Home | |
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Unincorporated community (CDP) | |
The Home Welcome Sign
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Location within the state of Washington | |
Coordinates: 47°16′37″N 122°45′58″W / 47.27694°N 122.76611°WCoordinates: 47°16′37″N 122°45′58″W / 47.27694°N 122.76611°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Washington |
County | Pierce |
Population (2010) | |
• Total | 1,377 |
Time zone | Pacific (PST) (UTC-8) |
• Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) |
Home is a census-designated place in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The 2010 Census placed the population at 1,377. The community lies on the Key Peninsula and borders the waters of Carr Inlet, an extension of Puget Sound. Home is now primarily a town of beach homes, although around the turn of the twentieth century, it was considered a model, utopian community of anarchists.
After the failure of the industrial cooperative colony Glennis located east of Eatonville, three former Glennisites — George H. Allen, Oliver A. Verity, and B. F. O'Dell — set out in the summer of 1895 into Puget Sound on a rowboat they built themselves to find an isolated location for a new community. Home was one of about two hundred similar communities that sprung up in America in the late 1800's.
They decided upon Von Geldern Cove (also known as Joe's Bay) as the site for their new Home Colony, which would be an intentional community based on anarchist philosophy. The founders purchased 26 acres (110,000 m2) there at $7 an acre, working odd jobs to pay for it. By 1896, their families had joined them and cabins were constructed.
By 1898 a land buying corporation was set up called the Mutual Home Association, whose Articles of Incorporation and Agreement stated their purpose as "to assist its members in obtaining and building homes for themselves and to aid in establishing better social and moral conditions." Land was apportioned to those who became members of the Association, agreeing to its anarchist ideals and to pay for their lot. The title to each member's land would stay with the Association; however this was changed in 1909. The Association also held title to a meeting hall, called Liberty Hall, and a trading post.
When Home was plotted in 1901 it had increased in size to 217 acres (0.88 km2) and had become home to anarchists, communists, food faddists, freethinkers, nudists, and others who did not fit in with mainstream society. Elbert Hubbard, anarchist Emma Goldman, and national communist leader William Z. Foster visited and gave lectures.