From his earliest manhood the plan of creating a settlement of which he was the founder had been foremost in his mind. He had dreamed of it; he had written of it; he had talked of it to business associates; he had lectured on the subject in different parts of the city, until at last he had interested enough persons “desirous of obtaining homes thro’ associative effort” to meet at Mechanics Hall, New York on the 9th day of July, 1850 and organize the “Industrial Home Association No. 1” of which he was unanimously made president, an office he held continuously until the object of the Association had been accomplished.

Horace Greeley, the founder of the New York Tribune and a fancier of cooperative living, was one of Stevens’ greatest advocates. In 1863 Horace Greeley went on to pursue the establishment of a colony in Colorado that was named after him. Ambitious individuals with high moral standards and money joined him and his visionary agricultural editor, Nathan C. Meeker, in establishing a cooperative community based on the Utopian ideal of cooperation, irrigation, agriculture, temperance, religion, and education.