The Amana Colony in Iowa was established by pietistic
Germans from Himbach, Germany who came to America in
1714 and formed the Community of True Inspiration.
Disappointed in the direction of the Lutheran Church, they and
their followers wanted religion to be a more personal experience
with an emphasis on humility and Bible study, and they
founded their church on the belief believed that God still spoke
through prophets as described in the Old Testament.
Germans from Himbach, Germany who came to America in
1714 and formed the Community of True Inspiration.
Disappointed in the direction of the Lutheran Church, they and
their followers wanted religion to be a more personal experience
with an emphasis on humility and Bible study, and they
founded their church on the belief believed that God still spoke
through prophets as described in the Old Testament.
Christian Metz was the guiding light of the community during its growth and emigration to America.
Metz consolidated the community in Hesse-Darmstadt in the 1820s and 1830s and attracted new
believers from Germany, Switzerland and Alsace. The community leased abodes in Hesse within a
few miles of each other to mutually profit, with rich and poor alike living together and sharing in the
group's economic and social life. There were almost 1000 members of the Community of True
Inspiration in Hesse in 1840, but soon they were pestered by German officials and fined for their
refusal to send children to state schools. This, together with high rents and years of drought
convinced Metz and the others to seek a new home in America, so in 1842 a committee led by Metz
traveled to America.
After a tumultuous voyage, Metz and his companions landed in New York in 1842 determined to
establish a community in the new world for members of their church. They purchased a 5,000-acre
site near Buffalo, New York for 350 Inspirationists to immigrated to and named the settlement
"Ebenezer." Ebenezer flourished and had a population of 1,200 by 1854 and six villages. However,
as nearby Buffalo grew, land became too expensive for future growth. So, they moved to Iowa and
by the 1860s they owned 26,000 acres in the Iowa River Valley for seven villages about one hour
apart which would make up the Amana Colonies. Each village was built by hand and incorporated
houses, shops, mills, churches, bakeries, general stores, post offices and schoolhouses. Church
services were held 11 times a week and on Christian holidays, and 13 community Elders were
elected by the adult members of the community.
The earliest villages of Amana, Middle Amana, East Amana, West Amana, South Amana, High
Amana, and Homestead were laid out in the classic German "Dorf" design. The settlers made their
own bricks, farm implements, furniture, baskets, clocks and brooms, and they cultivated vegetables
gardens, made wines and bound and printed books. Organized as a communal society, each family
got a home and all necessities of life and no one received a cash income. All goods were held in
common, except clothing and personal items. Medical care was free, communal kitchens provided
food and everyone was given an allowance at the general store for their needs. Each person was
assigned a job by the Elders based on community need and the skills of the individual.
The Inspirationists lived their own version of the American dream, and established successful
businesses including woolen mills in which they used new technologies and contributed their own
innovations to the textile industry. By the 1860s, the Amana Colony formed the town of Homestead
so that they could have a depot on the new railroad line.
For nearly 100 years, their communal lifestyle existed until the people voted in 1932 to separate their
religious and economic interests and fully adopt the free enterprise system and adapt it to their own
needs. This is known in the Colonies as "The Great Change."
Today, the Amana Society, Inc., is corporate heir to the real estate and economy of Amana, and still
owns and manages its many buildings. While agriculture is still an important economic base, the best
known business that sprung from the Amana Society is the large Amana Refrigeration, Inc. which
gave birth to the Amana Radarange Microwave Oven in 1967. English language church services
were available in the 1960s as well.
Metz consolidated the community in Hesse-Darmstadt in the 1820s and 1830s and attracted new
believers from Germany, Switzerland and Alsace. The community leased abodes in Hesse within a
few miles of each other to mutually profit, with rich and poor alike living together and sharing in the
group's economic and social life. There were almost 1000 members of the Community of True
Inspiration in Hesse in 1840, but soon they were pestered by German officials and fined for their
refusal to send children to state schools. This, together with high rents and years of drought
convinced Metz and the others to seek a new home in America, so in 1842 a committee led by Metz
traveled to America.
After a tumultuous voyage, Metz and his companions landed in New York in 1842 determined to
establish a community in the new world for members of their church. They purchased a 5,000-acre
site near Buffalo, New York for 350 Inspirationists to immigrated to and named the settlement
"Ebenezer." Ebenezer flourished and had a population of 1,200 by 1854 and six villages. However,
as nearby Buffalo grew, land became too expensive for future growth. So, they moved to Iowa and
by the 1860s they owned 26,000 acres in the Iowa River Valley for seven villages about one hour
apart which would make up the Amana Colonies. Each village was built by hand and incorporated
houses, shops, mills, churches, bakeries, general stores, post offices and schoolhouses. Church
services were held 11 times a week and on Christian holidays, and 13 community Elders were
elected by the adult members of the community.
The earliest villages of Amana, Middle Amana, East Amana, West Amana, South Amana, High
Amana, and Homestead were laid out in the classic German "Dorf" design. The settlers made their
own bricks, farm implements, furniture, baskets, clocks and brooms, and they cultivated vegetables
gardens, made wines and bound and printed books. Organized as a communal society, each family
got a home and all necessities of life and no one received a cash income. All goods were held in
common, except clothing and personal items. Medical care was free, communal kitchens provided
food and everyone was given an allowance at the general store for their needs. Each person was
assigned a job by the Elders based on community need and the skills of the individual.
