Helicon Home Colony
Encyclopedia
Helicon Home Colony was an experimental community
Commune (intentional community)
A commune is an intentional community of people living together, sharing common interests, property, possessions, resources, and, in some communes, work and income. In addition to the communal economy, consensus decision-making, non-hierarchical structures and ecological living have become...

 formed by author Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair
Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. , was an American author who wrote close to one hundred books in many genres. He achieved popularity in the first half of the twentieth century, acquiring particular fame for his classic muckraking novel, The Jungle . It exposed conditions in the U.S...

 in Englewood
Englewood, New Jersey
Englewood is a city located in Bergen County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 27,147.Englewood was incorporated as a city by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from portions of Ridgefield Township and the remaining portions of...

, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, with proceeds from his novel The Jungle
The Jungle
The Jungle is a 1906 novel written by journalist Upton Sinclair. Sinclair wrote the novel with the intention of portraying the life of the immigrant in the United States, but readers were more concerned with the large portion of the book pertaining to the corruption of the American meatpacking...

. Established in 1906, it burned down in 1907 and was disbanded.

In a 1906 article in The Independent, Sinclair outlined a plan for a home colony located within one-hour of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. Following the model proposed by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a prominent American sociologist, novelist, writer of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction, and a lecturer for social reform...

, Sinclair sought "authors, artists, and musicians, editors and teachers and professional men" who wanted to avoid the drudgeries of domestic life. A farm community would be established that would generate its own meat, milk and produce. Food would be served in a communal kitchen and children raised in separate nurseries. The community would be run by a board of directors. While Sinclair insisted that the project was not a Socialist one, he did think that those interested in participating "would have to be in sympathy with the spirit of socialism". Sinclair planned for about 100 houses on a 400 acres (1.6 km²) lot, and would get proposals for architects and business experts to create a business plan for the endeavor.

In a letter published in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

on July 16, 1906, Sinclair outlined his plan and announced a public meeting to be held the following evening at the Berkeley Lyceum on 44th Street. Employed individuals would join a cooperative and build homes of their own design that would not have kitchens or space for children. The community would use machinery to increase efficiency and "solve the problem of the management of servants". The community would be run by a democratically-elected board and would own enough land to produce as much of its own food as possible. Children would be cared for separately and overseen by a Board of Women Directors elected by their mothers. Lecture halls, reading rooms and other common facilities would be provided.

The Times published an editorial the next day, supportive of the meeting and noting the difficulties of raising a family in the city. However, the editors raised concerns that the funds needed to purchase land in proximity to New York City would require substantial outlays beyond the means of most. The editorial questioned the practicability of raising children on a communal basis, noting that "There would be more fun in that spectacle -- for outsiders -- than in the traditional barrel of monkeys."

Some 300 people attend the public meeting on July 17. Sinclair led the two-hour meeting and spoke for three-quarters of the session. It was agreed that women who paid the $10 initiation fee would be eligible to vote. Sinclair stated that he had offers of suitable land in the New York City area at $10 to $50 per acre, refuting claims made in the editorial in The Times that appropriate land would cost as much as $3,000 to $40,000 an acre. Gaylord Wilshire
Henry Gaylord Wilshire
Henry Gaylord Wilshire , known to his contemporaries by his middle name of "Gaylord," was a land developer, publisher and outspoken socialist who gave Los Angeles' famous Wilshire Boulevard its name.-Early years:...

 was named temporary treasurer, and Sinclair announced that commitments of $50,000 had already been made. Sinclair reviewed the responses he had received to a questionnaire he had distributed nationwide, receiving 44 responses, including one from a meat packer in Brooklyn. In addition to details on the types and manner of food to be served in the proposed colony, respondents indicated that they preferred to be close to New York City, preferably in New Jersey.

Sources

  • Buchan, Perdita. Utopia, New Jersey: Travels in the Nearest Eden, Rivergate Books (an imprint of Rutgers University Press
    Rutgers University Press
    Rutgers University Press is a nonprofit academic publishing house, operating in Piscataway, New Jersey under the auspices of Rutgers University.-History:...

    ), 2007. ISBN 0-8135-4178-6
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