Au Texas In the early 1850s, Victor Considerant was a major figure in the Fourierist movement, which had been suppressed in France after the election of
Napoleon III in 1848 and his subsequent
coup d'état in 1851. Forced into exile in Belgium, Considerant accepted an invitation from
Arthur Brisbane to tour the United States and traveled widely there in 1852 and 1853. After personally inspecting an area near the three forks of the
Trinity River in
Texas and being greatly impressed by the climate and opportunities there, he returned to Europe and published a book titled
Au Texas advocating for the establishment of a colony in the region. Initially, plans for the colony were loosely structured as Considerant intended to make it a "communal experiment administered by a system of
direct democracy."
Establishment Advance agent
François Cantagrel was sent ahead to purchase land, departing from Belgium October 3. When he arrived in Texas, he found that the abandoned
Fort Worth, which Considerant had hoped to use as a base for the colony, was no longer available. After a significant search, Cantagrel purchased in March 1920 acres of land for the colony $10270. The land included both the limestone cliffs where the townsite would be built as well as Trinity River bottom lands with rich soil for farming. Approximately 200 colonists arrived by ship near present-day
Houston. They walked overland to the site of their new colony approximately northward, with their possessions hauled by ox carts, and arrived on April 22, 1855. The town of Dallas had about 400 inhabitants at the time. The addition of the European colonists nearly doubled the population. The new arrivals spoke a different language from the settlers, believed in a different system of government and Catholic faith, and brought with them skills that the existing farmers did not possess. The watchmaking, weaving, brewing and storekeeping skills of the new colonists were ill-suited to the establishment of a colony, since they lacked the experience and ability to produce food for themselves. Although the colonists cultivated wheat and vegetables, they did not produce enough for their needs or in time; their biggest handicap was the uncooperative weather of Texas. A
blizzard in May 1856 destroyed the colony's crops and covered the Trinity River with ice. That summer the Texas heat created drought conditions, and what was left of the crops became eaten by an invasion of grasshoppers.
Struggles Considerant met several disappointments upon his return to the United States in February 1855. The Texas legislature had largely discontinued the headright land grant system instead reserving large sections of land for a prospective transcontinental railroad. Additionally, the
Know Nothing Party—a populist movement opposed to foreign immigration had suddenly emerged as a significant national force. However, most distressing to Considerant was the news that Savardan and Burkli had set sail with groups including women, children, and old men—dashing his hopes for a pioneer group to lay the foundation for more general settlement. On July 6, 1856, Cantagrel resigned his position in the colony after months of conflict with Considerant, particularly over his failure to compensate colonists who had chosen to leave the community. Considerant then worked out a deal with the colonists over withheld wages, but on the morning of July 8, before the agreement was signed, Considerant was found to have fled the colony, never to return.
Dissolution On January 28, 1857,
Allyre Bureau, founding partner and director since Considerant's resignation, gave formal notice of the colony's dissolution. The last La Réunion house collapsed in the 1930s. By 1954, the city of Dallas annexed the land that was once La Réunion. ==Legacy==