The Two-Year Timeline: What Actually Happened, 1825-1827

When people say the Owen-Maclure experiment lasted "two years," they're being generous. The community reorganized so many times during those two years that it's hard to say when it was really one thing versus another.

Here's what actually happened, month by month.

1824-1825: Before the Beginning

August 1824: Richard Flower, agent for George Rapp and the Harmony Society, arrives in New Lanark, Scotland, to meet with Robert Owen about the possibility of purchasing Harmonie, Indiana. The Harmony Society, a German religious community, built and developed the town between 1814-1824. They intend to move back to Pennsylvania and have placed the entire town – homes, factories, orchards, everything – for sale.

September 1824: William Maclure meets Robert Owen in London, England. Maclure is enthusiastic about Owen's plans to purchase and convert New Harmony into a secular utopian community.

October 2, 1824: Robert Owen leaves Liverpool, England, for New York City to visit America for the first time. He intends to travel to New Harmony to inspect the town.

November 4, 1824: Robert Owen arrives in New York City.

December 4, 1824: Robert Owen and George Rapp meet for the first time in Economy, Pennsylvania.

December 16, 1824: Robert Owen visits the town of Harmonie for the first time. He sees possibility. This ready-made town, already designed for communal living, could become his "Community of Equality."

January 3, 1825: Robert Owen and George Rapp sign a Memorandum of Agreement on Terms for the Purchase of New Harmony. Owen buys the town for $150,000 (around $4 million today). He immediately travels to Washington, D.C., where he gives speeches to Congress, President James Monroe, and President-elect John Quincy Adams. His 100-day propaganda tour centers on this message: he's about to change human society forever.

February 25 and March 7, 1825: Robert Owen addresses the U.S. House of Representatives at the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

January-March 1825: People start arriving in New Harmony. No applications or screening is required. Owen's policy is radical: anyone who wants to join can come. Some are scientists, educators, and skilled craftspeople. Many are not. Within weeks, New Harmony is overcrowded.

1825: The First Year, Enthusiasm and Problems

April 1, 1825: Robert Owen and George Rapp develop Articles of Agreement for Purchase of Specified Property of the Harmony Society at New Harmony on the Wabash.

April 13, 1825: Robert Owen arrives in New Harmony.

April 20, 1825: 600-800 people attend a meeting regarding Owen's proposed community. They organize a committee to develop a constitution.

April 25, 1825: The committee convenes and begins its deliberations.

April 26, 1825: Robert Owen and George Rapp sign the articles of agreement.

April 27, 1825: Robert Owen gives an address to residents of New Harmony at the Hall of New Harmony (formerly the Harmonist brick church). He formally announces the "Preliminary Society of New Harmony" and admits this isn't the final community: it's a training period. People must learn cooperation before true equality can begin.

But there's immediate tension. Who does what work? Who decides? If everyone is equal, who will organize things? Owen himself doesn't actually stay in New Harmony. He travels constantly, promoting his ideas and raising money for the experiment.

May 1, 1825: The Constitution for the Preliminary Society is established. The community creates committees to manage different areas: agriculture, manufacturing, education, domestic economy. It sounds organized on paper. In practice, people argue about everything.

May 5, 1825: The remaining Harmonists leave New Harmony. Robert Owen provides a parting address.

Summer 1825: Practical problems emerge. Gardens aren't producing enough food. The workshops aren't making enough goods. Some people work hard; others don't. The principle of equality starts to feel unfair to those doing the hardest labor.

June 5, 1825: Robert Owen departs New Harmony and visits Mount Vernon, Indiana; Louisville, Kentucky; Cincinnati and Marietta in Ohio; Pittsburgh, Economy, Meadville, and Philadelphia in Pennsylvania; Boston, Massachusetts; and New York City.

July 16, 1825: Robert Owen departs New York City for England and arrives there on August 6, 1825.

Fall 1825: Robert Owen commissions the construction of a scale model 6-foot-square of his proposed community from Stedman Whitwell based on previous drawings and plans shared by Owen at his lectures and first trip to America. The model is completed by September 26, 1825, when Owen provides a lecture to a large audience at the theatre of the London Mechanics' Institution.

Meanwhile, tensions in New Harmony grow. Owen returns periodically to give inspiring speeches and then leaves again. Without strong leadership, disagreements multiply. Should families live together or separately? Who eats first at communal meals? Can people own personal possessions?

October 1, 1825: Robert and his eldest son Robert Dale Owen depart Liverpool for the United States. New Harmony Gazette, Posey County, Indiana's first newspaper, is published.

October 1825: Robert Owen addresses the citizens of the United States (published in Nile's Register, November 12, 1825). His address includes information about Stedman Whitwell's model of New Harmony.

November 11, 1825: Robert Owen travels to Philadelphia to meet with potential members of his community, including William Maclure, Thomas Say, Charles Alexandre Lesueur, Gerard Troost, Marie Duclos Fretageot, and William Phiquepal d'Arusmont.

November 1825: William Maclure commits himself to the New Harmony venture as a business partner with Robert Owen.

December 1825: Back in New Harmony, participants are growing frustrated with the lack of structure and the unequal distribution of work.

December 3, 1825: Robert Owen's model is presented to President John Quincy Adams and Stedman Whitwell explains it to him. The president announces he will display it at the White House for a few days before depositing it at the Patent Office or the Capitol.

