The Phalanstery
was intended to be the home of the Phalanx. It was a comparatively large
and costly wooden building, with public rooms on the first floor and
accommodation for about one hundred and fifty people on the second and
third floors. To put up the Phalanstery was the biggest job undertaken
by the community and it taxed all available resources to the last
dollar. When nearly finished it was set on fire and burned to ashes.
This last loss bankrupted Brook Farm. There was no money left to go on
with, and the socialistic organization at West Roxbury had to be
abandoned. The Fourierite experiment was a failure. The joyous life of
the happy companions, grown so dear to each other, was ended. The
congenial company, united by such intimate ties was broken up. The
loving brothers and sisters said farewell to their trusted friends and
to their sunny home, going their widely separated ways, few of them ever
to meet again.
The failure of Brook Farm was rightly attributed to a succession of
inexplicable disasters.
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