HARMONISTS
\hˈɑːmənˌɪsts], \hˈɑːmənˌɪsts], \h_ˈɑː_m_ə_n_ˌɪ_s_t_s]\
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A socialistic community founded upon a religious basis by George Rapp, of Wurttemberg, in the Connoquenessing Valley, twenty-five miles from Pittsburgh, in 1803. There they built houses, churches, mills and manufactories, and by 1805 there were 750 persons settled there who formed the Harmony Society. After two years they decided to adopt celibacy, and prohibited the use of tobacco. This caused the withdrawal of certain of their people. In 1814 the Harmonists purchased 30,000 acres of land in Posey County, Indiana, settling there in 1815. There they remained until 1824, calling their settlement "Harmony." In 1824 they removed to their present location, on the Ohio River, not far from Pittsburgh. In 1831, a German adventurer, Bernhard Muller, settling among them, caused dissensions and a split in the society. Their numbers have decreased to less than 200.
By John Franklin Jameson