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The Christian Commonwealth occupied lands known as land lots 156 (101.25 acres), 157 (71 acres), 158 (101.25 acres), 163 (202.5 acres), 164 (202.5 acres), 165 (101.5 acres) and 189 (152 acres) of the 9th District, Muscogee County. Most of the land was formerly known as the Dozier Plantation. It was about 1 mile from a location on the railroad known as Garrett’s Switch. Although a station stop was created by the Central of Georgia Railway officials at Commonwealth, it never included a depot or warehouse (Peddy Collection 1896).

The plantation was the home site of John Beall Dozier, a native of Warren County, Georgia. He was born in 1807 and died in 1873 in Muscogee County. John B. Dozier married Emily Huff and had the following eight children: Antoinette Dozier Pou, James L. Dozier, Virginia Dozier Little, Homer W. Dozier, John Edger Dozier, Lula Loundes Dozier, Albert S. Dozier and Daniel Preston Dozier (Easley, pp. 612). John B. Dozier’s children inherited the land and later sold the property to members of the Christian Commonwealth colony.

The Christian Commonwealth settlement consisted of approximately 932 acres of exhausted cotton farmland, an old manor house, half a dozen log cabins, and a dilapidated barn. The land was purchased by November, 1896 from Mr. A. S. Dozier by a diverse group of people who proposed to establish a community around the principle of self-sacrifice. In essence, the colonists practiced Christian socialism; men were paid for their work with food for their families, housing, and education for their children. A contemporary Columbus news reporter described the philosophy succinctly, “to a certain degree everything is in common. Every man is a worker; there are no drones...No member shall be allowed to depend on the others for his support, but every man shall contribute the surplus of his labor to the general or common fund...The larger the surplus the better off the colonists will be” (Enquirer-Sun December 20, 1896).

The Central of Georgia Railroad ran through the land and the United States Post Office set up an office. The post office and the railroad stop were both named Commonwealth. Initially referred to by the locals as Agapolis, or City of Love, the Christian Commonwealth was organized by a small group of educated, Christian men and women who appeared to be in search of a more wholesome environment than the one they felt capitalism offered.

Commonwealth’s principal founders included Ralph Albertson, a pastor from Springfield, Ohio, who had experience in a cooperative colony in Andrews, North Carolina; William Damon, a college professor, who was head of the colony in North Carolina; George Howard Gibson, an editor who had established a small colony in Lincoln, Nebraska; and John Chipman, an Episcopalian minister from Florida. The Commonwealth colony was chartered and lands were purchased, by John Chipman who acted as their agent (Muscogee County Charter Record Book I: 227-229; Muscogee County Deed Books II: 343; KK: 455-457; LL: 554-556). In general, the colonists were highly literate or highly skilled. Besides college professors and ministers, the members included school teachers, medical doctors, an electrical engineer, a mill-wright, printers, a blacksmith, a photographer and a wheel-wright. Apparently, most of the colonists, including some of the founders, met for the first time when they arrived at Commonwealth. The Constitution said: “Membership in this body shall be open to all, and never denied to any who come to us in the spirit of love, unselfishness and true fellowship.” Sympathizers were asked to sign a Covenant (Albertson 1945).

The Residents of Commonwealth, Georgia.

(Courtesy, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia)

[Note: Click on Photograph Above for Higher Resolution Version.]

Colonists began arriving in late November 1896. By December 1896 the population of Commonwealth was 38 persons. That number had climbed to 85 by December 1898 (Peddy Collection 1896, 1898). With plans of self-sufficiency, the colonists experienced their greatest success during 1898, two years after the purchase of the land. During the year, the population of the society had grown to 100, in spite of more hopeful predictions stating that “Thousands of dollars will be spent by these colonists and the population of Commonwealth will soon mount into the hundreds” (Enquirer-Sun, December 20, 1896). During 1898, the 35 acre orchard consisted of 7,396 fruit trees, and the nursery contained over 53,000 seedlings (Bolster 1972: 62). The physical structures and equipment of Commonwealth had grown sizably by that year. By September, the colony had built a saw mill, several cottages, a barn, a blacksmith’s shop, and a carpenter’s shop. The community had also acquired a shingle machine, feedcutter, portable steam engine, two log trucks and teams, and a cane mill.

