Ferrer Colony and Ferrer Modern School

Goldman House
Location: 143 School Street
Piscataway, New Jersey
Built: 1915[2][3][4]
NRHP Reference#: 10000813[1]
NJRHP #: 4967[5]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP: October 1, 2010
Designated NJRHP: April 28, 2010

The Ferrer Colony and the associated Ferrer Modern School was an anarchist intentional community founded in 1911 in New York City and moved to Piscataway Township, New Jersey in 1915.[6] The Ferrer Modern School opened later. It lasted for more than 40 years before finally closing in 1953. The project was named after Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, an educator, activist and anarchist who founded the Modern School movement in Spain.[7][8]

Contents

Political and social structure

The colony was run by consensus decision-making, and continued only so long as the residents supported it. Anyone was free to leave or join, with no questions asked. The colony's most respected traditions were lecture groups and social gatherings. No rule was introduced or changed without lengthy discussions leading to consensus.

Although the Colony was very close-knit, it didn't interfere with people's family relationships. This gave Ferrer Colony and Modern School the reputation of being a center for free love, and like most intentional communities of the time, this brought new inhabitants. Although there were many lecture groups and social parties dedicated to women's rights within the colony, there is evidence to suggest that women were not always given equal treatment to men, particularly with regards to divorce proceedings.[7]

Property and goods

Every yard owned by the intentional community was bought for $100, and then resold to its inhabitants for $150. Many original inhabitants were poor, and had trouble making a life for themselves in their new home. By 1922, 90 homes, the peak number ever set up by the colony, were established. A sense of camaraderie grew with the temporarily poor community. Some of the homes were only lived in at the weekend; in the early 1920s, many people lived at the Ferrer Colony, but commuted to work in New York City.[7]

Goldman House

Samuel Goldman (1882-1969) began building the Russian House in the Modern School colony in 1915.[9][10][11] The building was added to the New Jersey Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.[1][5]

Decline

The Ferrer Colony and Modern School disbanded in 1953. During the Second World War the US Government bought the surrounding land, and the colony was subject to theft, vandalism.[7][12] Parents then stopped sending their children to the school. Between 1955 and 1958, the assets of the school were sold off.[13]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "New Jersey - Middlesex County". National Register of Historic Places. http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/nj/Middlesex/state.html. Retrieved 2011-07-05. 
  2. ^ Mark Sceurman. Weird NJ. Weird NJ. http://www.weirdnj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=194&Itemid=28. "Goldman built 143 School Street in 1915 in an anarchist community known as the Ferrar Colony and Modern School. Most of the street names in the commune reflected the ideals and ..." 
  3. ^ Randall Gabrielan. Piscataway Township. http://books.google.com/books?id=Sx24XbQ4N40C&pg=PA56&dq=Sam+Goldman+%22fellowship+farm%22&ei=dGC8Svi-JY3WygTCnIXODw#v=onepage&q=&f=false. "Sculptor Samuel Goldman built his house at 141 School Street with his own hands. It was an eclectic series of assembled cubes. ..." 
  4. ^ Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman. Uncle Sam's House, Anarchy in Piscataway. Weird NJ. http://books.google.com/books?id=G8UBV6j42-EC&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=Samuel+Goldman+Weird+NJ&source=bl&ots=yS9_yDnnsT&sig=djjeeYiNIiowcVWverQrJYlxsQk&hl=en&ei=U_K8SrGzGsbblAf8haiYBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=&f=false. 
  5. ^ a b "New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places – Middlesex County". NJ DEP – Historic Preservation Office. June 2, 2011. p. 7. http://www.state.nj.us/dep/hpo/1identify/lists/middlesex.pdf. Retrieved 2011-06-06. 
  6. ^ "Followers of Spanish Anarchist Take Over School Site in Jersey." (PDF). New York Times. May 18, 1915. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9A00E2DA123CE333A2575BC1A9639C946496D6CF. Retrieved 2009-05-16. "Three hundred followers of Francisco Ferrer, the anarchist, who was put to death in Barcelona, Spain, on October 9, 1909, dedicated yesterday a Ferrer school ..." 
  7. ^ a b c d David Wallechinsky (1975). The Peoples Almanac. Doubleday & Company. http://www.trivia-library.com/a/attempted-utopias-society-ferrer-colony-and-modern-school-part-2.htm. "Because of its anarchist philosophy the Ferrers did nothing to intrude on human relationships, whether those relationships were sanctioned by marriage, or not. As a result the Ferrer colony, like most utopian colonies, gained the reputation of being a haven for free love." 
  8. ^ Paul Avrich (2006). The Modern School Movement. AK Press. ISBN 1904859097. http://books.google.com/books?id=1K8_uoSQKkIC&pg=PR1&dq. "Colonies were founded at Stelton, New Jersey, and later at Mohegan, New York. Schools were opened in a dozen locations, more than anywhere else in the world ..." 
  9. ^ Mark Sceurman. Weird NJ. Weird NJ. http://www.weirdnj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=194&Itemid=28. "Goldman built 143 School Street in 1915 in a anarchist community known as the Ferrar Colony and Modern School. Most of the street names in the commune reflected the ideals and ..." 
  10. ^ Randall Gabrielan. Piscataway Township. http://books.google.com/books?id=Sx24XbQ4N40C&pg=PA56&dq=Sam+Goldman+%22fellowship+farm%22&ei=dGC8Svi-JY3WygTCnIXODw#v=onepage&q=&f=false. "Sculptor Samuel Goldman built his house at 141 School Street with his own hands. It was an eclectic series of assembled cubes. ..." 
  11. ^ Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman. Uncle Sam's House, Anarchy in Piscataway. Weird NJ. http://books.google.com/books?id=G8UBV6j42-EC&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=Samuel+Goldman+Weird+NJ&source=bl&ots=yS9_yDnnsT&sig=djjeeYiNIiowcVWverQrJYlxsQk&hl=en&ei=U_K8SrGzGsbblAf8haiYBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=&f=false. 
  12. ^ Laurence Veysey, The Communal Experience: Anarchist and Mystical Communities in Twentieth-Century America (Chicago, 1978)p. 77-78
  13. ^ "The Stelton Modern School". Talking History. http://www.talkinghistory.org/stelton/steltonhistory.html. Retrieved 2009-05-26. "Between 1955 and 1958 the Trustees of the school met to sell off the remaining property and divest the school's assets. An annual stipend was given to Alexis Ferm, now in retirement." 

External links

See also