Octagon City is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

Allen County, Kansas Allen County is a county located in the southeast portion of the U.S. state of Kansas. Its county seat and most populous city is Iola. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,526. The county was named for William Allen, a U.S. Senato ...

, United States. It was a failed

intentional community An intentional community is a voluntary residential community designed to foster a high degree of group cohesiveness, social cohesion and teamwork. Such communities typically promote shared values or beliefs, or pursue a common vision, wh ...

that was founded in 1856 about six miles (10 km) south of

Humboldt, Kansas Humboldt is a city in Allen County, Kansas, United States. It is situated along the Neosho River. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 1,847. History 19th century Humboldt, originally an American settlement named after ...

, near the

Neosho River The Neosho River is a tributary of the Arkansas River in eastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma in the United States. Its tributaries also drain portions of Missouri and Arkansas. The river is about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National ...

. It was created by the Vegetarian Kansas Emigration Company, headed by prominent

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

Henry S. Clubb and entrepreneurs Charles DeWolfe and John McLaurin. The original intent was to build a

utopian A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', which describes a fictional island soci ...

vegetarian commune on the south side of the Neosho River, but investor interest in a non-vegetarian moral community was much higher and the decision was made to build Octagon City on the north side of the Neosho River to make the entire project sustainable. Members of Octagon City were under oath to educate their children and uphold a stable life. The city's design was influenced by

Orson Squire Fowler Orson Squire Fowler (October 11, 1809 – August 18, 1887) was an American phrenologist and lecturer. He also popularized the octagon house in the middle of the nineteenth century. Early life The son of Horace and Martha (Howe) Fowler, he ...

, a leading advocate of

octagon house Octagon houses are eight-sided houses that were popular in the United States and Canada mostly in the 1850s. They are characterized by an octagonal (eight-sided) Floor plan, plan and often feature a flat roof and a veranda that circles the hous ...

architecture. Octagon City would feature an octagonal town square from which would radiate eight roads. Between the roads, in a four-square-mile area, 64 families were to build octagonal farmhouses with octagonal barns. During May 1856, about 100 participating settlers arrived at the development site, expecting a blossoming town with

grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

and sawmill, but finding only one log cabin, one plow, and dozens of tents sheltering families. The site was very remote, and the nearest source of goods was in

Fort Scott, Kansas Fort Scott is a city in and the county seat of Bourbon County, Kansas, Bourbon County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 7,552. It is named for Gen. Winfield Scott. The cit ...

, about away, so residents were forced to adapt and improvise. Mosquitoes, a flu-like epidemic ascribed to malnutrition, exhaustion, or malaria, the threat of

border ruffian Border ruffians were Proslavery thought, proslavery raiders who crossed into the Kansas Territory from Missouri during the mid-19th century to help ensure the territory entered the United States as a Slave states and free states, slave state. ...

s, and strong thunderstorms were a continuous problem. By early July, the springs feeding the community had dried up. Some residents chose to live at an Osage settlement a few miles away, which had a flowing spring, but they were forced to flee back to Octagon City upon learning that the tribe was about to return from its annual buffalo hunt. The summer months saw a continuous exodus of settlers, and the population quickly thinned. By August, crop theft by outsiders had become a major problem. Very few of those who remained past summer intended to make permanent homes in Kansas. They soon left. By spring 1857, only four of the original residents were left, and they reported more illness as the weather became warmer again. The area remained remote until 1873 when the railroad arrived. The town of

Chanute, Kansas Chanute () is a city in Neosho County, Kansas, Neosho County, Kansas, United States. Founded on January 1, 1873, it was named after railroad engineer and aviation pioneer Octave Chanute. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the po ...

, sprang up four miles (6 km) south of the former commune. Nothing survives of the settlement except the name of nearby Vegetarian Creek. A marker erected near the site in 1986 was removed in 2001, due to repeated vandalism, and donated to the St. Paul/Neosho County Museum.

References

External links

*
Went to Kansas
- An Ill-Fated Expedition to That Fairy Land, and its Sad Results'', Miriam Davis Colt, 1862.

by James Gregory
Vandalism forces historian to quit post after 15 years
''

Dodge City Daily Globe The ''Dodge City Daily Globe'' is a daily newspaper based in Dodge City, Kansas, United States, and owned by CherryRoad Media. History The paper was founded in 1878 as the ''Ford County Globe''. It was retitled as the ''Globe Live Stock Journ ...

'', October 3, 2001.
Octagon City - The Vegetarian Haven
* Allen County maps
CurrentHistoric
KDOT {{Authority control Communalism Utopian communities in the United States Populated places established in 1856 Former populated places in Kansas Former populated places in Allen County, Kansas Vegetarian communities Intentional communities in the United States 1856 establishments in Kansas Territory Architecture related to utopias

See also

References

Further reading

External links