Justin, Texas: 19th Century Equivalent to the Hippie Colony

Justin, Texas today does not look like an experiment in Utopian communalism, but in 1848 it actually was. A French socialist by the name of Etienne Cabet, who wrote a novel called Voyage en Icarie, organized the experiment. The folks who joined the colony, who were called Icarians, lived near Denton Creek, which, if I may chase a rabbit, is where I used to go to catch sand bass when I was but a lad. Anyway, The Icarian experiment did not work out, and the colonists, who all were French, headed back to the port city of New Orleans after about a year.

This is, of course, the kind of story I love. You might even think that I made the whole thing up, but I did not. Yes, this nineteenth century version of the hippie colony really did exist in North Texas, even if it was not here long. To learn more about this social experiment, please click the link below:

https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/uei01

And here are the groovy sounds of Austin's 13th Floor Elevators, circa 1967.