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In 2000/2001, The Louis Berger Group, Inc., completed an architectural/historical survey and Multiple Property Documentation of the agricultural structures and buildings of the Amana Colonies. The project involved the development of an historic context, an architectural survey of agricultural structures, the completion of a Multiple Property Documentation Form, and the determination of contributing status of each structure to the Amana Colonies National Historic Landmark.
The Festhalle in Main Amana (photo credit Camilla Deiber 2001)
The Amana Colonies, with their distinctive landscape of picturesque villages nestled in the rolling farmland along the Iowa River, have been a tourist attraction since their initial settlement in 1855. The colonies were one of the most successful American Utopian communities, retaining their unique communal economic and religious life for nearly 80 years until their incorporation in 1932.
Traditional Amana agriculture was highly structured. A general farm manager oversaw the colony farms and assigned the livestock and crops to be raised in each village. The village farm manager was responsible for the daily assignments and schedules. Under him were the bosses that ran each department, such as the horse boss, cow boss, and hired-hands boss. Farming was basically for the community's subsistence needs, with each village raising just enough food for its population. Certain crops, however, were raised for market. Amana onions, grown from the original German stock and considered to have a very delicate flavor, were traded as far away as Chicago.
The communal society was organized into seven villages, each arranged in a German-style layout with mills, shops, dairy, village churches, communal kitchen houses, and communal gardens. The barns, which were the center of the villages' agricultural complexes, are larger than an average barn in Iowa, because they served the agricultural needs of the entire village. Heavy timber construction and mortise and tenon joinery was used well into the 20th century.
The Amana Colonies were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965. The land use patterns, which reflect the communal life of the Community of True Inspiration, are distinctive relicts of a bygone utopian existence.
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