Ceresco, also known as the Wisconsin Phalanx, was a commune founded in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin in 1844 by followers of the communitarian socialist ideas of Charles Fourier. About 180 people lived in the Association at its peak, farming nearly 2,000 acres. It was one of the three longest-lived Fourierist Associations in the United States, dissolving in 1850, and was unique for having assets which exceeded liabilities at the time of its termination.
Albert Brisbane (1809-1890), regarded as the intellectual founder of the American Fourierist movement of the 1840s.
Warren Chase (1813-1891), a founder of Ceresco, later a State Senator and Free Soil Party gubernatorial candidate.
Brisbane's 1843 rendition of Fourier's grandiose Phalanstère. Members of each Association were to live collectively in a gargantuan "edifice" of a distinctive shape. This vast, slender building was to itself constitute "walls" of a large common area. A church (C), meeting hall (H), and storehouses and other buildings (B, C, D, F) were to be constructed beyond the edifice's walls.
Elevated view of Fourier's concept of the edifice of a phalanstry, illuminating his architectural utopianism. Fourier sought construction of a massive longhouse connecting 1800 residents in a single dwelling, which enclosed common area.
Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin
Fond du Lac County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 104,154. Its county seat is Fond du Lac. The county was created in the Wisconsin Territory in 1836 and later organized in 1844. Fond du Lac is French for "bottom of the lake", given so because of the county's location at the southern shore of Lake Winnebago. Fond du Lac County comprises the Fond du Lac, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Holyland region is in northeastern Fond du Lac County.
Fond du Lac County City/County Government Center.
Fond du Lac Lighthouse in Lakeside Park
Farming in western Fond du Lac County
Grandstands for the Fond du Lac County Fair