La Réunion was a

utopian socialist Utopian socialism is the term often used to describe the first current of modern socialism and socialist thought as exemplified by the work of Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier, Étienne Cabet, and Robert Owen. Utopian socialism is often ...

community formed in 1855 by primarily French, Belgian, and

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

colonists on the south bank of the Trinity River in central

Dallas County, Texas Dallas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 2,613,539, and was estimated to be 2,656,028 in 2024, making it the List of counties in Texas, second-most populo ...

(US). The colony site is a short distance north of Interstate 30 near downtown

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. The founder of the community, Victor Prosper Considerant, was a French democratic socialist who directed an international movement based on

Fourierism Fourierism () is the systematic set of economic, political, and social beliefs first espoused by French intellectual Charles Fourier (1772–1837). It is based on a belief in the inevitability of communal associations of people who work and live t ...

, a set of economic, political, and social beliefs advocated by French philosopher François Marie Charles Fourier. Fourierism subsequently became known as a form of utopian socialism. Initially, plans for the colony were loosely structured by design as it was Considerant's intent to make it a "communal experiment administered by a system of direct democracy." The crux of the plan was to allow participants to share in profits derived from capital investments and the amount and quality of labor performed. La Réunion existed for only eighteen months with its demise attributable to financial insolvency, a shortage of skilled participants, inclement weather, inability to succeed at farming, and rising costs. Contemporary research indicates that founder and executive director Victor Prosper Considerant was primarily responsible for the failure. Convinced the colony was doomed before arriving, Considerant actively worked against the settlement and economic development of La Reunion, hoping instead to establish a new colony in Uvalde County.

Geography

Founded in 1855 approximately three miles west of the village of

, the town site of La Réunion was located on a limestone bluff overlooking the floodplain of the West Fork of the Trinity River to the north. The land purchased by the colony consisted of approximately 2000 acres of land was bounded largely by the present day streets of Hampton Rd, Westmoreland Rd, Canada Dr, and Davis St.

History

''Au Texas''

In the early 1850s, Victor Considerant was a major figure in the Fourierist movement, which had been suppressed in France after the election of

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

in 1848 and his subsequent

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

in 1851. Forced into exile in Belgium, Considerant accepted an invitation from

Arthur Brisbane Arthur Brisbane (December 12, 1864 – December 25, 1936) was one of the best-known American newspaper editors of the 20th century, as well as a real estate investor. Biography Brisbane was born in Buffalo, New York, to Albert Brisbane (1809� ...

to tour the United States and traveled widely there in 1852 and 1853. After personally inspecting an area near the three forks of the Trinity River in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

and being greatly impressed by the climate and opportunities there, he returned to Europe and published a book titled ''Au Texas'' advocating for the establishment of a colony in the region.

Organization

In ''Au Texas'', Considerant described a colonization company that would supervise the initial stages of settlement, and which would serve as a center from which different social experiments could be tried. Considerant was dubious that a Fourierist colony could succeed immediately under frontier conditions and in a foreign country. Initially, plans for the colony were loosely structured as Considerant intended to make it a "communal experiment administered by a system of

direct democracy Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the Election#Electorate, electorate directly decides on policy initiatives, without legislator, elected representatives as proxies, as opposed to the representative democracy m ...

." Many of the colonists at La Réunion, meanwhile, were eager to put the communal practices described by Fourier into action. The crux of the plan was to allow participants to share in profits derived from capital investments and the amount and quality of labor performed. The Societe de Colonisation Europeo Americaine was established on September 26, 1854 as a

joint-stock company A joint-stock company (JSC) is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareho ...

; the equivalent of $1 million worth of shares were sold to a range of investors including Jean-Baptiste-André Godin, promising six percent interest per year. As director, Considerant was guaranteed five-sixteenths of all stock issued. The

Phalange The phalanges (: phalanx ) are digital bones in the hands and feet of most vertebrates. In primates, the thumbs and big toes have two phalanges while the other digits have three phalanges. The phalanges are classed as long bones. Structure ...

was not to be fully communistic, but co-operative - with divisions of profit going in proportion to labor, capital and talent.

Establishment

Advance agent

François Cantagrel Félix François Jean Cantagrel was a French politician born June 27, 1810, in Amboise (Indre-et-Loire) and died February 27, 1887, in Paris. Biography Cantagrel was born into a family from Aveyron. A student in Paris in 1827, Cantagrel rec ...

was sent ahead to purchase land, departing from Belgium October 3. When he arrived in Texas, he unfortunately found that the abandoned

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

, which Considerant had hoped to use as a base for the colony, was no longer available. After a significant search, Cantagrel purchased in March 1920 acres of land for the colony $10270. The land included both the limestone cliffs where the townsite would be built as well as Trinity River bottom lands with rich soil for farming. Approximately 200 colonists arrived by ship near present-day

