Single Tax Colony

Single Tax Colonies (or Single Tax Enclaves^[1]) were utopian communities founded with the hopes of implementing the ideas of Henry George and his highly popular book, Progress and Poverty.

Background[edit]

From the years of 1895 to 1927, a series of ten single tax colonies were formed in the United States.^[2] Those included the Tahanto colony, at Harvard, the Rose Valley colony, near Philadelphia, Free Acres, in New Jersey, the Halidon colony, in Cumberland Mills, Maine, and colonies in Arden, Delaware and Fairhope, Alabama.^[3] A group of single taxers even founded the colony of Sant Jordi in the European Country of Andorra.^[4][5]

The most well known of those colonies are Fairhope, Alabama, and Arden, New Jersey; both of which are still thriving communities today.

Legacy[edit]

Several of the former single tax communities, such as Rose Valley^[6] and Arden,^[7] are listed as National Historic Landmarks.

In his book Schools of To-morrow, John Dewey argues that the educational experiment at Fairhope presents a role model for progressive education.^[8][9]

While living in Arden in 1903,^[10] Lizzie Magie invented a game she called The Landlord's Game, which became the basis for one of the best selling games in world history, Monopoly. Other notable former residents of Arden include Upton Sinclair and Mother Bloor, a founder of the Communist Party USA.^[11]

References[edit]