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On June 27th, my husband Mike and I visited the Amana Colonies, a group of seven small communities in eastern Iowa that is the home of the Amana Society, the longest lived communal society in the US. In his first post on Wagner’s Ring Cycle, John Michael Greer mentions that Wagner’s political ideas were strongly shaped by pre-Marxist socialism. As one of those forms in the US, the Amana Colony’s rise, life, and fall may help us better understand what the appeal of communal living is and the factors that make most such attempts short-lived.
The story in this post is a mix of what the Colonies say about themselves and their history in the Amana Heritage Museum; a short history of the Colonies in Gardening the Amana Way by Lawrence Rettig, whose parents were part of the communal life of the Amana Society and who lives in his wife’s family’s house in South Amana, the last house built during the old order; and my own observations while I was there. I haven’t studied any history of the Colonies written by outsiders, who may have a different understanding of the Society’s history.
The Amana Colonies are seven small settlements whose members formed a communal society in the 1850s, all of whom adhered to a faith tradition that began in what is now Germany in the early 1700s. It’s an offshoot of Lutheranism whose distinctive belief is that God could and would communicate his will through inspired prophets in their own time. The two men who became the first inspired prophets called their belief Inspirationism and traveled to preach its doctrine, beginning small cells of believers. At this time they did not live communally.
It wasn’t until the early 1800s that the new religious expression gained enough adherents to be persecuted by the authorities and the general citizenry. A sympathetic prince in Hesse opened his castle to the Inspirationists. There they lived, gardened, and ate as a community, pooling their resources to do so, essential training for their later emigration to the US.
Under the charismatic elder Christian Metz, who received a vision that they were to emigrate, they purchased land near Buffalo, New York, with many in the community emigrating in 1843. The immigrants built six small villages and formed the communal Ebenezer Society, pooling all their resources and providing almost everything for the community through the efforts of the community. More Inspirationists from Europe came to the Society, which soon grew to where the elders felt it was too close to Buffalo. In 1854 another vision convinced the elders that they needed to move farther west. They purchased 26,000 acres in east central Iowa with all the resources they needed for buildings and agriculture so that they could provide for almost everything they needed for themselves. Once there, they formed a nonprofit, the Amana Society, with a constitution setting out how they governed themselves.
In the Amana Society, elders reigned supreme over secular and religious affairs. Everyone lived in assigned quarters, ate communally with all of the food prepared in communal kitchens that served about 40 people each, and worked every day but Sunday at their assigned tasks. Those tasks were separated by gender: women cooked in the communal kitchens, grew kitchen garden crops, taught at the schools for children and took care of children who were too young for school, and cared for the ill and the elderly, while men did everything else. Members of the Society built and maintained all of the buildings, including factories, and operated all the factories and businesses in the Colonies. Most of what the members of the Society produced was used within the Society, but they sold flour, woolen blankets from the woolen mill, printed calico cloth, and the surplus of some field crops to outsiders for the income they needed to purchase what they could not make themselves. The elders chose a few young men to receive medical education outside; upon their return as doctors they attended to the health needs of the members. The elders limited contact with the outside to a very few people. All monies earned went into a common pool to provide for the few things that the Society could not provide for itself, with the elders deciding what was needed and how to distribute the goods that were purchased. Members attended an average of 11 religious services during a week's time.
The members adhered strictly to monogamous, heterosexual behavior within the confines of marriage. Children attended Colony schools until the age of 14, at which point they were considered to be adults and were assigned by the elders to their jobs within the Colonies.
A convergence of factors in the 1920s led to the Society’s decline. By this time the growth in automobiles and the Society’s nearness to Iowa City and Cedar Rapids meant that visitors could easily get to the Colonies. Not only was it a strain on the finances and the time of the Society to provide hospitality for the visitors, as their religious faith demanded, but the visitors brought capitalistic behavior patterns to the knowledge of many members of the Society. Although forbidden by the elders from selling personal surplus, some members did so anyway when visitors asked them to sell furnishings, produce, and the like. They used the money they earned from the forbidden sales to buy themselves luxury goods like radios that could not be provided for through communal income, creating economic distinctions between members that had not existed previously.
