Octagon Settlement Company.—The octagon plan of settlement originated with Henry S. Clubb of New York, who was one of the founders of the Vegetarian Settlement company (q. v.), and it seems that he had a faculty for promoting schemes of this character that were destined to end in failure. The Octagon Settlement company was organized early in the year 1856, the constitution declaring the following objects:

"1—To form a union of persons of strict temperance principles, who, in the admission of members, shall have a guaranty that they will be associated with good society, and that their children will be educated under the most favorable circumstances, and trained under good example.

"2—To commence a settlement in Kansas Territory, for the pursuit of agriculture and such mechanic arts as may be advantageously introduced.

"3—To promote the enactment of good and righteous laws in that territory, to uphold freedom, and to oppose slavery and oppression in every form."

The books were opened for stock subscriptions early in Feb., 1856, and by the end of the month enough subscriptions had been received to justify the company in beginning a settlement. The octagon plan contemplated the occupation of 16 square miles of land—four tracts each containing 4 square miles. In the center 584 acres were to be set apart for an agricultural college and model farm, and in the center of each of the four tracts a school house was to be established. Grouped around these educational institutions were the farms of the shareholders, each facing the center or one of the roads leading to the center. The advantages claimed for this plan were: 1—Every settler could enjoy the advantages of living in a village and at the same time be in the best possible position on his farm; 2—The proximity of neighbors would afford mutual aid and protection; 3—By this arrangement every family would be within easy reach of a school house, thus affording better educational advantages for the children; 4—Ease of association for social purposes, etc.

Lack of capital prevented the settlement from being established on this plan, but with a view to carrying it out later, a tract two miles square was selected in the southwestern part of the present Allen county, on the west bank of the Neosho river and immediately opposite the Vegetarian Settlement company's colony. In fact the two companies were so closely united that they were practically one. They were conceived by the same mind, were started in the same manner, and they perished about the same time from bad management and inanition.