Beilhart's Spirit Fruit Society

During the depression of the mid-1890s, there was a rise in the number of communitarian groups throughout the United States. American utopianism was nothing new. A rash of these groups had formed in the 1830s and 1840s, and many more following the Civil War. Yet, one small group stood out at the end of the nineteenth century—Jacob Beilhart's Spirit Fruit Society—which eventually settled in Ingleside, Illinois.

This portrait was taken in 1904 for the Cincinnati Enquirer. Collections of the Lisbon (Ohio) Historical Society.

The Spirit Fruit Society is considered by some to be the longest-lived utopian society in the United States, existing from 1899 to 1930.

Jacob Beilhart (1867-1908) was born on a farm in Columbiana County, Ohio. Though raised as a "fire and brimstone" Lutheran, Jacob's search for truth led him to faith healing and the possibilities of mental suggestion and self-sacrifice. "Spirit Fruit" was Jacob's view of "true life" for the "tangible fruit of the Universal Spirit."

Jacob's message included the importance of doing good works, the teachings of Jesus, who represented the perfect, unselfish man, the glorification of "female qualities," and the need for marriage reform. Unlike other founders of communitarian groups, Jacob made no attempt to attract converts. He also allowed his members to come and go as they pleased—some staying permanently while others only for days or months.

Jacob's promotion of "free love" gave him the most trouble and was decades ahead of what Americans were ready to accept. His "free love" philosophy included the right for consenting adults to change partners but not have more than one partner at a time, and he was tolerant of homosexuality. The intent was to create an atmosphere of tolerance, not one of promiscuity. However, this lifestyle brought negative attention to the Society and forced Jacob out of Lisbon, Ohio, and into the big city of Chicago, where his message was more tolerated.

 

View of Wooster Lake from the steps of the Society's former Temple. Photo taken in 1947. Dunn Museum 91.20.10

By 1905, the Spirit Fruit Society was able to buy property near Ingleside along Wooster Lake. The 90-acre site was perfect for farming, beautifully situated on the lake, and was close enough to Chicago that Jacob could preach there, and interested individuals (including journalists) could ride the train out to visit the Society's farm.

There were never more than two dozen members at a time. They were very devoted to Jacob's beliefs, especially the notion that the human spirit could attain health and peace called "Universal Life" through a strong work ethic.

Photo of original members of the Spirit Fruit Society, circa 1898. Left to right: Virginia Moore (Jacob Beilhart's lover), Lou Beilhart (Jacob's wife), Mary Beilhart (Jacob's sister), and an unidentified woman. Photo courtesy of H. Roger Grant. 

 
Jacob's wife, Lou, seemingly tolerated his affair with Virginia Moore (see photo above). Lou eventually left him, but they were never legally divorced. 

The members built by hand their home along Wooster Lake, which they called the "Spirit Fruit Temple." It was a 60 x 80-foot cement block structure complete with personal space for each member. Both men and women members dug tons of gravel from the west bank of the lake and hauled 500 loads of it "across the ice on sleds in very cold weather" to build their dream.

In 1908, the unthinkable happened. Jacob "took sick" with acute appendicitis. Though a doctor from Waukegan was brought in to operate, peritonitis set in, and Jacob died three days later. In keeping with the simplicity of "Universal Life," his followers placed his body in a homemade oak casket and buried him in an unmarked grave. The site of Jacob's grave is now inaccessible on private property.

Despite this great loss, the colony continued. Perhaps this fact, more than any other, makes the Spirit Fruit group unique. Historically, communitarian experiments headed by a single individual dissolved if anything happened to that leader. 

The Spirit Fruit Society remained in Ingleside until 1914. For unclear reasons, they headed west to California, where they bought an abandoned olive grove property near Los Gatos. The Society's membership dwindled, and the final blow came when Virginia Moore died of cancer in 1930.

Spirit Fruit Society's former Temple after renovations in the 1940s by the Wooster Lake Health Resort. Dunn Museum 91.20.9.

Shortly after the Society's departure for California, the Society's Temple became the Wooster Lake Health Resort. The Health Resort was a non-sectarian health clinic which, according to a circa 1945 booklet, offered "the profession and the public the most accepted and approved hospital equipment." 

Sunroom featured in the Health Resort's promotional booklet from circa 1945. Dunn Museum 91.20.1

In 1995, the former Temple and sanitarium burned to the ground. It had been vacant for years. The site has since been developed as a residential subdivision.

Physically, very little remains of the Spirit Fruit Society. Remnants of the Temple in Ingleside were collected by the Bess Bower Dunn Museum (formerly Lake County Discovery Museum), and photographs and other documentation were donated to the museum by the former caretakers of the site.

The utopian Society's success is evident in terms of its longevity, the personal growth of its members, and that the group achieved its goal of "practicing goodness and thoughtfulness and turning the other cheek."

For an in-depth look at Jacob Beilhart and his Spirit Fruit Society, read H. Roger Grant's book Spirit Fruit: A Gentle Utopia.

~ Diana Dretske ddretske@lcfpd.org