Meanwhile, trust in the elders began to break down. The last of the inspirations from God was received in the 1880s. By the 1920s only a small proportion of the Colonies’ residents remembered the days when visions occurred. Radio, telephones, and automobiles brought to the members of the Society very different ideas on how to live their lives and conduct their affairs. Older children and adults began to rebel openly against the elders’ rules.
Then the Depression hit, reducing the Society’s income from outside sales. By 1932 the elders recognized that unless the community was willing to accept further sacrifices, the Society would need to reorganize itself. The elders prepared a proposal to change the Society from a nonprofit to a for-profit organization. A vote of the adult population in favor of the elder’s proposal ended communal living. The vote separated the Amana Society into two pieces: the Amana Society, Inc. was set up as a joint stock for-profit corporation, while the Amana Church Society became a religious nonprofit ministering to the spiritual needs of the community.
As soon as the two new organizations came into being, drastic changes affected everyone in the Colonies. The communal kitchens were dissolved – but since none of the residences had its own kitchen, each residence had to be quickly modified to add one. The women had to learn how to cook for their own family rather than for 40 people. Families had to buy the houses they lived in, and most of them acquired a mortgage to do so. Adults needed to earn an income for the first time and pay income tax. It must have been an extremely difficult time for everyone.
Amana today looks and functions like an artsy suburb. Many of the Colony buildings still exist, but only a few of them have not been remodeled extensively compared to photographs of them we saw in the museum. We could walk through a few of the buildings on the main road that have not been renovated and are open to visitors, but they were not furnished as they had been during the communal years. Most of the buildings on the main road contain businesses that depend on the tourist trade for their continued existence. Beyond the few streets from the communal era, a few more streets of mid 20th century ranch houses show where the current residents live. The Amana Society, Inc. still exists to my knowledge and has had its successes (it developed the first microwave oven, the Amana Radarange, and eventually sold the Amana brand to another corporation which still makes appliances under that label), but I don’t know if it employs a significant number of residents. Urban centers within an easy commute of the Colonies likely provide income for many residents who do not work for the businesses catering to the tourist trade. In our limited time there I did not learn if the Amana Church Society retains its spiritual role for current residents.
The story in this post is a mix of what the Colonies say about themselves and their history in the Amana Heritage Museum; a short history of the Colonies in Gardening the Amana Way by Lawrence Rettig, whose parents were part of the communal life of the Amana Society and who lives in his wife’s family’s house in South Amana, the last house built during the old order; and my own observations while I was there. I haven’t studied any history of the Colonies written by outsiders, who may have a different understanding of the Society’s history.
The Amana Colonies are seven small settlements whose members formed a communal society in the 1850s, all of whom adhered to a faith tradition that began in what is now Germany in the early 1700s. It’s an offshoot of Lutheranism whose distinctive belief is that God could and would communicate his will through inspired prophets in their own time. The two men who became the first inspired prophets called their belief Inspirationism and traveled to preach its doctrine, beginning small cells of believers. At this time they did not live communally.
It wasn’t until the early 1800s that the new religious expression gained enough adherents to be persecuted by the authorities and the general citizenry. A sympathetic prince in Hesse opened his castle to the Inspirationists. There they lived, gardened, and ate as a community, pooling their resources to do so, essential training for their later emigration to the US.
Under the charismatic elder Christian Metz, who received a vision that they were to emigrate, they purchased land near Buffalo, New York, with many in the community emigrating in 1843. The immigrants built six small villages and formed the communal Ebenezer Society, pooling all their resources and providing almost everything for the community through the efforts of the community. More Inspirationists from Europe came to the Society, which soon grew to where the elders felt it was too close to Buffalo. In 1854 another vision convinced the elders that they needed to move farther west. They purchased 26,000 acres in east central Iowa with all the resources they needed for buildings and agriculture so that they could provide for almost everything they needed for themselves. Once there, they formed a nonprofit, the Amana Society, with a constitution setting out how they governed themselves.
