This is the first in a series of articles meant to define for our readers why Fairhope is such a rare and unique place. As we contemplate our future, it is important to know where we’ve been so we can understand where we’re going.

Utopia was the title of the 1512 book in which Sir Thomas More created an imaginary place where perfection reigned in social, moral, and political life. The name “Utopia,” which More invented, was ultimately derived from Greek roots meaning “no place” or “nowhere.”

The name surfaced again in the latter decades of the 19th century as a way to describe various religious and social ideal communities created mostly in reaction to what many considered unfair social or economic conditions. Communism, socialism, anarchosyndicalism and several other “-isms” all found adherents in the midst of this free-for-all contention for the hearts and minds of others. Communes were built, religious settlements were created, and new communities of like-minded people started to come together all across North America. In all, there were approximately 250 such experiments, all started with high hopes and fervent zeal to accomplish great things.

In amongst these experiments were a group of high-minded intellectuals, mostly from the Des Moines, Iowa, area, who had over several years become inspired by the writings of Henry George, especially “Progress & Poverty,” a runaway bestseller (three million copies sold in the 1880s), which had outlined an economic system that allowed all to achieve by making land available to those who would use it to produce or create, paying only an annual rent set fairly by the community; land could not be held solely for speculation. George felt that it is the community that creates a large part of the individual’s value, and that by careful planning and cooperation in areas of mutual concern, a model system would arise, supported by the economic rent placed on the land. This came to be called the “single tax” theory (though not by George himself), which allowed labor and capital to be free from government taxation, while the land (the source of all wealth) was the sole source of revenue used to run the government.

Now Henry George had grand plans for his theory, and single-tax clubs sprouted up all across the nation, including in Des Moines, Iowa. It was here that journalist E.B. Gaston and others began to conceive a model community based on the ideas of George and a few others, as well as some of their own. In January of 1894, these ardent single-taxers convened to ratify their constitution and incorporate their new community. After the universal acceptance of both, member Alf Wooster stood and proclaimed, “I believe it has a fair hope of success,” and thus the name Fairhope was born.

Now they had their constitution and incorporation taken care of, but no site to settle on. So out went an intrepid group of stalwart fellows to investigate various locations for their new home. After reports of possible sites came in, it was Prof. James Bellangee’s letter about the “high bluffs and sandy banks” on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay that sold the assembled members, who voted hands down to make this site the location of Fairhope.

They immediately put out the word to other single-tax adherents that a model community was being created to demonstrate George’s theories. Interestingly, George was not pleased by this. He felt that a movement to transform the system was the correct path, and that this small experiment could detract from this effort. Undaunted, our fearless founders sold goods and holdings to finance their move south, setting the date of Nov. 15, 1894, for their “roundup.”

Many traveled by rail to Mobile, where the bay boat James A. Carney took them to the eastern shore of Mobile Bay and deposited their courageous hearts and eager minds at Battles Wharf (just south of present-day Fairhope). This was the site closest to the proposed colony that offered a pier long enough to reach the deeper water necessary to receive the beautiful bay boats that were the principal means of transportation before the causeway was opened in the late 1920s They soon began making purchases of land, the first being the 132 acres of waterfront property that, thanks to their foresight, became and remains our protected bayfront parkland.

As they continued to purchase land to the east, north, and south, they acquired large ravines, the scarred remnants of erosion due to the barbaric clear-cutting practices of the era. These ravines or gullies were set aside to heal. Today these areas have become beautiful natural parks, serving as both a filter and a watershed network for much of the city. These protected areas could well be the oldest corporate municipal partnership of its kind in the world.

Soon the newly purchased land on the high ground was being leased out to members who began building homes and businesses along the planned wide streets and avenues of their rapidly growing town. It should be noted that a membership fee of $250 was required to join the colony, meaning that, with the initial purchase of a leasehold averaging only about $5, we owe these original settlers an immense debt of gratitude for the parklands, gullies, wide streets, public utilities and other purchases that have been passed on to us as both beautiful and financial assets continuing to serve as the bedrock of much of Fairhope’s charm and character.

It is remarkable that, of the approximately 250 utopian communities of the time, Fairhope is the only one whose charter and ideals are not only alive and well but still growing. Fairhope is the world’s oldest and largest community of its kind while nearly all others have disappeared into history. At the Fairhope Single Tax Corp., we still believe very much that shared community values and cooperative individualism are as important today as when our Founders first put them into practice.

Dean Mosher is a Fairhope resident and artist and lessee of the Fairhope Single Tax Corp.