Planned and Utopian Communities

This is the tenth article in the series derived from the book Exceptional Places. Of the 24 communities, or groups of communities, profiled in the book Exceptional Places, seven are profiles here. They fall into three categories: garden cities, religious utopian settlements, and other ideal communities.

Garden Cities and Greenbelt Communities

The Garden City Movement emerged in the twentieth century as a progressive urban planning paradigm advocating for the development of satellite communities surrounding central cities, separated by greenbelts. These garden cities aimed to achieve a balanced mix of residential, industrial, and agricultural areas. Ebenezer Howard first proposed the concept in 1898, envisioning a way to combine the advantages of both the countryside and the city while avoiding their drawbacks. Following Howard's model, several garden cities were constructed in or near London in the early twentieth century, including Letchworth, Brentham Garden Suburb, and Welwyn Garden City. Since then, many other garden cities inspired by this model have been built worldwide. While the garden cities profiled here have evolved and adapted to the automobile age, they remain worthy of exploration, planners and designers as well as historical and cultural tourists.

Norris, Tennessee

Norris, Tennessee, was built in 1933 as a model planned community by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to accommodate workers constructing Norris Dam on the Clinch River. The town, named in honor of Senator George W. Norris, lies within the Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area, approximately 21 miles from downtown Knoxville. In 2020, Norris had a population of 1,599. The town's plan drew inspiration from the garden city model, incorporating innovative concepts of landscape design. Curvilinear streets followed the natural terrain, and houses were strategically positioned for aesthetic appeal. A central common and an outer greenbelt provided ample open space for residents. The houses, among the first all-electric homes, were constructed using local wood and stone, based on twelve basic house designs, each featuring a porch and fireplace. Norris stands as the first application of the greenbelt design model in a self-contained town in the United States. It also played a significant role in introducing modern telephone systems to Tennessee. The nearby Museum of Appalachia serves as a popular attraction.

Radburn, New Jersey

Radburn, located twelve miles west of New York City in New Jersey, was an experimental community established in 1928 and designated as a National Historic Landmark in 2005. Marketed as "the town for the motor age," Radburn was designed by landscape architects and planners Clarence Stein and Henry Wright. The community introduced cul-de-sacs with single-family homes and duplexes connected by common spaces, setting a precedent for future planned communities. Radburn's innovative design primarily focused on creating separate automobile and pedestrian environments. Houses incorporated a "double-front" design, with the street side featuring garage entrances and the pedestrian side resembling English mews, where the primary rooms faced each other.

The landscape architect Marjorie Sewell Cautley deliberately selected native plants for the parks and open spaces. The intersection of commuter rail lines and an arterial highway facilitated the establishment of the central shopping district. Radburn-Fair Lawn station, designed by Clarence Stein in 1930, was accompanied by retail stores, often featuring offices and apartments above street level. Following bankruptcy in 1934, building halted and surrounding lands were sold off. Single-family-style housing was developed during the postwar housing boom. Radburn, Chatham Village, and Baldwin Hills stand as part of the enduring legacy of Clarence Stein and Henry Wright.

Greenbelt, Maryland

Three Greenbelt communities were planned and developed during the Great Depression under the New Deal's Resettlement Administration: Greenbelt, Maryland; Greendale, Wisconsin; and Greenhills, Ohio. These three towns are a notable part of the legacy of garden city planning in the United States.

The City of Greenbelt is located in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. at the intersection of the Capital Beltway and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. It is the first and the largest of three New Deal Greenbelt Towns, the other two being Greenhills, Ohio, and Greendale, Wisconsin. The historic core of the city was listed on the National Register in 1980 and was designated a National Landmark Historic District in 1997.

Greenbelt was planned by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and funded by Congress through the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935. It was established to create jobs and to demonstrate the benefits of Garden City planning concepts. The Garden City Movement originated in Britain at the turn of the century as a model of combining the benefits of living near a city with a bucolic and healthful rural setting (see the preceding section).

The greenbelt concept gained traction throughout the United States, Canada, and elsewhere. Examples of greenbelt towns in the United States inspired by those in England or the federal experimental towns not profiled above are Residence Park in New Rochelle, New York; Woodbourne in Boston; Garden City, Georgia; Sunnyside, Jackson Heights, and Forest Hills Gardens, in New York City; Buckingham in Virginia; the Lake Vista in New Orleans; Baldwin Hills Village in Los Angeles; and the Cleveland suburb of Parma.

Institutional racism was an entrenched fact of life in the United States in the 1930s, and the greenbelt cities made little progress in confronting that problem. African Americans were excluded until the early 1960s when the civil rights movement spurred new legislation firmly establishing equal rights for all people.

Greenbelt, Maryland is now engulfed in urban sprawl and no longer represents the greenbelt ideal. The city’s population has grown steadily since its founding, from a population of 2,831 in 1940 to 24,921 in 2020, declining only slightly during the 1970s.

