The prairie of Bureau Co., Illinois in the 1840s could hardly be thought of as the location for a planned utopian settlement. This is especially true if the motivation for the effort was the complex and controversial writings of a French utopian socialist who never stepped foot on American soil, much less the prairies of northern Illinois. The elaborate doctrines of Charles Fournier would be imported and stimulate thousands of Americans to action - specifically some idealists residing in Bureau Co., Illinois. The Lamoille sic] Agricultural and Mechanical Association would have been the first...