In the Amana Society, elders reigned supreme over secular and religious affairs. Everyone lived in assigned quarters, ate communally with all of the food prepared in communal kitchens that served about 40 people each, and worked every day but Sunday at their assigned tasks. Those tasks were separated by gender: women cooked in the communal kitchens, grew kitchen garden crops, taught at the schools for children and took care of children who were too young for school, and cared for the ill and the elderly, while men did everything else. Members of the Society built and maintained all of the buildings, including factories, and operated all the factories and businesses in the Colonies. Most of what the members of the Society produced was used within the Society, but they sold flour, woolen blankets from the woolen mill, printed calico cloth, and the surplus of some field crops to outsiders for the income they needed to purchase what they could not make themselves. The elders chose a few young men to receive medical education outside; upon their return as doctors they attended to the health needs of the members. The elders limited contact with the outside to a very few people. All monies earned went into a common pool to provide for the few things that the Society could not provide for itself, with the elders deciding what was needed and how to distribute the goods that were purchased. Members attended an average of 11 religious services during a week's time.
The members adhered strictly to monogamous, heterosexual behavior within the confines of marriage. Children attended Colony schools until the age of 14, at which point they were considered to be adults and were assigned by the elders to their jobs within the Colonies.
A convergence of factors in the 1920s led to the Society’s decline. By this time the growth in automobiles and the Society’s nearness to Iowa City and Cedar Rapids meant that visitors could easily get to the Colonies. Not only was it a strain on the finances and the time of the Society to provide hospitality for the visitors, as their religious faith demanded, but the visitors brought capitalistic behavior patterns to the knowledge of many members of the Society. Although forbidden by the elders from selling personal surplus, some members did so anyway when visitors asked them to sell furnishings, produce, and the like. They used the money they earned from the forbidden sales to buy themselves luxury goods like radios that could not be provided for through communal income, creating economic distinctions between members that had not existed previously.
Meanwhile, trust in the elders began to break down. The last of the inspirations from God was received in the 1880s. By the 1920s only a small proportion of the Colonies’ residents remembered the days when visions occurred. Radio, telephones, and automobiles brought to the members of the Society very different ideas on how to live their lives and conduct their affairs. Older children and adults began to rebel openly against the elders’ rules.
Then the Depression hit, reducing the Society’s income from outside sales. By 1932 the elders recognized that unless the community was willing to accept further sacrifices, the Society would need to reorganize itself. The elders prepared a proposal to change the Society from a nonprofit to a for-profit organization. A vote of the adult population in favor of the elder’s proposal ended communal living. The vote separated the Amana Society into two pieces: the Amana Society, Inc. was set up as a joint stock for-profit corporation, while the Amana Church Society became a religious nonprofit ministering to the spiritual needs of the community.
As soon as the two new organizations came into being, drastic changes affected everyone in the Colonies. The communal kitchens were dissolved – but since none of the residences had its own kitchen, each residence had to be quickly modified to add one. The women had to learn how to cook for their own family rather than for 40 people. Families had to buy the houses they lived in, and most of them acquired a mortgage to do so. Adults needed to earn an income for the first time and pay income tax. It must have been an extremely difficult time for everyone.
Amana today looks and functions like an artsy suburb. Many of the Colony buildings still exist, but only a few of them have not been remodeled extensively compared to photographs of them we saw in the museum. We could walk through a few of the buildings on the main road that have not been renovated and are open to visitors, but they were not furnished as they had been during the communal years. Most of the buildings on the main road contain businesses that depend on the tourist trade for their continued existence. Beyond the few streets from the communal era, a few more streets of mid 20th century ranch houses show where the current residents live. The Amana Society, Inc. still exists to my knowledge and has had its successes (it developed the first microwave oven, the Amana Radarange, and eventually sold the Amana brand to another corporation which still makes appliances under that label), but I don’t know if it employs a significant number of residents. Urban centers within an easy commute of the Colonies likely provide income for many residents who do not work for the businesses catering to the tourist trade. In our limited time there I did not learn if the Amana Church Society retains its spiritual role for current residents.
