Warren Chase

Founder

Warren Chase was a pioneer, spiritualist, social reformer and politician. He was born Jan. 5, 1813, in Pittsfield, New Hampshire. In Southport (now Kenosha), Wisconsin, he became involved with spiritualism and the theories of the French social philosopher Charles Fourier.

In 1844, he led a small party of pioneers to 800 acres of land in “a valley between two gentle hills” near John Scott Horner’s land in the future Ripon area. They named the valley Ceresco (after Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture) and established the Wisconsin Phalanx, an experiment in communal living. Ceresco later would be merged with the community of Ripon.

Chase was “the most colorful of the directors,” according to “Ripon College a History.” “… Despite his radical beliefs in utopian socialism, abolition, spiritualism, women’s rights, and free love, Chase remained an acknowledged local leader.”

He represented Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, in both the first and second Constitutional Conventions in 1846 and 1848, was elected as one of the first senators for the new State of Wisconsin, and was a Free Soil candidate for governor of Wisconsin in 1849.

The Long House at Ceresco

In numerous locations in Wisconsin, Michigan, Missouri, Illinois and California, Chase remained active in politics and support of the temperance, abolitionist and feminist movements. He also lectured widely on spiritualism. He later served in the state senate of California and published his autobiography, “The Life Line of the Lone One; or an Autobiography of the World’s Child.”

He died Feb. 25, 1891, at the age of 78.