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For nearly two centuries, the Wabash River coursed past the town of New Harmony, frequently overriding its banks and often eroding the shoreline at a critical point north of town.
In 2001, the DNR, New Harmony officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began and completed a riprap protection project along 4000 feet of eroded riverbank. Large riprap was placed and secured between the land and the relentless Wabash. Fragile historic and cultural sites, such as cemeteries, churches, and academic institutions line the streets of the town, as well as private residences.
The Wabash River banks were migrating toward the town, with erosion measuring as high as 60 feet in some areas immediately upstream of the town.
Saving the town from flooding is important for many reasons. New Harmony is also the site of two of America's earliest utopian communities. The first, Harmonie on the Wabash (1814-1824), was one of the most successful ever attempted. The subsequent New Harmony communities of Robert Owen were less successful economically, but pioneered many new education reforms.
In 1814, the Harmony Society, a German religious group led by the charismatic George Rapp, prepared for the imminent second coming of Christ by devoting themselves to self- sacrifice and hard work. By 1824, their accomplishments in manufacturing and trade had brought them great wealth. In that same year, Rapp sold the community and led his group back to Pennsylvania where they established their final community called Economy.
Robert Owen, the famous British industrialist and social theorist, bought the community and the surrounding lands and renamed it New Harmony. OwenÕs ambition was to create a more perfect society through free education and the abolition of social classes and personal wealth.
World-renowned scientists and educators settled in New Harmony. With the help of William Maclure, the Scottish geologist and businessman, they introduced vocational education, kindergarten and other educational reforms.
The individual properties of the New Harmony State Historic Site preserve and interpret this unique history.
New Harmony State Historic Site is located south of Interstate 64 near the intersection of Indiana 66 and 68, 27 miles west of Evansville on Indiana 66.
For more information call 812-682-3271.
