Icaria-Speranza Utopian Colony

Icarians were meant to hold everything in common, as Étienne Cabet's novel Voyage en Icarie prescribed. Jules Leroux and Armand Dehay brought a few families west from the Iowa colony at Corning, bought 885 acres on the Russian River for $15,000, and named the place Speranza, hope. Here they bent the doctrine: members lived in separate houses, ate together, and drew a small monthly payment. They planted 42 acres of Zinfandel but had no press to make wine. The colony dissolved in 1886, and its last buildings came down after the plaque went up.

What the plaque says

Icaria-Speranza Utopian Colony Icaria-Speranza was a utopian community based on the writings of French philosopher Etienne Cabet. In 1881, at Cloverdale, French immigrant families led by the Dehay and Leroux families began their social experiment in cooperative living based on solidarity and depending on an agrarian economy. It lasted until 1886. Icaria-Speranza was the only Icarian colony in California and the last of seven established throughout the United States. On this site stood the Icarian schoolhouse, deeded to the county in 1886. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 981 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the National Icarian Heritage Society and the Cloverdale Historical Society, July 22, 1989.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

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