Saw Mill at Commonwealth.

(Courtesy, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia)

Calamity struck in August, 1899, when several members of the colony contracted typhoid fever from drinking lemonade that was made from contaminated water. Thereafter the colony began a steady downward slide.

In the spring of 1899,only two and a half years after its inception, the members found themselves embroiled in internal conflicts. Twelve of its members, led by A. E. Hall, C. L. Brewer, and S. W. Martin, accused the leaders of the colony of trying to force them out. Their complaints centered around the poor living conditions and the diet. They also contended that the colony would end in ruin if it continued under its current, poor management. In accordance, they applied to the Muscogee County courts for a receivership. The petition was specifically directed towards Ralph Albertson and W. C. Damon, two of the colony’s founding members. The short trial resulted in a victory for the original colonists but marked a moral defeat.

A Picnic at Commonwealth.

(Courtesy, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia)

The year following the court trial was one of progressive decline, marked by food shortage and sickness brought on by a harsh winter. By the end of 1899, the local newspaper reported the exodus of several prominent members of Commonwealth (Peddy Collection 1899). According to Ralph Albertson, John Chipman agreed to pay for the land if the colony were set up in Georgia. Chipman, a strong believer in the Episcopal Church later left the Commonwealth because he had believed they were going to be the “real Church”. John Chipman paid for about half of the debt on the land, but announced he would pay no more when he left the colony. This information was later published in The Social Gospel, the Commonwealth’s newsletter, and a subscriber requested that Albertson leave the matter to him. Later Albertson received a letter that informed him that the debt had not been paid off, but had been purchased by an organization called the “Right Relationship League” which had been founded and controlled by this particular subscriber. The colonists were assured the mortgage was in friendly hands. When the members of the Commonwealth contested the receivership proceedings, the Right Relationship League wrote the colony and stated that they had not lived up to their ideals and now expected the colony to live up to its mortgage terms. The Christian Commonwealth voted to disband and the Right Relationship League received its money (Albertson 1945). One Columbus observer of the early Commonwealth stated:

It is not made up of calamity howlers and men who have made a financial failure in life, but is composed of men, many of whom, who have left good paying positions, in order to show to the world, that the practical religion, taught by Christ, is something to live by; and that in order to live the life which Christ intended for us to live, required that we live under a system, under which brotherly love would be the ruling influence (Enquirer-Sun, December 31, 1898).

In late 1900, legal notices announced the sale of Commonwealth’s land and assets (Peddy Collection 1900).

What were the tangible features associated with the Commonwealth colony that may have left archaeological traces? Many answers to this question are found in the issues of The Social Gospel, which was published at Commonwealth from February, 1898 to June, 1900, and included a section in each issue, entitled, “Commonwealth Colony Notes”, that provided news of the colony. Before the colonists arrived the property contained, “the old barn, the old house [the Dozier plantation house, which was estimated to be built in 1839], three tenant houses and plenty of timber”. A photograph of the Dozier plantation house, which was taken from southwest of the house on the south side of the old Macon Road (now Chattsworth Road), was published in May, 1899. It was described as a nine-room, one-story mansion with high ceilings and open fire places. The photograph shows a grove of elm trees in the front yard, flanked by a picket fence that fronted the street. That same month the new printing press and steam washing machine were operational (The Social Gospel, September, 1898, 1(8):26; April, 1899, II(4):23; II(5):27-28; August, 1899 II(8):28).

Ralph Alberston, a founder of the colony, wrote years later: “The buildings consisted of an old manor house and half a dozen log cabins, all of which had been inhabited by negroes, and a very dilapidated barn. There were no fences, no fruit, no improvements” (Albertson 1945:127). In addition to the existing buildings that were adopted for their purposes, the members of the colony built about 15 buildings. These buildings were made from lumber produced at their sawmill and the only major building items that were purchased were doors and window sashes. The houses were made from rough lumber and only three of them had kitchens (Alberston 1945:137-138).

Log House at Commonwealth.

