New harmony.
The first non-religious community established in
America.
In 1805 a party of Harmonists, members of a sect founded in
Wurtemberg about 1780, emigrated to
America and first settled in
Butler county, Pa. In 1814 they removed to
Indiana; purchased 27,000 acres of land; and named the settlement Harmony.
Robert Owen (q. v.) purchased this property in 1824; renamed the settlement New Harmony; and organized a new community which, on Jan. 12, 1826, adopted a constitution under the name of “The New harmony community of equality.”
On July 4, following,
Mr. Owen delivered his famous declaration of mental independence against the trinity of man's oppressors—private property, irrational religion, and marriage.
Owen failed in his scheme for a social community, and returned to
England.
The original founders of Harmony, after selling their property in
Indiana, returned to
Pennsylvania, and established the new community of Economy, near
Pittsburg