# List of Fourierist Associations in the United States

This is a list of Fourierist Associations in the United States which emerged during a short-lived popular boom during the first half of the 1840s. Between 1843 and 1845 more than 30 such "associations" – known to their adherents as "phalanxes" – were established in the United States, all of which met with economic failure and rapid disestablishment within one or a comparatively few years.
The Fourierist movement of the 1840s was one of the four primary branches of secular utopian socialism in the United States during the 19th century, succeeding Owenism (1825–27) while antedating Icarianism (1848–98) and Bellamyism (1889–96).

## Background

The communitarian ideas of Charles Fourier (1772–1837) were popularized in the United States in an 1840 book by the American Albert Brisbane as well as through a column by Brisbane in the pages of Horace Greeley's New York Tribune in 1842 and 1843.
The Fourierist movement followed an earlier attempt to remake society through exemplary socialist communities attempted on American soil by Robert Owen from 1825 until 1827. John Humphrey Noyes, a historian of these movements in addition to being a communal leader in his own right, noted the difference in the following way:
   The main idea on which Owen and Fourier worked was the same. Both proposed to reconstruct society by gathering large numbers into unitary dwellings. Owen had as clear sense of the compound economies of Association as Fourier had, and discoursed as eloquently, if not as scientifically on the beauties and blessings of combined industry. ... The difference in their methods is this: Owen's plan was based on Communism [communalism]; Fourier's plan was based on the Joint-stock principle.

## List

| Name | Location | Launched | Terminated | Comments |
| Alphadelphia Association | Kalamazoo County, MI | 1844 | 1848 | |
| Bloomfield Association | Ontario County, NY | 1844 | 1846 | |
| Brook Farm Institute of Agriculture and Education | West Roxbury, MA | 1841 | 1847 | Unitarian Transcendentalist until 1844, Fourierist thereafter. |
| Bureau County Phalanx | Bureau County, IL | 1843 | 1843 | |
| Clarkson Industrial Association | Monroe County, NY | 1844 | 1844 | Also known as the “Western New York Industrial Association.” |
| Clermont Phalanx | Utopia, OH | 1844 | 1846 | Established in aftermath of Sept. 1843 Pittsburgh "Western Fourier Convention." |
| Columbia Phalanx | Muskingum County, OH | 1844 | 1845? | |
| Goose Pond Community | Pike County, PA | 1844 | 1844 | Formerly the Social Reform Unity |
| Hopedale Community | Hopedale, MA | 1843 | ??? | Mentioned in Frederic Heath (ed.), Social Democracy Red Book [1900], pg. 15. |
| Integral Phalanx | Middletown, OH | 1845 | 1845 | Established in aftermath of Sept. 1843 Pittsburgh "Western Fourier Convention." Residents later moved to Illinois and established the Sangamon Phalanx. |
| Iowa Pioneer Phalanx | Mahaska County, IA | 1843 | 1845 | Founded by members of the Jefferson County Industrial Association. |
| Jefferson County Industrial Association | Watertown, NY | 1843 | 1844 | |
| LaGrange Phalanx | LaGrange County, IN | 1843 | 1847 | described in Ch. 8 & 9 of The Salt and the Savor, Howard W. Troyer, 1950. |
| Le Raysville Phalanx | Bradford County, PA | 1844 | 1844 | |
| McKean County Association | McKean County, PA | 1843 | 1844 | Also known as “Teutonia.” |
| Marlboro Association | Stark County, OH | 1841 | 1845 | |
| Moorehouse Union | Hamilton County, NY | 1843 | 1844 | Straddled and crossed county line with Herkimer County. |
| North American Phalanx | Phalanx, NJ | 1843 | 1856 | Last surviving Fourierist Association from the 1840s boom. |
| Northampton Association | Florence, MA | 1842 | 1846 | |
| Ohio Phalanx | Bellaire, OH | 1844 | 1845 | Established in aftermath of Sept. 1843 Pittsburgh "Western Fourier Convention." |
| One-Mentian Community | Monroe County, PA | 1843 | 1844 | |
| Ontario Phalanx | Monroe County, NY | 1844 | ??? | |
| Prairie Home Community | Logan County, OH | 1843 | ??? | Also known as "Grand Prairie Community." |
| Raritan Bay Union | Perth Amboy, NJ | 1853 | 1860 | |
| La Réunion | Dallas, TX | 1855 | 1857 | |
| Sangamon Phalanx | Sangamon County, IL | 1845 | 1848 | Continuation of the Integral Phalanx |
| Silkville | Williamsburg, KS | 1869 | 1892 | Sericulture farm in Kansas that was founded on Fourierian principles. Later shifted away from Fourierism before its collapse. |
| Skaneateles Community | Skaneateles, New York | 1843 | 1846 | |
| Social Reform Unity | Pike County, PA | 1842 | 1843 | Later the Goose Pond Community |
| Sodus Bay Phalanx | Wayne County, NY | 1844 | 1844 | |
| Spring Farm Association | Sheboygan County, WI | 1846 | 1848 | |
| Sylvania Association | Greeley, Pennsylvania | 1842 | 1845 | Horace Greeley was Treasurer of this phalanx. Link to Sylvania Association webpage. |
| Trumbull Phalanx | Phalanx, OH | 1844 | 1847 | Established in aftermath of Sept. 1843 Pittsburgh "Western Fourier Convention." |
| Utilitarian Association | Waukesha County, WI | 1844 | 1844 | |
| Wisconsin Phalanx | Ceresco, WI (now Ripon) | 1844 | 1850 | One of the longest-lived phalanxes of the 1840s boom. |
| Zanesfield Phalanx | Logan County, OH | 1843 | ??? | Also known as "Upper Domain" or "Highland Home." Small offshoot of Prairie Home Community, visited by MacDonald in August 1843. |
       Source: William Alfred Hinds, American Communities. Second edition. Chicago, IL: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1908; pg. 250. (unless otherwise noted)