Other garden cities profiled in Exceptional Places are: Chatham Village, Pennsylvania; Reston, Virginia; Shaker Heights, Ohio; Greenhills, Ohio; and Greendale, Wisconsin. Several others are noted but not profiled; these include Residence Park in New Rochelle, New York; the Woodbourne Historic District in Boston; Hilton Village Historic District in Newport News, Virginia; Buckingham in Arlington County, Virginia; the Lake Vista neighborhood in New Orleans; Garden City, Georgia; Baldwin Hills Village in Los Angeles; and the Cleveland suburb of Parma.

Religious Utopian Places

America was viewed by many Europeans as a blank slate to “begin anew” far away from the entrenched institutions and corrupt influences of Europe. It was an uncorrupted place where they could remake society. They saw themselves building the glorious “shining city on the hill.”

Old Salem and Bethania, North Carolina

Bethania and Old Salem, located ten miles apart, are historically and culturally intertwined, making them worthy of examination side by side. Founded in 1759 by the Moravian Brethren of Wachovia, Bethania served as a congregational, agricultural, and trades community. Situated on the outskirts of Winston-Salem, it holds the distinction of being the first planned Moravian settlement in North Carolina. Today, it remains the only independent, continuously inhabited Moravian village in the South and the region’s sole known Germanic-type linear agricultural village. With a population of 341 in 2020, Bethania stands as a testament to its enduring Moravian heritage.

Bethania is one of the earliest European settlements in North Carolina, located near the Great Wagon Road on the western boundary of the Wachovia Tract. The chosen site offered fertile bottomlands, hardwood hillsides, and upland terraces. Initially recognized in the 1975 National Register nomination for its architectural artifacts within the 1759 town plan, subsequent research has revealed a more nuanced history. The Moravian Church mandated a comprehensive plan for land allocation and usage, known as the "Town Lot," spanning 2,000 acres.

Southeast of Bethania lies Old Salem, another Moravian settlement established in 1766. Now a National Historic Landmark, Old Salem also bears witness to the rich Moravian history in the area. The Moravians' arrival in America was facilitated through arrangements made by James Oglethorpe, the founder of Georgia, who forged a friendship with Nikolaus Ludwig, Reichsgraf von Zinzendorf—a German religious and social reformer and bishop of the Moravian Church. The Moravian denomination traces its roots back to 1457 and originated from followers of Jan Hus in the Kingdom of Bohemia and Moravia (now part of the Czech Republic). Persecuted by the dominant Catholic Church, these dissenters found refuge on Count Zinzendorf’s estate, where they established the village of Herrnhut in 1722. In 1735, many Moravians migrated to America, initially settling in Savannah with Oglethorpe’s protection. Subsequently, they ventured to North Carolina, founding Bethania and Salem, as well as to Pennsylvania, where they established various communities such as Bethlehem (profiled earlier), Nazareth, and Lititz.

Old Salem, positioned on the southern edge of Winston-Salem, served as the religious, commercial, and administrative hub of the vast Wachovia area spanning nearly 99,000 acres. Meanwhile, Bethania and its neighboring villages, including Bethabara and Friedberg, focused primarily on farming. In 1857, the Church relinquished control of Old Salem, which eventually merged with the adjacent municipality of Winston in 1913, forming Winston-Salem.

Among the noteworthy inhabitants tracing their ancestry back to Salem's early history is the Black Moravian congregation of St. Philips—the sole historic Black Moravian congregation in the United States. Although the congregation now has a sanctuary in north Winston-Salem, the historic Brick Church in Old Salem remains consecrated and is used for quarterly services. Recent archaeological research has shed light on the African American population's historical presence in Salem, revealing that the Moravians educated enslaved community members, imparting literacy skills and teaching them various trades.

Bethabara, the first Moravian settlement in North Carolina, is currently an uninhabited historic district that serves primarily as an archaeological site. Regarded as the seed of a unique cultural influence that shaped subsequent development in the western Piedmont, Bethabara was founded in 1753.

While Bethania offers art and historic crafts throughout the year, the annual Black Walnut Festival provides an excellent opportunity to explore the community's offerings. In Old Salem, restored and reconstructed buildings staffed by living-history interpreters offer glimpses into Moravian life during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These skilled interpreters specialize in various trades such as tinsmithing, blacksmithing, cobbling, gunsmithing, baking, and carpentry. About 70 percent of the buildings in the historic district are original contributing structures. The Old Salem Museums & Gardens, housed in a modern building within the district, is home to the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA). MESDA showcases regional decorative arts of the early South, including architecture, needlework, furniture, paintings, textiles, ceramics, and metals.

