Originally called Home Colony, the town was organized in 1909 by the Mutual Home Association, comprising a group of Socialists and political dissenters. Land was apportioned in two-acre plots, but other assets were administered collectively. A co-operative store flourished, and a newspaper was started by Jay Fox.
The first jarring note in this modern Utopia was a controversy originating in a division of opinion over nude bathing. The conflict reached the local press, then the Pierce County courts, and, finally, the press of the Nation. The issue of freedom of the press became interwoven with the original disagreements. Hardly had this dissension worked itself out, when the colony was caught in the backwash of suspicion engendered by the First World War. A visit by Emma Goldman and other radicals led to renewed resentment, criticism, and investigations.
Home Colony survives as Home, a neat agricultural village, with cottages surrounded by berry patches, gardens, and poultry runs. Huckleberry harvesting and the cutting of ferns and foliage of Oregon grape, cedar, and huckleberry bushes for florists are also sources of local income.
