Men and women of Rugby Community in front of the Rugby Lawn Tennis Association clubhouse, 1880s. Rugby, Tennessee was founded in 1880 for the younger sons of Britain’s upper- and upper-middle-class families. Its founder, author Thomas Hughes, intended for the community to be a cooperative, agrarian community with cultural opportunity, religious freedom, and strict temperance. Around 300 people lived in the community at its height in the mid-1880s. But the lack of interest in farming by members along with a typhoid epidemic and other factors caused the community to decline by 1900. Historic Rugby welcomes visitors today. Like many other historic communitarian sites, the village is dedicated to preservation and education.
Courtesy of Historic Rugby Inc.
Image featured in Discovering Quacks, Utopias, and Cemeteries: Modern Lessons from Historical Themes by Cynthia Resor