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. They walked overland to the site of their new colony approximately northward, with their possessions hauled by ox carts, and arrived on April 22, 1855. The town of Dallas had about 400 inhabitants at the time. The addition of the European colonists nearly doubled the population. The new arrivals spoke a different language from the settlers, believed in a different system of government and Catholic faith, and brought with them skills that the existing farmers did not possess. The watchmaking, weaving, brewing and storekeeping skills of the new colonists were ill-suited to the establishment of a colony, since they lacked the experience and ability to produce food for themselves. Although the colonists cultivated wheat and vegetables, they did not produce enough for their needs or in time; their biggest handicap was the uncooperative weather of Texas. A

blizzard A blizzard is a severe Winter storm, snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow th ...

in May 1856 destroyed the colony's crops and covered the Trinity River with ice. That summer the Texas heat created drought conditions, and what was left of the crops became eaten by an invasion of grasshoppers.

Struggles

Considerant met several disappointments upon his return to the United States in February 1855. The Texas legislature had largely discontinued the headright land grant system instead reserving large sections of land for a prospective transcontinental railroad. Additionally, the

Know Nothing The American Party, known as the Native American Party before 1855 and colloquially referred to as the Know Nothings, or the Know Nothing Party, was an Old Stock Americans, Old Stock Nativism in United States politics, nativist political movem ...

Party - a populist movement opposed to foreign immigration had suddenly emerged as a significant national force. However, most distressing to Considerant was the news that Savardan and Burkli had set sail with groups including women, children, and old men - dashing his hopes for a pioneer group to lay the foundation for more general settlement. On July 6, 1856, Cantagrel resigned his position in the colony after months of conflict with Considerant, particularly over his failure to compensate colonists who had chosen to leave the community. Considerant then worked out a deal with the colonists over withheld wages, but on the morning of July 8, before the agreement was signed, Considerant was found to have fled the colony, never to return.

Dissolution

On January 28, 1857, Allyre Bureau, founding partner and director since Considerant's resignation, gave formal notice of the colony's dissolution. The last La Réunion house collapsed in the 1930s. By 1954, the city of Dallas annexed the land that was once La Réunion.

Legacy

Many colonists went on to become prominent citizens in Dallas or Texas after the dissolution of the colony. Notable naturalists

Jacob Boll Jacob Boll (28 May 1828 – 29 September 1880) was a Swiss naturalist and entomologist especially noted for his exploration of the Texas Red Beds. Boll was born 1828 in Würenlos, Switzerland, and educated as a pharmacist in Switzerland and Germ ...

and his protege Julien Reverchon played important roles in documentation the flora of the American West. Reverchon was also a celebrated professor of botany at Baylor University College of Medicine and Pharmacy in Dallas. Swiss colonist

Benjamin Long Benjamin Long (March 7, 1838 – June 23, 1877) was a Swiss-born grocer and immigrant to Texas, where he served as Mayor of Dallas between 1868–70 and 1872–74. Biography Benjamin Long was born March 7, 1838, in Zürich, Switzerland. He marr ...

was twice mayor of Dallas and also recruited a significant number of his countrymen to immigrate to the city. Colonists Henry Boll and Jacob Nussbaumer were very early settlers and significant landowners in Old East Dallas. The Wilson Block on Swiss Avenue was built by a descendent of the colonists. The first brewery and butcher shop in Dallas were established by former colonists from La Réunion. Starting in the 1880s, former colonist and geologist Emil Remond bought a parcel just west of the original colony and began fabricating bricks and cement from the and clay and limestone there. In 1900, his efforts convinced a group of Galveston investors to establish a factory for the Texas Portland Cement & Lime Company on colony land adjacent to the

Texas and Pacific Railroad The Texas and Pacific Railway Company (known as the T&P) was created by federal charter in 1871 with the purpose of building a southern transcontinental railroad between Marshall, Texas, and San Diego, California. However its lines never went we ...

line. The industrial landscape that would develop has had a significant impact on surrounding West Dallas throughout the 20th century. The La Réunion Cemetery, also known as Fish Trap Cemetery, stands on original colony land and still serves as the final resting place for some colonists. It is maintained by the City of Dallas and is located in west Dallas . The

Daughters of the American Revolution The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (often abbreviated as DAR or NSDAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a patriot of the American Revolutionary War. A non-p ...

placed a small memorial to the colony at a nearby golf course. The La Réunion Dallas historical site received a historic marker on April 10, 1924. The cemetery received a historic marker in 1974. The Reunion District and

Reunion Tower Reunion Tower is a observation tower in Dallas, and one of the city's most recognizable landmarks. The tower is located at 300 Reunion Boulevard in the Reunion district of downtown Dallas, which is named after the mid-nineteenth century commune ...

, completed in 1978, were named after the colony and are located a few miles east of where La Réunion once stood.