Advertisement from the Rugby newspaper, The Rugbeian and District Reporter, October 21, 1882.
While property was owned by individuals, Rubgy’s general store operated as a cooperative. Village residents purchased a share and the store was run for the benefit of the owners. Prices were generally lower and any store profits were reinvested in the community.
Rugby, located in north-central Tennessee’s Morgan County, was the utopian dream of Thomas Hughes (1822-1896), an English judge, reformer, and novelist. Funds to establish the village came from the sales of Hughes’s novel, Tom Brown’s School Days (1857)Rugby attracted around 200 people in 1880 and by 1884 had around 400 residents. About half were English and half American but only about 9% were the single young men from England Hughes had expected. At its peak, the village in rural Tennessee had a newspaper, stores, a school, church, and a 7,000 volume library. The impressive Tabard Inn (named after the inn from which the pilgrims in Canterbury Tales began their journey), provided accommodations for “health and pleasure seekers.”
To learn more about the history of utopian communities, see Discovering Quacks, Utopias, and Cemeteries: Modern Lessons from Historical Themes
Courtesy of Library of Congress: Chronicling America