"ORDERVILLE - MORMON COMMUNISM" a Orderville Travel Page by mtncorg

Communalism is one of the philosophical strains that can be seen within the history of the Mormon experience both in Utah and early times in the movement. The earliest communal experiments took place during the late 1830’s in Kirtland, Ohio. Brigham Young revived the notion later on and settlers sent out to the edges of a new Deseret organized themselves under the United Order. The best known United Order community was this little town in the heart of Long Valley found today along US 89 just north of the Mt Carmel Junction from which UT 9 branches off to the west and Zion.

Orderville was started in 1875 and life was organized in a communal fashion including shared meals and twice daily worship services. The communal lifestyle lasted for about a decade when the people decided to split community property into private ownership, especially in lieu of the federal government’s fight against polygamy. Today, Orderville remains a quiet farming community that it has always been.