A replica of a multi-purpose building constructed of the original stone. It is on the site once occupied by the Black Smith Shop.
Orderville was settled in March 1875, as an experiment in communal living promoted by Brigham Young. It was the most successful community of its kind. Not only were all things owned by the order in common, but the community ate together in a common dining hall where food was served from the common kitchen. The community prospered until the 1880s when challenges caused the order to be discontinued in 1890. Orderville became an incorpated town in 1935.
In Long Valley, Kane County, Southern Utah, is situated the village or settlement of Orderville, which was established about four years ago. The settlement was made mainly by the broken-up settlers from the Muddy colony. They were very poor and few in numbers, consisting of only fifteen families. The Orderville settlement was established under the immediate superintendence of Howard O. Spencer, formerly of Salt Lake City. From about sixty or seventy saints, the colony of New Order folks have increased to 370 and from abject poverty have risen to an abundance of the staple articles of life. Mr. Spencer, himself, was a well-to-do citizen of Salt Lake, and without the least reserve he put all his means into the "Order." The balance were all poor, as we have been informed. The community threw their means into one common fund and commenced living like one family. they all ate at one table and dressed in the same cloth. Their first work was to open a farm of over 300 acres. They had sheep and cows enough to make a small herd of each, and these were carefully looked after and kept on good pasturage. The ewes had lambs and the cows had calves, and Orderville kept its head above water. They were, as we have said, a poor community, but it was not the fault of their order; they would have been poor if each one had been paddling his own separate canoe.
Orderville soon had a schoolhouse as well as a farm. To these facilities were quickly added a tannery, a dairy and work-shops of different kinds. The women, like industrious matrons that they were, went into home-manufacture, and home-spun in a very short time clothed the community.
Mr. Spencer, the manager of the New Order, has managed well, keeping out of debt, living economically and creating comfort and plenty from the elements which he called around him. Though the fare has been plain, on one has suffered. All have had plenty, for all have shared alike. We are not posted as to the social and religious observances of the community, but being Mormons we suppose they live much as do those people in Beaver City and other settlements in Utah. Hard work being the great necessity, the Orderville people have most likely found little time to follow the fashions or visit Long Branch or Cape May. But as they have a magnificent climate the year round, they do not require sea-breezes in the summer, for the valley is not too cold in winter nor too warm in summer, and is much better suited to the circumstances of the Orderville people than would be Long Branch.
As an evidence of the growth and prosperity of Orderville, we may mention in this connection, that for the last two years it has had grain to loan to its neighbors. It now has lumber to sell and all the fat beef, cheese, milk and butter that the 370 stomaches for which it has to provide can consume. In a couple of years more it will have all these necessaries to sell in large quantities.
Orderville has proven a success and is now so fairly started on the road to prosperity that it is evident that within the next few years it will be one of the most independent communities in Utah, having risen from the possession of almost nothing.
The system to which the Orderville people are devoting themselves is that of common stock, the philosophy of which is well understood at the present day, many able thinkers having given it their attention and written extensively upon it. There are at this time a number of such communities in the United States and all of them, as far as we known, are in a most prosperous condition. A community living together in this way must prosper if they are industrious. On the principle that there is strength in unity, they must ever succeed. It brings to their aid all that there is in economy and well directed effort. It is by observing the co-operative principles upon which common stock is based, that communities have succeeded in all civilized countries. And on the other hand, it is a departure from these principles that fills the world with inequality and want.
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A replica of a multi-purpose building constructed of the original stone. It is on the site once occupied by the Black Smith Shop. |
Common Stock possession has been recognized by the benevolent school of philosophers in almost every age as the normal condition of society. In our own times, such minds as Robert Dale Owen, Emerson, John Stuart Mill and Horace greeley have recognized its claims. It is suggested by our very necessities as well as by our civilization and Christianity. It has but one foe, and that is selfishness. All that any human being can possess in this world is his board and clothing, and this is made sure to him in the Orderville community. But the true nature of the institution, as well as its superior benefits, are exhibited most clearly in the provisions which it makes for the support of old age and infirmity. Orderville will take the same care of its aged and enfeebled that it shows to its most fortunate members. No sick person is required to labor, and no old man or woman will ever lack the comforts of life. Rich men, of course, will not favor Common Stock, they do not need it, and the very selfishness which has enabled them to accumulate their wealth will dictate a different philosophy. they have made their money by individual exertion, and very naturally consider that they are the proper persons to handle it. This, of course, is their privilege, and Orderville will be the last to quarrel with them about their natural rights. It is the poor that we should be concerned about, the rich can take care of themselves and live as they choose.
There is one fact in relation to Mr. Spencer's order which we may not pass in silence. In collecting his community, like Jesus Christ, he has had respect to the most needy. He has gathered together many people who have shown themselves incapable of supplying their natural wants; men with large families, who have not known what it was to be free form the wolf at their doors. A great many of the Orderville people never saw their way clear to a year's provisions ahead till they put themselves under Mr. Spencer's management. Now they do not need to pray for their daily bread, for they have two or three years' supply on hand.
It is a fact that every observing person has remarked that a great many of the people who have immigrated to Utah are incapable of making a living for themselves. They need just such men as Mr. Spencer to plan for them and direct their energies. They need an Orderville, and thank God one has been established in Southern Utah, and we hope that many more will be built up in the course of the next few years.
The man who plans for the poor, be he Christian or Pagan, is our man. We will write in his behalf, and the Square-Dealer is soon to be published to champion his cause.
Mr. Spencer, the founder of our Orderville community, has our resects and the Orderville community our most sincere wish for their future growth and prosperity. Success we say to any scheme that will feed the hungry, clothe the naked and support the weak and feeble of our race. -- Beaver Enterprise, Feb. 10th.
[Source: Deseret News, Vol. XXVI, No. 4, Feb. 28, 1877, p. 2]Last Updated: 03.07.2018