New Harmony, Indiana

New Harmony, situated along the Wabash River in southwestern Indiana, embodies a rich history. It was originally settled by German pietist Johann Georg Rapp and his communal society of Lutherans who had separated from the official church in Württemberg, Germany. In 1824, the settlers decided to return to Pennsylvania, leading to the sale of the town to Robert Owen—an industrialist and social reformer from Wales—in 1825. Owen aspired to establish a utopian community and renamed the town New Harmony. Although Owen's social experiment faltered after two years, it left a lasting impact on American views regarding education and scientific research. Owens’ idealism led to the establishment of more than a dozen communities in the United States between 1825 and 1830, although they all failed within a few years.

New Harmony transformed into a center for scientific exchange and introduced institutions such as a public library, a civic drama club, and a coeducational public school system. In 1937, the State of Indiana established the New Harmony Memorial Commission to preserve the town's historical resources. Over time, the town has garnered several historic designations, including National Historic Landmark status. The New Harmony National Historic Landmark District, designated in 1965, encompasses a significant portion of New Harmony, while the separate National Register District covers 155 acres and includes at least 214 contributing buildings out of a total inventory of 271 structures.

Other religious communities profiled in Exceptional Places are Ambridge, Harmony, and Old Economy Village, Pennsylvania; Bishop Hill, Illinois; Mt. Pleasant, Ohio; Shaker Communities; Amana Colonies, Iowa; St. Mary's, Maryland; Zoar, Ohio; and Nauvoo, Illinois.

Ideal Communities

Other utopian communities focused on education, equality, and economic opportunity. Some were inspired by the defeat of the Old South and the end of slavery.

Boley, Oklahoma

Boley, Oklahoma was incorporated in 1905 as Boley, Creek Nation, Indian Territory. The name was changed to Boley, Oklahoma when the State of Oklahoma was admitted to the Union in 1907. Boley was settled by Creek Freedmen, descendants of people who had been enslaved by the Creek Nation at the time of Indian Removal in the 1830s. After the Civil War, the federal government negotiated new treaties with tribes that had been allied with the Confederacy, requiring them to emancipate those who had been enslaved and award them tribal membership. Those residents became known as Creek Freedmen. They and their descendants subsequently set up independent townships like Boley. Booker T. Washington, after a visit to Boley in 1905, declared that it was, "the most enterprising, and in many ways the most interesting of the Negro towns in the United States."

Boley is a National Historic Landmark District. It is of national historical significance as representative of the many towns established by blacks who migrated from the South to northern and western communities in hopes of escaping oppression and making new lives for themselves. It was the largest of the exclusively black towns in Oklahoma and probably the largest all-Black town in the United States.

Boley's political strength was a major factor in Oklahoma's adoption of an amendment to its constitution disenfranchising blacks. This law later led to the historic Supreme Court decision in 1915, Guinn and Beal v. United States, declaring acts to disenfranchise blacks unconstitutional under the provisions of the Fifteenth Amendment. Boley is a symbol of the sacrifices and efforts of its early pioneers who sought to demonstrate the ability of black men to govern themselves.

Bypassed by railroads in the late 1800s and struggling through the Great Depression and Dust Bowl of the 1930s, most Boley residents sought opportunities elsewhere. Today, it is a near-ghost town with many abandoned, crumbling buildings; it is a place for the creative visitor to reflect on history and acquire a sense of the lives of formerly enslaved people and their descendants during the Jim Crow Era. The town’s population stood at 1,091 in 2020.

Fourier Utopian Socialist Communities

Another significant chapter in the history of utopian communities can be traced back to the ideas of François Marie Charles Fourier (1772-1837). As an early socialist and philosopher, Fourier's views, once considered radical, have found resonance in modern times. He inspired a movement of “intentional communities,” often referred to as Fourier Utopian Socialist Communities. These communities sought to put into practice Fourier's beliefs in cooperation and concern as the keys to social success. While many of the original communities, such as Utopia, Ohio; La Reunion, Texas; and Brook Farm, Massachusetts, have evolved into modern towns that no longer strictly adhere to Fourier's design, their existence serves as a testament to the enduring influence of his ideas.

The next article in this series profiles two of the 34 Indigenous cities profiled in Exceptional Places. Nearly all are National Historic Landmarks.

Notes

Quotes are from the Nomination Forms for NHLD or NRD designations. See Exceptional Places for full profiles.

Thomas D. Wilson, M.S., AICP is a city planner and writer. This article is derived from his forthcoming book, Exceptional Places: A Comparative Field Guide to Iconic and Extraordinary Historic Districts. He is the author of The Oglethorpe Plan: Enlightenment Design in Savannah and Beyond (University of Virginia Press, 2012); The Ashley Cooper Plan: The Founding of Carolina and the Origins of Southern Political Culture (University of North Carolina Press, 2016); Charleston and Savannah: The Rise, Fall, and Reinvention of Rival Cities (University of Georgia Press, 2023); The Library of James Edward Oglethorpe (KDP, 2021); James Edward Oglethorpe: A Life in the Enlightenment (Ingram, 2023).