Sir Thomas More defined utopia in 1516 as a place of perfect political and social systems, and the search to live in harmony shaped the history of New Harmony. George Rapp established the town of Harmonic, Pennsylvania, in 1804, and German Pietists founded Harmony on the Indiana frontier in 1814. The 850-member Harmonic Society built a self-sufficient and prosperous town, selling agricultural and manufactured goods around the world while encouraging education and the arts as they awaited the return of Jesus Christ to earth. In 1825, Father Rapp, led by divine providence, returned his followers to Pennsylvania. That same year, Welsh-born industrialist and social philosopher Robert Owen of New Lanark, Scotland, bought 20,000 acres and the town of New Harmony for his secular communitarian experiment. Owen's followers came from many social classes and ethnic backgrounds but believed in equality through education. With his partner William Maclure from Philadelphia's Academy of Natural Sciences, Owen, his children, and the Academy's young scientists made the town a center for science and social experimentation. The legacy of Owen's Community of Equality in New Harmony includes abolition of slavery, equality for women, early childhood education, and pioneering work in the natural sciences. Today New Harmony is a National Historic Landmark District with many buildings dating from the original Harmonic Society, and its town plan and population remain virtually unchanged while its architecture includes every American style since 1775.

Photo: William Fischer, Jr.

New Harmony, Indiana · USA