Eden in the Garden State: Jewish Politics in the Jersey Homesteads Planned Community, 1936–39

Eden in the Garden State:Jewish Politics in the Jersey Homesteads Planned Community, 1936–391 Daniel L. Rosenblatt (bio) "That's our corn!," one passenger shouted. "Look there's our apples!Four hundred miles of apples!," another cheered. On the bus traveling from New York City to rural New Jersey were eight Jewish families, soon to be the first residents of the newly developed Jersey Homesteads cooperative.2 Their town, founded in 1936, was one of approximately one hundred planned communities created by New Deal agencies. Intended to alleviate the hardships caused by the Great Depression, the projects were founded on the premise of subsistence: if struggling Americans were offered employment in agriculture or industry along with a plot of tenable land for personal use, they could provide for themselves and their families.3 While most other planned communities supported white, native-born Americans, the New Jersey colony was unique in welcoming unemployed, foreign-born Jewish garment workers living in New York City.4 Between 1936 and 1939, approximately 120 families arrived at the Jersey Homesteads and set down roots in their new community. For most, the move was the second leg of a longer journey, having immigrated from Eastern Europe over a decade earlier; one resident described the town as "a transposed Eastern European village or shtetl."5 From thousands [End Page 423] of applicants, these families had been chosen based upon characteristics including needlework skill, membership and good standing in the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), and demonstrated interest in the cooperative lifestyle.6 Upon renting a home in the community, each family paid a $1 annual membership fee to the cooperative system and could thereby participate in the management of a collectivized garment factory, farm, and consumer store. The town's businesses ultimately struggled to turn a profit. Its garment factory overestimated demand, its orchard failed to deliver marketable produce, and few residents were qualified for agricultural work. After a third season of losses, the town's triple cooperative dissolved in 1939. But many Homesteaders remained in their new community, typically commuting to nearby towns or New York City for work. They continued to rent their homes from the federal government until 1946, when eighty-five of the town's original families purchased them for approximately $4,200 each.7 Such a bold experiment did not go unnoticed. Hundreds of articles in both the local and national press detailed the progress of the short-lived cooperative; some expressed curiosity about the project, and others were immensely critical. Intrigued by this news coverage, thousands of Americans arrived at the town on weekends simply to observe its residents.8 The experiment in cooperative living also captured the eye of many of the nation's top artists. Working under contract with the federal government, muralist Ben Shahn, Farm Security Administration (FSA) photographers Dorothea Lange and Russell Lee, and young architect Louis Kahn all produced works for or relating to the Jersey Homesteads. Considering the remarkable interest that the Jersey Homesteads garnered on a national level, the project has received relatively little scholarly attention.9 [End Page 424] In this article, I examine the history of the Jersey Homesteads and, in particular, the social and political orientation of its residents during the operation of the triple cooperative between 1936 and 1939.10 To do so, I analyze textual and visual sources, many from the town's archive, including newspaper articles, a local newsletter, town planning documents, photographs, a mural, and a songbook. I also draw significantly upon interviews with original Homesteaders conducted between 1981 and 1983 by the Roosevelt Oral History Committee to center the experiences of the residents. To start, I identify the Jersey Homesteads project as a quintessential experiment with social modernism, situated at the progressive end of the spectrum of New Deal ideologies. I then chart the residents' political beliefs and behaviors: their unique engagement with the local communitarian project, their endeavor to achieve dignified working conditions, and their support for global working-class liberation. As the Homesteaders crafted what they saw as a "promised land" in New Jersey, they offered an alternative model of American life based on progressive, socialist values. Finally, I note the...