Utopia, Ohio
Utopia was founded by followers of Charles Fourier in 1844 on the north bank of the Ohio River in what is now Clermont County, after the failure of a preceding utopian community on the site which had been called the Clermont Phalanx. The followers were of the belief that living communally in a utopian society would usher in a period of peace which would last for thousands of years. Lack of funds led to the community disbanding in three.
The residents of Utopia paid a fee of $25 to join the community, in exchange for a small house and garden, from which they would produce communal vegetables. When the community disbanded the land was sold to a group of Spiritualists, a religious sect which believed that the living and the dead coexist spiritually. Intended to build their own form of utopian community, the Spiritualists moved the only brick structure in the community, which served as the communal dining room and town hall, closer to the river bank. The job was completed in December 1847.
On December 13 1847 the Ohio River flooded and washed away many of the wooden homes of the community, with their residents seeking shelter in the town hall. When the flood swept away the south wall many were killed.
After the flood the town was organized as an individualist anarchist community, with individual ownership of property. In order to reside in the community an applicant needed an invitation from someone already a member. The basis of exchange within the community was labor rather than money. Goods could be acquired for the exchange of labor notes, to be converted into actual labor as required.
By the 1850s Utopia reached its peak of around 40 structures. It began to decline during the Civil War and by 1875, although several founders remained in the community, it was no longer attracting new residents and the project disappeared. Utopia remains today as an unincorporated community in Ohio of but a few residents.