Amana Colonies

Seven historic villages in Iowa County, Iowa, located about 20 mi/32 km west of Iowa City. Six villages – Amana, East Amana, High Amana, Middle Amana, South Amana, and West Amana – were founded by the Community of True Inspiration in 1855. This religious group, originally founded in Germany in 1714, first came to America in 1842, and developed the Ebenezer Society near Buffalo, New York, before moving to the frontier in Iowa, to seek greater isolation as the Amana Society. The seventh village, Homestead, was purchased because it was on the railroad and the Society wished to control access. The Amana Society functioned as a commune, with property held in common. This strict communalism lasted until 1932, when their isolation was lost, and faced by financial and social pressures, members voted in a referendum for the ‘Great Change’, which split the religious and secular sides of the society, and abandoned communalism. The Amana Church Society still practices its old faith. The villages, distinctively European in appearance, are a major tourist attraction in eastern Iowa.

The society's businesses – agriculture, food processing, textiles, crafts, and manufacturing – achieved success. The Amana company, manufacturers of refrigeration and cooking appliances, was founded in 1934 by community members.