Town Resolution

Resolution 25-2

Town of New Harmony, Indiana
Owen-Maclure Experiment Bicentennial

A RESOLUTION OF THE TOWN BOARD OF NEW HARMONY, INDIANA, RECOGNIZING THE BICENTENNIAL OF ROBERT OWEN'S "COMMUNITY OF EQUALITY" IN NEW HARMONY, INDIANA.

WHEREAS, Robert Owen was born in Newtown, Wales, in 1771 and grew up to become a wealthy cotton mill owner and social reformer from New Lanark, Scotland; and

WHEREAS, He envisioned creating a "New Moral World," in the United States, so he purchased the "specified property of the Harmony Society at New Harmony on the Wabash" on April 26, 1825. He would put his social theories to the test by establishing a "Community of Equality;" and

WHEREAS, the Constitution for the Preliminary Society was established on May 1, 1825; and

WHEREAS, William Maclure agreed to finance Robert Owen's venture in November 1825 and travelled to New Harmony with fellow natural scientists and educators on the keelboat Philanthropist, also known as the "Boatload of Knowledge," and arrived on January 23, 1826; and

WHEREAS, members of the Preliminary Society resolve to form the Community of Equality and established a new constitution on February 5, 1826; and

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

WHEREAS, Robert Owen gives his farewell address at New Harmony on May 26, 1827, and departs thereafter on June 1, 1827; and

WHEREAS, Robert Owen's "Community of Equality" was the first attempt at Utopian Socialism in the United States, which prompted several other Owenite experiments in the United States and around the world; and

WHEREAS, Robert Owen's "Community of Equality" brought significant contributions to American scientific and educational theory, study and practice through the work of Robert Owen's children and the scientists and educators who remained in New Harmony following the dissolution of the experiment.

NOW, THEREFORE, THE TOWN BOARD OF NEW HARMONY DOES RESOLVE:

SECTION 1. That the Town Board of New Harmony does hereby resolve that the Bicentennial of Robert Owen's "Community of Equality" shall commence on May 1, 2025, and extend through June 1, 2027.

THE ABOVE RESOLUTION was introduced and duly passed at a meeting of the Town Board of New Harmony, Indiana, held on April 15, 2025, and is to become effective immediately.