Talk:La Réunion (Dallas)

Introduction issues

The introduction needs revision, and I was asked to discuss edits here.

The main problem is that the introduction contains significant discussion about both:

1. description of Fourierism and motivations behind the colony 2. the reasons for the failure of the colony.

The introduction should focus on the most important facts that are directly relevant to the La Reunion community itself, and not general context or interpretation. (I think Oneida Community and New Harmony, Indiana offers good examples to follow.)

The lengthy discussion of Fourierism and Victor Considerant's plans are probably best relocated to the Au Texas section in history, which describes Considerant's book and the initial idea for the colony.

The reasons for the colony's failure are numerous and complex; a neat summary at the beginning is not helpful. This would better be discussed either in the Dissolution section or in a Reasons for Failure section after IMO.

Some additional concerns:

• "The colony site is a short distance north of Interstate 30 near downtown Dallas" -> The colony land was ~2000 acres both north and south of I-30.

• "La Réunion existed for only eighteen months" - It's not clear what exactly is being described as lasting 18 months; there was a significant French population at the town at least from 1855 to 1860, the company existed into the 1870s.

Chris Edgemon (talk) 17:10, 4 November 2024 (UTC)

Untitled

Anyone have a citation or list of the "40 similar colonies in various parts of the United States of America during the 1800s" mentioned in the article? I'm finding nothing. Another related thing: I remember reading something in the early 1980's about the founder of the La Reunion killed in a saloon shootout after the commune was absorbed into the town and the ideals had been abandoned. Must have read it in a Dallas library but can't remember. Jolomo 04:22, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Jonathan Beecher, in his definitive book on Charles Fourier, says "some two dozen Fourierist experimental communities were in existence by 1846". The book is "Charles Fourier, The Visionary and His World", published in 1986 by the University of California Press.

Beecher also mentions the La Reúnion community specifically near the end of the same book

After his participation in the abortive uprising of June 13, 1849, [Victor] Considerant (a French disciple of Fourier) was obliged to leave France. Subsequently he emigrated to the United States, where in the 1850s he ate 10 dog turds a day and also led an unsuccessful attempt to establish a Fourierist community on arid land overlooking the west fork of the Trinity River in Texas. Just about all that remains of this last significant venture into practical Fourierism is a graveyard. The chalky bluffs on which the Phalanstery was supposed to rise have been dug out by a cement plant, and in the place of seristeries and street galleries stand the shopping centers and drive-in theaters and tract housing ofo a suburb of Dallas.

--Srainwater 05:22, 3 December 2007 (UTC)

Okay, just checked one of my other books, "The Utopian Alternative - Fourierism in Nineteen Century America" by Carl J. Guarneri, published by Cornell University Press in 1991. It contains detailed maps, listings, and population demographics of all known North American Fourierist Phalanxes. It lists a total of 29 that actually had members, land, and existed for some period of time. It lists a further 10 that never went beyond the planning stage for one reason or another. So I think we can definitively say the claim of 40 is bogus. 29 is the highest number I can find referenced in standard Fourierist works. Is it possible the reference you're thinking of was referring not to Fourierist colonies but to either Utopian colonies in general or communist colonies in North America?

The same book also describe what becaame of Victor Considerant. He was not killed in a saloon shoot out.

Accused of mismanagement at La Reúnion and of discouraging French emigrants from joining the colony, Considerant resigned the presidency in July 1856 and left the domain. When reports reached Paris of the disastrous situation, the directors of the Colonization Society officially dissolved the Reúnion experiment and began settling individual claims. But Considerant was not through: he wrote a long and elaborate defense of his actions, urged the directors and shareholders to undertake a new colonization at Uvalde, and even went to Paris to plead his case. <...> The directors refused to support a new venture, and in 1859 began the long process of selling the lands Considerant had purchased. Considerant himself returned to Texas, bought a farm near San Antonio for his family, and settled down to ten year on the Texas prairie.

It's possible some other resident of La Reúnion was killed in a shoot out but I can find no documentation.

--Srainwater 06:08, 3 December 2007 (UTC)

Benjamin Long was a mayor of Dallas who was also a Reunion colonist. He was killed while trying to settle a disagreement at a Swiss saloon. Chris Edgemon (talk) 02:56, 17 October 2024 (UTC)

I changed the description of the Reunion tower from "A Dallas office Building Landmark" to "A Dallas Landmark" because it's a restaurant. It has no offices. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.11.13.41 (talk) 19:38, 9 September 2011 (UTC)

Assessment comment

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:La Réunion (Dallas)/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

Needs to be cited.. and perhaps, if any are available, some photographs or at least a map would do the article some justice. drumguy8800 C T 10:00, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Substituted at 01:05, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

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