"a chill of arctic iciness down the spines of the many people"

April 23, 2019 7:40 AM

The Anarchists Who Took the Commuter Train, Amanda Kolson Hurley writes about the Stelton colony, founded 1914, near New Brunswick, New Jersey. An anarchist intentional community, the Stelton colony centered around the Ferrer Center and Modern School.

UTOPIAN COLONISTS REUNITED IN A PASSIONATE CELEBRATION OF ISMS, New York Times, 1982

The school was named for and operated in the plan of Francisco Ferrer.

Remembering The Modern School. Russian House - Fellowship Farm Cooperative Association

title from SUNDAY SCHOOLS THAT TEACH CHILDREN ANARCHY, New York Times 1910

posted by the man of twists and turns (6 comments total)

It's one of those things that makes me realize how restrictive a lot of what we consider "normal" (or maybe what I consider "normal," anyway) to be these days, when it's almost inconceivable to think of a group of people rather easily buying some land a mere train ride away from NYC for the purposes of collective living.
posted by xingcat at 8:58 AM on April 23, 2019 [3 favorites]

This is utterly, completely fascinating. I live in East Brunswick and went to college at Rutgers in New Brunswick. As an avowed leftist I think it speaks volumes that I never heard of this collective... ever. This is going to be consuming a lot of my time over the next week or so. Thank you for this!
posted by theartandsound at 9:39 AM on April 23, 2019 [2 favorites]

I would’ve had a lot more fun knowing this growing up let me tell you
posted by The Whelk at 10:11 AM on April 23, 2019 [3 favorites]

I've been thinking quite a bit lately about how much equity and cost of living I'm wasting simply by owning significantly more real estate and housing than I can possibly use myself. Pooling resources with one other person seems crazy inefficient than pooling with 10 or 100 other people.
posted by rebent at 10:25 AM on April 23, 2019 [3 favorites]

I believe this is an excerpt from her recent book Radical Suburbs: Experimental Living on the Fringes of the American City from Belt (as in Rust Belt) Publishing. They also publish Belt Magazine, which I think a lot of people here would find interesting.
posted by plastic_animals at 10:54 AM on April 23, 2019 [3 favorites]

I've driven past this place a bunch; I think they host a mini-concert series. The street is host to a whole bunch of different architectural styles so it can be fun to go down.
posted by armacy at 6:12 PM on April 23, 2019