EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of a weekly series on our region’s history coordinated by the Trumbull County Historical Society.

Beulah Farms was a short-lived religious communitarian experiment from 1920 to 1924 in Vienna. It was located near Murray’s Corners, which was the historic name for the area at the intersection of Warren-Sharon and Ridge roads.

Evangelist Justus James Evans, founder of the Almighty Church of God, purchased the land for this experiment in 1920, which was two properties at Murray’s Corners. Two more parcels were purchased in 1921 to create the 418-acre farm. He believed that African Americans could run a profitable communal farm while rearing orphaned children in a Christian-based belief system.

Evans traveled throughout the Eastern and Midwestern states to raise funds for the “Almighty Church Training Colony” in Vienna. Evans describes Beulah Farms and its purpose “… under my direct leading, have established a training colony and camp in the State of Ohio, for the high industrial and pure righteous training and proper educating of the negro youth and coming children of our people … I will tell you what God wants you each to do in this particular … He wants each of you who are willing to help this cause to do it quickly! And I want you to give some of your money to it immediately, if it is not more than from $1 to $10 each. And I want you to do it AT ONCE … We are NOW HAVING A $7 MILLION CAMPAIGN for this cause …”

On one lot, the community constructed a tabernacle with a thatched roof. Many religious services were held there, attracting large gatherings of people in the summer. One of the baptismal areas was located at Big Spring Run on Ridge Road.

Beulah Farms quickly ran afoul of local authorities because the children there possessed no accurate records of previous schooling and residency.

The number of children reported to be living in the community fluctuated from 10 to 24, and some were orphans. The commune could not satisfy authorities that it had legal custody of the children. Nor could it satisfy the Bureau of Institutional Inspection, when the commune wished to educate the children because it was not licensed to do so.

At its height, approximately 60 tenants lived at Beulah Farms, in any of its four farmhouses. They cared for “21 head of cattle, four teams of horses, about 50 head of sheep, between 25 and 30 hogs and much poultry.” Women from Beulah Farms also were hired out to perform domestic work in Vienna households.

Evans spent much time away from the Farms, collecting donations for its upkeep. Mortgages came due and bills went unpaid, causing most of the land to be sold at a sheriff’s sale.

Evans died Nov. 12, 1924, in Vienna Township of heart trouble. He was taken to Paris, Kentucky, for burial. The death of the leader of Beulah Farms marked the end of the experimental colony.

For more information, visit viennapedia.org.