Altruria

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Altruria was a short-lived Utopian commune in Sonoma County, California based on Christian socialist principles and inspired by William Dean Howells's 1894 novel, A Traveler from Altruria.

Founded by Unitarian minister Edward Biron Payne and thirty of his followers near Santa Rosa in October 1894, Altruria prospered only for a few months. The Altrurians kept orchards and gardens and sold their produce in a shop in San Francisco, whose manager was Job Harriman. However, an ambitious project to build a hotel on community ground proved detrimental to the cause and, above all, financially ruinous, and the colony was disbanded in June 1895.

[edit] See also

• Llano del Rio, founded in 1914 by Job Harriman
• Altruism

[edit] Further reading

• Walter Rauschenbusch: Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907).

[edit] External link

• Steve Bjerklie: "Sowing the Seeds of Eden: Utopias, Communes, and the Search for a Better Way in Sonoma County".