Octagon City, Kansas
human settlement in Kansas, United States of America
Octagon City is a ghost town in Allen County, Kansas, United States. It was a failed intentional community that was founded in 1856 about six miles (10 km) south of Humboldt, Kansas, near the Neosho River. It was created by the Vegetarian Kansas Emigration Company, headed by prominent vegetarian Henry S. Clubb and entrepreneurs Charles DeWolfe and John McLaurin. The original intent was to build a utopian vegetarian commune on the south side of the Neosho River, but investor interest in a non-vegetarian moral community was much higher and the decision was made to build Octagon City on the north side of the Neosho River to make the entire project sustainable. Members of Octagon City were under oath to educate their children and uphold a stable life.
The city's design was influenced by Orson Squire Fowler, a leading advocate of octagon house architecture. Octagon City would feature an octagonal town square from which would radiate eight roads. Between the roads, in a four-square-mile area, 64 families were to build octagonal farmhouses with octagonal barns.
During May 1856, about 100 participating settlers arrived at the development site, expecting a blossoming town with grist mill and sawmill, but finding only one log cabin, one plow, and dozens of tents sheltering families. The site was very remote, and the nearest source of goods was in Fort Scott, Kansas, about 50 miles (80 km) away, so residents were forced to adapt and improvise.
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