The Inspirationists lived their own version of the American dream, and established successful
businesses including woolen mills in which they used new technologies and contributed their own
innovations to the textile industry. By the 1860s, the Amana Colony formed the town of Homestead
so that they could have a depot on the new railroad line.
For nearly 100 years, their communal lifestyle existed until the people voted in 1932 to separate their
religious and economic interests and fully adopt the free enterprise system and adapt it to their own
needs. This is known in the Colonies as "The Great Change."
Today, the Amana Society, Inc., is corporate heir to the real estate and economy of Amana, and still
owns and manages its many buildings. While agriculture is still an important economic base, the best
known business that sprung from the Amana Society is the large Amana Refrigeration, Inc. which
gave birth to the Amana Radarange Microwave Oven in 1967. English language church services
were available in the 1960s as well.
| The Amana Colony |
The new prophets were called Werkzeuge, instruments of divine pronouncements which were
recorded by scribes and printed in collected volumes. The Inspirationists attracted many followers
throughout Germany, but because they declined military duty and refused to take state-required oaths
or send their children to church-run schools, the congregations were often at odds with church and
governmental authorities and they were punished with fines, imprisonment and beatings. The
movement flourished through the mid 18th century and then declined in the midst of European wars.
recorded by scribes and printed in collected volumes. The Inspirationists attracted many followers
throughout Germany, but because they declined military duty and refused to take state-required oaths
or send their children to church-run schools, the congregations were often at odds with church and
governmental authorities and they were punished with fines, imprisonment and beatings. The
movement flourished through the mid 18th century and then declined in the midst of European wars.
There were other Utopian communities started by Germans: Irenia (founded by Moravians in 1695), Bohemia
Manor (founded by the Labadists in 1683), the Ephrata Cloister (founded by Sabbatarians in 1732), Bethlehem
(founded by Anabaptists in 1740), and later New Harmony on the Wabash, the Zoarites in Ohio and the followers
of German-born Wilhelm Keil, a Methodist minister heavily influenced by the pietist movement, who founded
colonies in Bethel, Missouri, and Aurora, Oregon.
Ferdinand Ernst, a wealthy German agriculturalist, organized, funded, and conducted a group of nearly one
hundred German colonists to Vandalia, Illinois in 1820. In 1836, saddened by the loss of native customs and
language among their American countrymen, the German Settlement Society of Philadelphia sold shares in a
proposed community to be settled in the midwest. A scouting committee bought 11,300 acres of land that was
bounded on three sides by hills and bluffs, and bounded on a fourth by the Missouri River. The land and the
abundance of wild grapes reminded the group of their native Rhine River region. Thus was founded the basis of
the city of Hermann, Missouri and its good wines. There were intellectual Utopian settlements even in the
outback of Texas.
Manor (founded by the Labadists in 1683), the Ephrata Cloister (founded by Sabbatarians in 1732), Bethlehem
(founded by Anabaptists in 1740), and later New Harmony on the Wabash, the Zoarites in Ohio and the followers
of German-born Wilhelm Keil, a Methodist minister heavily influenced by the pietist movement, who founded
colonies in Bethel, Missouri, and Aurora, Oregon.
Ferdinand Ernst, a wealthy German agriculturalist, organized, funded, and conducted a group of nearly one
hundred German colonists to Vandalia, Illinois in 1820. In 1836, saddened by the loss of native customs and
language among their American countrymen, the German Settlement Society of Philadelphia sold shares in a
proposed community to be settled in the midwest. A scouting committee bought 11,300 acres of land that was
bounded on three sides by hills and bluffs, and bounded on a fourth by the Missouri River. The land and the
abundance of wild grapes reminded the group of their native Rhine River region. Thus was founded the basis of
the city of Hermann, Missouri and its good wines. There were intellectual Utopian settlements even in the
outback of Texas.
Note: For generations, children in Amana schools spoke German and learned English only as a second language.
Use of English in daily conversation was discouraged. But when the United States entered World War I in
1917, hostility toward German people and businesses in Iowa often focused on the Amana villages and state
investigators monitored Amana schools and curriculum throughout the war to make sure Amana was not on
Germany’s side. They went one step further after governor William L. Harding, declared English the official
language of the state in 1918 . This law, known as the Language Proclamation, banned the use of any language
other than English in public laces such as schools or churches and even on the telephone. Other languages could
be spoken only at home. This had a devastating effect, and although the Language Proclamation was overturned
at the end of war. the widespread use of English which had been forced on the Amanas could not be reversed.
German was by then the language only for religious instruction, and although kids still received instruction in
German in Sunday school, English was taught in the schools. Their old German dialect was by and large lost.
Use of English in daily conversation was discouraged. But when the United States entered World War I in
1917, hostility toward German people and businesses in Iowa often focused on the Amana villages and state
investigators monitored Amana schools and curriculum throughout the war to make sure Amana was not on
Germany’s side. They went one step further after governor William L. Harding, declared English the official
language of the state in 1918 . This law, known as the Language Proclamation, banned the use of any language
other than English in public laces such as schools or churches and even on the telephone. Other languages could
be spoken only at home. This had a devastating effect, and although the Language Proclamation was overturned
at the end of war. the widespread use of English which had been forced on the Amanas could not be reversed.
German was by then the language only for religious instruction, and although kids still received instruction in
German in Sunday school, English was taught in the schools. Their old German dialect was by and large lost.