(Courtesy, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia)

The first volume of their magazine, issued in February 1898, mentioned a “new cottage near the old plantation house”, which was occupied by S. H. Comings; The Retreat, which was “an eight room building, the upper rooms of which are used by unmarried men, and the lower rooms by two families”; a cottage for George Howard Gibson and family, which was, “the first to go up on the horseshoe curve, in the center of which commodious and convenient public or common buildings will be later built”; and a “new four room schoolhouse, the largest and best in Muscogee County outside of Columbus”. By April 1898, Commonwealth could boast of a “saw mill, a barn, a blacksmith shop, a dining room at the old plantation house, four dwelling houses, the printing house, and a school house”, a two-year-old peach orchard, a modest apiary, and “a dairy and poultry yard”. A room “known as the Bachelor’s Hall” was planned. In May 1898 an addition was made to the printing house (The Social Gospel February 1898, I(1):24; April 1898, I(3):22-25; May 1898, I(4):24).

Another View of the Gibson House, or Rose Cottage.

(Courtesy, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia)

By June 1898, the colony reported:

At first we were all crowded together in the old plantation house. But since we have had our sawmill we have been enabled to build some houses. At present five of our families live in separate houses, the Cooks, Damons, Gibsons, Comings, McDermotts and Albertsons. The single men have “quarters” in two large upstairs rooms. The Pease, Croyle, Carman, Hall and Staiff families occupy rooms in the old house. Some of the families do their own cooking and washing. Most of the people, however, eat at the general dining room. In addition to the work done by ladies two men are employed at the general kitchen. The work of the laundry occupies three men and four women two days in each week (The Social Gospel, June 1898, I(5):23).

The Barracks at Commonwealth.

(Courtesy, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia)

Their magazine further noted: “Our sawmill has a 25-horse power boiler and engine and has a capacity of from six to ten thousand feet of lumber a day. Connected with it are an edger, a cut-off saw, a saw-gummer, a feed mill and a shingle machine. The shingle machine will cut 10,000 shingles a day” (The Social Gospel, June 1898, I(5):23, 25). The saw mill machinery had been shipped to Commonwealth, as early as December 1896 and was presumably in use soon thereafter (Peddy Collection 1896).

July 1898 witnessed the luxurious addition of porches on the Albertson, Damon, Comings, and Cook houses and the Damon house also received a summer kitchen addition, and a “new well has been dug and stoned up in the center of the new village site”. The Social Gospel magazine “ has up to date been produced in a little shanty 12 x 24. This month we have enlarged our building to 24 x 48”. By September the colony had planted 7,396 fruit trees and grape vines and had another 53,250 young plants in their nursery and the improvements included:  eight houses, carpenter shop, blacksmith shop, barn for eight horses and six cows and fodder, a saw-mill with power and large saw-mill building, a printing house with the equipment that prints The Social Gospel, shingle machine, feed mill, feed cutter, portable boiler and engine, two log trucks, wagons and harnesses, blacksmithing tools and equipment, carpenter’s tools, farming implements, cane mill and evaporator, poultry and incubator equipment, two mules, four horses, five cows, three pigs, and six young cattle (The Social Gospel July, 1898, I(6):26; I(8):26).

One of the logging trucks, a large flatbed wagon pulled by two mules, was published in a photograph in the February 1899 issue of The Social Gospel. The wagons were able to haul an average of 15 logs to the saw-mill per day (The Social Gospel January 1899, 2(2):23). This truck, although non-motorized, was better than any other in the neighborhood and was in great demand on neighboring plantations. Two mule teams were used on alternate occasions to pull the truck.

By November, 1898, a “three room Mansion, of rough lumber”, which “were the style at Commonwealth” was being constructed for the Carman family, the Kelley house was enlarged, “with an addition behind and a porch in front”, to accommodate Mr. and Mrs. Hinkley, and “The Growlery”, which was a home for the “lonely and lorn” was rechristened. The colony planned to build, “a cotton-mill of small size, 24 x 30 feet”, and a weaving room next to the saw-mill (The Social Gospel November 1898, I(10):24-25). In December 1898, a photograph of the printing house was published. Two used looms with “special attachments on them for weaving towels” were purchased and “considerable clearing” was done “on the land of the village site” (The Social Gospel, December 1898, I(11):26).

