Icarian Museum

Bienvenue!  Welcome to the French Icarian Village, a work in progress.  In 1848 France, the Icarians pursued a special vision for their future.  To carry out this ideal, they made a remarkable journey from France to Adams County in the new state of Iowa.  The French Icarian Colony Foundation Board of Trustees are now shaping another remarkable journey the development of a living history museum that will authentically tell the Icaria story. The Village interprets the history of six Icaria Colonies in America that were part of a social experiment began in France by French-born Etienne Cabet in the 1840s. The Icarians established colonies from 1848 -1898 in Texas, Louisiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa and California. The Iowa Icarian Colony located 3 miles east of Corning, was established in 1852 and disbanded in 1898, making it the longest-lived, non-religious communal experiment in American history.