in the spring
of 1844 by social-
ist enthusiasts of Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. It held 1,500 acres of
land and had about 200 members. It was
incorporated by the
State of Ohio February II, 1846. The
community went out of
existence in the later part of 1847.
There were many notices of
this community published in the Phalanx
and Harbinger. Some
of these notices are published by
Noyes.20
Integral Phalanx, Butler County, Ohio.
In May or June of 1845, the association
known as Integral
Phalanx purchased the farm of Abner
Enoch on the Miami Canal
at Manchester Mills, near Middletown,
Butler County, Ohio,
twenty-three miles north of Cincinnati,
Ohio. Enoch was a mem-
ber and subscribed to $25,000 worth of
the stock of the organiza-
tion. The farm cost $45,000. A press was
obtained and two num-
bers of a periodical known as the Plowshare
and Pruning-Hook
were published in Ohio. Early in the
fall of 1845 the association
seems to have been forced to leave the
site in Butler County. Most
of the members stayed together and after
about a year of wander-
ing joined the Sangamon Phalanx in
Illinois. A few of its mem-
bers seem to have gone to the Columbian
Phalanx in Franklin
County, Ohio, when they left Butler
County.21
Beverly Association, Morgan County,
Ohio.
An association called Beverly is
mentioned in the sketch of
Columbian Phalanx in the work by
Noyes.22
Brooke's Experiment. (Not located.)
A community called Brooke's Experiment
is listed in Ryan's
Historic Failures in Applied
Socialism as being in Ohio but
no further particulars are given.
20 History of Trumbull and Mahoning Counties (Cleveland, 1882), II,
509; Harriet
Taylor Upton, A Twentieth Century
History of Trumbull County, Ohio (Chicago, 190)
I, 406; Noyes, op. cit., 328-53, 650; Ryan, op. cit., 31; Hinds, op. cit., 224;
Ohio, Laws,
XLIV (1844), 76.
21 A History and Biographical
Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio (Cincinnati,
1882), 628; B. S. Bartlow (ed.), Centennial History of Butler
County, Ohio (Chicago,
1905), 291-2; Noyes, op. cit., 877-87,
407; Columbus Ohio State Journal, June 14, 1845.
22 Noyes, op. cit., 405, 407.
12 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Marlboro Association, Clinton County,
Ohio.
Marlboro Association was begun in 1841
on land owned by
E. Brooke "and consisted at first
of his family and a few other
persons. Gradually the number increased,
and another farm was
added by the free gift of Dr. A.
Brooke." It consisted of about
twenty-four members and lasted about
three or four years. This
is likely the so-called "Brooke's
Experiment" mentioned above.23
Miscellaneous.
Memnonia Institute, Yellow Springs,
Green County, Ohio.
Memnonia Institute, with twenty members,
was established in
1856 by Dr. T. L. Nichols and his wife,
Mary S. Gove Nichols.
It was primarily a "water cure
establishment" but it had also
planned to form a new and "Harmonic
Society on the earth."
This experiment lasted about a year.
When it opened it was
vigorously opposed by Horace Mann and
the faculty of the young
Antioch College, which was also located
at Yellow Springs.24
Utopia, Franklin Township, Clermont
County, Ohio.
Utopia was established after the
dissolution of Clermont
Phalanx on the easternmost of the three
plots of land formerly
occupied by the Phalanx which had in the
distribution been
allotted to Henry Jernegan. It was to be
conducted on Utopian
principles and differed from the Fourier
plan. The inhabitants
were free agents and property owners,
but there was an agreement
to exchange services and products within
the community to make
it self-sufficing. The village was laid
out in August of 1847 and
continued in existence for many years
although the cooperative
plan at first adopted failed after a
very few years.25
Point Hope Community, Berlin Heights,
Erie County, Ohio.
Some time before 1860 a number of
free-thinking individuals
from various parts of the country seem
to have been attracted to
Berlin Heights by the writings of a
resident of that place. Who
23 Ibid., 309-15; Ryan, op. cit., 30; Hinds, op. cit., 224.
24 Bertha-Monica Stearns,
"Two Forgotten Reformers," in New England Quar.
terly (Norwood, Massachusetts, 1928-), VI (1933), 59-84;
Galloway, op. cit., 62-5.
25 Clermont County, Ohio, 344; J. L. Clifton and B. A. Aughinbaugh, Know Ohio
(Columbus, Ohio, 1930), 37.
COMMUNISTIC COMMUNITIES OF OHIO 13
that resident was is not disclosed by
the various accounts in the
histories of Erie County. The histories
make it quite plain how-
ever, that there was only one resident
of Berlin Heights who was
connected with the
"disgraceful" events surrounding the only
"blot" on the history of that
peace-loving village.