The 24 by 48 foot printing house building was a single-story board and batten wood frame structure built of rough pine lumber. The building was apparently heated by a small stove (as evidenced by a small metal chimney smokestack). The building also had four large two-on-two frame windows and two doors on the front, and one smaller two-on-two frame window on one end. The post office, which was formerly located at the plantation house, was moved to the printing building the following month. Steam heat was later added to the printing house (The Social Gospel, December 1898, I(11):26; January 1899 II(1):27; January 1900, 24:27).

The Gibson’s house, known as Rose Cottage, was shingled on three sides in January 1899. The Carman’s cottage, which was completed the previous month, was a large dwelling that was located “under the pines, near the school house, and their previous lodging, which was in the old plantation house, was converted for use as a sitting and reading room for the single men. The little creek behind furnishes water for family use”. Clearing of timber allowed the colonists to “see each other’s houses and see out quite a distance in several directions”. Progress was also made that month in constructing the cotton and weaving mill. A photograph of a partial facade of the Commonwealth school building, which was published in the January issue, revealed that it was a tall board and batten structure at least 15 feet wide. Another view of the schoolhouse is shown below. The enterprising colonists advertised the production of “a white crash towel 19 x 38 inches with borders and fringes. They will be woven with unsized two-ply warp. We will mail these towels postpaid at 15 cents each” The following month a correction was published noting that these towels were to be “Turkish” towels rather than “crash” towels (The Social Gospel, January 1899, II(1):26-27; II(2):23).

School House at Commonwealth

(Courtesy, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia)

In February 1899, construction was underway, despite heavy rains, at cottages for the Staiff and Loiselle families. A well, more than 25 feet deep, was later built at the Staiff cottage (The Social Gospel, February 1899, II(2):23-24; July 1899, II(7):25). A “new wood- sawing machine” had been added and the saw-mill facility was described:

"The central wood yard and shed is close by the laundry location, and so our boiler and engine will (later) run both institutions. The frame of the big wood shed is up, but at this writing not covered. When covered, men can split wood on rainy days. The wood is hauled here in tree lengths and from here will be distributed to the houses ready for the stoves" (The Social Gospel, February 1899, II(2):23-24).

Wood was hauled an average distance of about one mile to the mill. One of their log trucks was loaned “to a neighbor who hauls logs to our saw-mill to be cut on a share of one half” (The Social Gospel, February 1899, II(2):23-24).

By March 1899, the colony boasted three steam engines, “one to run our saw mill and cotton mill, one to run our laundry and wood saw and a book case factory, probably soon to be started here, and a third to run our new printing press when it comes”. Work began on a cottage for the Henry family and the east end of the Commonwealth property was extensively cleared and farmed. They noted that “Other clearing has greatly extended the view in almost all directions from our houses. The trains are now visible from our windows in their passage across the whole breadth of our plantation”. The population of the colony was 95 that month (The Social Gospel, March 1899, II(3):22, 25).

In April 1899, house fires at the McDermott house and the big house (Dozier plantation house) were extinguished and the houses were saved. Extensive renovations were made to the Dozier plantation house later that summer (The Social Gospel, April 1899, II(4):23). Ralph Alberston noted in a retrospective article that when he recovered from his bout of typhoid fever (which he had contracted in April 1899), “only ten graves had been dug on the little hill by the Printing House” (Alberston 1945:142). This is the only reference to a cemetery associated with the Commonwealth colony. Its precise location and the location of the printing house is not known.

In June 1899, the colony dedicated “Willard Park”, which was located “alongside the railroad near the headwaters of the little rivulet which runs through the village (Dozier Creek), and is one of the most attractive groves on the place”. This description indicates that Willard Park was located north of Compartment O-06. The June issue of their magazine featured a photograph of the saw mill, which was taken prior to the addition of the cotton mill. The saw mill featured a long single-story shed roof with a single gable in the front. One end of the cotton mill abutted the saw mill at the open gable. Production of their anticipated Turkish towels was not yet underway because of equipment problems (The Social Gospel, June 1899, II(6):27-28).