December 8, 1825: The Philanthropist or "Boatload of Knowledge" departs Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for New Harmony. This is a keelboat carrying William Maclure, scientists, educators, artists, and their equipment down the Ohio River. This group includes some of America's leading thinkers: naturalist Thomas Say, geologist Gerard Troost, and educators Marie Duclos Fretageot and William Phiquepal d'Arusmont.

December 10, 1825: George Rapp gives Robert Owen the deed for his land in New Harmony.

1826: Reorganization After Reorganization

January 12, 1826: Robert Owen returns to New Harmony and addresses the town.

January 23, 1826: The famous "Boatload of Knowledge" arrives at Mount Vernon, Indiana. Members travel over land and arrive in New Harmony. William Maclure has invested heavily: about $10,000 plus ongoing expenses. He and Robert Owen are now partners, though they don't agree on much.

January 25, 1826: Members of the Preliminary Society resolve to form the "Community of Equality." This new version includes something different: several smaller communities within New Harmony, each with some independence. It's already a compromise of the original vision.

February 5, 1826: The Constitution for the Community of Equality is established.

February 15, 1826: Macluria (an offshoot group) is established. It comprises 150 members.

Spring 1826: The community reorganizes again, and again. Different constitutions. Different work arrangements. Each time, Robert Owen promises this version will work. It doesn't. The fundamental problems remain, including not enough production, too many conflicts, and unclear leadership.

March 4, 1826: Robert Owen enters an agreement with the executive committee to become the superintendent of the community until January 1, 1827.

March 1826: Feiba-Peveli (an offshoot group) is established. It comprises 75 members.

May 1826: Robert Owen and William Maclure's partnership begins to fracture.

May 28, 1826: New Harmony is reorganized according to a plan proposed by William Maclure into three communities: Educational Society; Agricultural and Pastoral Society; and the Mechanic and Manufacturing Society.

July 4, 1826: This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Robert Owen recites his Declaration of Mental Independence at New Harmony's Fourth of July celebration.

Summer 1826: The original vision of one unified "Community of Equality" has splintered into competing experiments.

Robert Owen offers William Maclure a lease on George Rapp's former home and 900 acres of land for $35,000 and an additional $11,000 payment in the future. Maclure agrees.

August 1826: William Maclure petitions the Indiana legislature to grant the Educational Society a charter. The vote is 15-4 against the request.

Fall 1826: Robert Owen spends more time away from New Harmony. William Maclure is frustrated and increasingly handles his investments separately. Scientists continue their work, largely ignoring community politics. Some families leave. Others move between the different sub-communities.

November 1826: William Maclure departs for New Orleans, Louisiana. Robert Owen demands the return of 900 acres of leased land and tries to obtain money from Maclure's brother, Alexander. Maclure refuses to pay $10,000 forfeiture as a result and the rift is deepened.

1827: The End of the Experiment

Early 1827: The relationship between Robert Owen and William Maclure deteriorates further. Financial disputes become bitter. Each blames the other for the experiment's struggles.

Spring 1827: Most of the original participants have either left or joined one of the smaller independent communities. The grand experiment is clearly ending. New Harmony still exists, but not as Robert Owen imagined it.

April 1827: The bonds issued to Robert Owen to purchase New Harmony are coming due to George Rapp, and he needs assistance. William Maclure buys the bonds from Rapp for $40,000 and demands the deed from Owen. Owen refuses, and Maclure calls for Owen's arrest.

May 1827: William Maclure's Orphans Manual Training School is established.

May 26, 1827: Robert Owen gives a farewell address at New Harmony. He admits the experiment didn't work as planned. He blames several factors: not enough skilled workers, people who came for the wrong reasons, and the difficulty of changing human nature quickly. But he doesn't call it a complete failure. He argues that important lessons were learned and that his ideas will eventually succeed elsewhere.

June 1, 1827: Robert Owen departs New Harmony for the last time.

Summer 1827: While Robert Owen has left New Harmony permanently, William Maclure stays, focusing on his School of Industry. Many scientists remain, too. New Harmony becomes their research base. What's left isn't a utopian community. It's a small town with some unusual residents and an extraordinary concentration of scientific talent.

December 1827: William Maclure visits Mexico for the first time.

1828 Onward

January 16, 1828: The first issue of the Disseminator of Useful Knowledge is published in New Harmony.

October 1828: William Maclure moves to Mexico. Marie Duclos Fretageot and Thomas Say act as his business agents to manage New Harmony in his absence.

1838: The first Workingmen's Institute is founded in New Harmony by William Maclure.

March 23, 1840: William Maclure dies in San Angel, Mexico.

November 17, 1858: Robert Owen dies in Newtown, Wales. His deathbed statement is recorded as: "My life was not useless; I gave important truths to the world, and it was only for want of understanding that they were disregarded. I have been ahead of my time."

What the Timeline Reveals

Two years. Multiple constitutions. Constant reorganization. Partnership collapse. Dwindling participation. By any measure that Robert Owen set for himself, the experiment in New Harmony failed.

But look more closely at what the timeline doesn't show: the conversations that happened here, the ideas that spread from this small Indiana town, the scientific work that continued for decades, the schools that kept teaching students, and the questions that people carried with them when they left.

The Owen-Maclure experiment's timeline is messy because building something new with imperfect people is always messy. Equality sounds simple until you have to define it. Cooperation sounds easy until someone doesn't do their share.

The community lasted two years. The questions it raised have lasted two centuries. That timeline is still running.