Freeland, Washington

History

Some Equality Colony dissidents, led by George Washington Daniels, incorporated the Free Land Association in 1900 and established the colony on land they purchased through James P. Gleason of the Fidelity Trust company. Members purchased dividend-paying shares in the association store fund and the machinery fund. The association store operated according to Rochdale Principles, and shares in the store were sold to non-residents as well as association members. Because members could pay for their land with dividends from their shares, the founders considered the land to be "free". By 1902, however, the colony announced that new settlers would have to purchase land outright, as the idealistic land-financing plan based on share dividends had not worked.

Daniels platted five-acre tracts with wide streets to form the original townsite. Additional plats were added over the next several years.

Freeland considered itself a cooperative profit-sharing association and rejected the rigid communal structure of other colonies on the island. They described themselves to the Whidby Islander as "simply a settlement of socialists co-operating on semi-capitalistic principles."

From the History section of Freeland, Washington on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.