About 1860 the free-thinkers seem to
have decided that there
were enough of them to start a community
and Point Hope Com-
munity was begun. This group consisted
of about twenty mem-
bers, and maintained their communistic
associations for about
one year.
A second community, called the
Industrial Fraternity, con-
sisted of about twenty members and
lasted about six months. The
histories state that this community was
also founded in 1860.
It is likely that the first lasted
considerably less than the whole of
1860 and the second was a sort of
reorganization of the first.
A third, called Berlin Community, or
Christian Republic,
commenced in 1865, had twelve adult
members and six children
and lasted about one year.
According to Hudson Tuttle, who wrote
the section on Berlin
township for Williams Brothers' History
of Huron and Erie
Counties which has been made the basis for all of the later ac-
counts of its history, the communities
made a complete failure of
their trials of communism but they were
industrious people and
were rather successful fruit growers.
Tuttle said that the mem-
bers were not Spiritualists as has been
claimed by some writers,
but stated that some were atheists, some
Spiritualists and others
claimed to believe in various church
doctrines.
Several papers were published by the
Free Thinkers at Berlin
Heights. They were: The Social
Revolutionist, conducted by J. S.
Patterson (1857); Age of Freedom, commenced
in 1858 with
Frank and Cordelia Barry and C. M.
Overton as editors; Good
Time Coming (1859), edited by J. P. Lesley and C. M. Overton;
the New Republic (1862), edited
by Francis Barry; The Optimist,
and Kingdom of Heaven (1869), edited by Thomas Cook; The
Principia, or Personality (1868), with N. A. Brown as editor;
the Toledo Sun moved from Toledo
to Berlin Heights in 1875
and was edited by John A. Laut.
14 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
The peculiar ideas and any peculiar
customs that had been
developed by the members of the
community were gradually for-
saken and the community was absorbed by
the village.
Much of the notoriety and adverse
criticism given these com-
munities is said to have been engendered
by members of the com-
munity themselves in an effort to gain
publicity to their cause.
However, Charles F. Browne, as
"Artemus Ward," did his part
in his story of a supposed visit to the
community.26
Berea Community, in Middleburg Township,
Cuyahoga County, Ohio.
In 1836 Rev. Henry O. Sheldon, a
Methodist minister, and
James Gilruth established a community on
Rocky River on land
purchased from Francis Granger, the son
of Gideon Granger.
The community owned about 1,000 acres of
land and consisted of
about twenty families. Business and
government were conducted
by a board of twelve Apostles. The
community broke up after
about a year but it developed into the
Berea Lyceum School which
was the forerunner of Berea College.27
Oberlin Colony, in Russia Township,
Lorain County, Ohio.
The colonists who established Oberlin in
the spring of 1833
agreed to maintain "as perfect a
community of interest as though
we held a community of property."
All surpluses above "neces-
sary personal or family expenses were to
be appropriated for the
spread of the Gospel." Dr. Isaac
Jennings, who came to the col-
ony in 1837, believed that private
property was one of the chief
sources of evil and that Oberlin's
success depended upon the
establishment of complete community of
property. True com-
munism, however, made little headway at
Oberlin and after 1846,
when the town was incorporated, the
Oberlin Society acted in
purely sacred matters and left the
government of the township
to the civil authorities.28
26 History of the Fire Lands,
Comprising Huron and Erie Counties, Ohio (Cleve-
land, 1879) 496-7; Lewis Cass Aldrich (ed.), History
of Erie County, Ohio (Syracuse,
New York, 1889), 447-8; Hewson L. Peeke,
A Standard History of Erie County, Ohio
(Chicago, 1916), I, 72-6; Hewson L.
Peeke, The Centennial History of Erie County,
Ohio (Sandusky, 1925) II, 647-54.
27 Crisfield Johnson (comp.), History
of Cuyahoga County, Ohio (Cleveland, 1879),
474-5; Coates, op. cit., I,
127-8.
28 Robert S. Fletcher, "The
Government of the Oberlin Colony," in The Missis-
sippi Valley Historical Review (Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1914-), XX (1933), 179-90; James
COMMUNISTIC COMMUNITIES OF OHIO 15
Equity, Clermont County, Ohio.
Equity was founded by Josiah Warren in
1830. There were
some twenty-four members. This same
Warren was influential in
the founding of Clermont Phalanx and
later Utopia in Franklin
township, Clermont County, Ohio.29
H. Fairchild, Oberlin: The Colony and
the College (Oberlin, Ohio, 1883); E. H. Fair-
child, Historical Sketch of Oberlin
College (Springfield, Ohio, 1868); G. Frederick
Wright, Oberlin College (reprinted
from the New England Magazine, September, 1900).
29 Albertson, "Survey of
Mutualistic Communities," loc. cit., 400, 407-8;
Noyes,
op. cit., 97-101.