Octagon and Vegetarian Society (1856)
AUTHOR: Clubb, Henry Stephen
PUBLICATION: “Octagon and Vegetarian Society.” The Kansas Herald of Freedom Vol. II no. 13 (3 May 1856): 3 (col. 2-3).
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82006863/1856-05-03/ed-1/seq-3/
KEYWORDS: community, food, utopia
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SUMMARY (Ridvan Askin, edited Deborah Madsen):
This is a detailed report on the beginnings of the Kansas vegan utopian community that Clubb co-founded. This vegan and abolitionist community was created in accordance with Orson Squire Fowler's octagon house architecture (hence the name Octagon City). Much of the report concerns the geography, geology, flora, and climate of the place, with the (planned) infrastructure of the settlement including plans for a saw mill, a stone dam, a water-power mill, a school, and a water-cure establishment. According to Clubb, membership of the two settlement companies – the Octagon Settlement Company and the Vegetarian Settlement Company – consists of “nearly one-hundred individuals, most of whom are heads of families.” Only the Vegetarian Settlement Company adhered to a strictly vegan lifestyle while the Octagon company explicitly allowed for non-vegetarians). Clubb maintains that “[a]ll the elements for a flourishing city are comprised within the limits now occupied by these two companies” (3).
He also claims that the settlers are on good terms with the neighboring Osage community, that the “live stock of the Companies already consists of about twenty head of working oxen and cows, with five or six horses,” that a “grist mill is already on the ground,” that a “vegetarian blacksmith” is opening up shop, and that “[f]armers, carpenters, cabinet-makers and others are present, and commencing operations.” Clubb also explicitly notes that the settlement's “[v]egetarians generally are in robust health and good spirits,” including a newborn and its mother, and he urges all members not yet present “to come to the settlement as early as possible, in order to secure such locations as they may prefer.” He has no doubt that the “Companies now are in a position to show good security for investment in the valuable lands and timber secured, so that the permanency and prosperity of these settlements are self-evident” (3).