Construction of a large communal building intended as a dining hall and tailoring factory was progressing slowly in June 1899. This building measured 32 x 70 feet in extent. Progress at Commonwealth was dealt a severe blow that month when members of the colony were embroiled in a lawsuit that was to lead to the collapse of their colony. By August the large communal dining room, although incomplete, was being used by about 40 members of the colony to eat their meals. A new power plant was installed to run sawmill, shingle machine, grist mill, cotton mill, and “big machine lathe”, and the old boiler and engine were moved southeast of the new restaurant to service the laundry and wood saw and to provide steam heat for cooking and heating in the new restaurant. In September a new well was dug to serve this steam engine. The cane mill also was moved and set up near the laundry and wood sawing engine in October (The Social Gospel, June 1899, II(6):28; August 1899, II(8):28; September 1899, II(9):26; October 1899, II(10):30).

Although their grist mill was in full production by December 1899, serving not only the members of the colony but others in the neighborhood as well, their cotton mill had yet to produce a Turkish towel due to lack of funds for production. Even when funds were received, the cotton mill apparently never achieved full production and the towels that were produced were poor quality. Nevertheless, several hundred orders were placed for the towels by supporters of the colony (The Social Gospel, November 1899, II(11):26; December 1899, II(12):26-27; Alberston 1945:137).

An April 1900 report on the colony noted that their communal dining hall remained unfinished, a new kitchen was added to the McDermott’s house, and a total of eight wells had been dug (which varied in depth from 10 to 40 feet). Typhoid fever, which had decimated the colony during the previous year and continued to plague them, was of intense concern. The report closed with these comments: “Mr. Bassett is fixing up the old slave burying ground near the tank as a floral park. We are told that there are the unmarked graves of a hundred slaves at that place and it is befitting that it be made as beautiful as possible”. The location of “tank”, referenced above, is not described but is presumably near the main plantation complex, possibly a water tank for servicing the steam locomotives, and north of the Compartment O-06 study area (The Social Gospel, April 1900, 27:30).

By April 1900 the Christian Commonwealth press advertised an impressive list of more than 20 books, two monthly publications, three weekly publications, and one semi-monthly publication (which was apparently published in German), which was in addition to their regular monthly production of The Social Gospel. They also advertised their services as job printers for books, pamphlets, folders, programmes, circulars, bill heads, letter heads, note cards, topic cards, and business cards (The Social Gospel, April 1900, 27:35).

Despite the success of the printing business, publication of their magazine had to be moved to New York, which was where many of the members of the group were headed. In January 1900, only 51 people remained at the Commonwealth colony. By June of that year most of the members of the colony had left, leaving about 30 people (Kallman 1997:215; The Social Gospel, June 1900, 29:24). No issue of their magazine was produced in July and when production resumed, the magazine contained no details of life at the Commonwealth colony. The magazine continued to be published in New York until July 1901 (Fish 1973).

With the exodus of The Social Gospel magazine and its architects, the Commonwealth colony faded into obscurity. Their property was ordered into receivership and in December 1900 it was sold by their receiver, W. A. Ross, at public auction at the Muscogee County courthouse. Improvements included: “One large seven room dwelling, nine new two-room dwellings, good stables, barns, cabins, and other farm appointments, also about 16,000 fruit trees, choice varieties, one-half just coming into bearing”.

This sale did not include the machinery or other building contents (Peddy Collection 1900). The land was sold to William T. and William H. Harvey and they took possession on January 1, 1901 (Muscogee County Deed Book NN:278-280). The building contents and other goods were sold by separate auction by their receiver, also in December, 1900. These items included:

"An old colored gentleman whom I had never seen before, came to the post-office

today and I broached the fruit tree subject to him and made the proposition that he

plant some of our choice trees on Commonwealth terms which means without price

and no strings tied on. He shook his grizzled old bushy shock as he replied: “Wal,

sah! Dat am gentleous; sho is!” And then after a moment of deep reflection, “No, sah!

I cain’t afford to do it. I’se did it befo’ an’ jes’ as soon as de trees hed fruits I hed to

pay mo’ rent or move off.” He is 76 years old and has lived on the same plantation

all his life but moved about from cabin to cabin an untold number of times. This prohibitive

tax on industry prevails wherever there is rented land, and that is next to universal

in the South. However, quite a number of our colored neighbors are “reskin’ it”

and setting out trees. We try to persuade them that it is worth while since some one