The Adelphi Community is an

intentional community An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of group cohesiveness, social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, po ...

, population 16, 25 miles east of

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...

, USA. It has streets, private homes, eight townhouses, a community well, community gardens and a sewage treatment plant.

History

The community was built by members of the Adelphi Organization, founded by Richard Kieninger in 1976. During the 1950s, Kieninger had been a student of the Lemurian Fellowship in

Ramona, California Ramona is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Diego County, California. The population was 20,292 at the 2010 census. The name ''Ramona'' also refers to an unincorporated community (with some plans to incorporate) that includes both the ...

, which teaches Lemurian Philosophy. In 1963, Kieninger published his own book, ''The Ultimate Frontier'', under the pen name Eklal Kueshana.

Community philosophies

The Ultimate Frontier details tenets of Lemurian Philosophy, which stresses love and positive living. Early editions also included predictions Kieninger claimed were provided by representatives of secret organizations known as Brotherhoods. Kieninger wrote that nuclear war would begin in November 1999, culminating in worldwide devastation, and that natural cataclysms would begin on May 5, 2000, submerging most of the United States and producing a new land mass in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

. There, the Nation of God would be built. When neither event occurred, he said he had misunderstood the Brotherhoods' predictions. The 2000 edition, published by the Adelphi Organization, continues to include general predictions of Armageddon and Doomsday, but without dates. Kieninger lived at Adelphi until his death, of

esophageal cancer Esophageal cancer is cancer arising from the esophagus—the food pipe that runs between the throat and the stomach. Symptoms often include difficulty in swallowing and weight loss. Other symptoms may include pain when swallowing, a hoarse vo ...

, in early 2002. He never explained the failure of his predictions.

Community purpose

The Adelphi Organization's website says: ''"...The Adelphi Organization was founded...to help create the climate and institutional patterns to be used initially in the Nation of God, by sponsoring the development of the community of Adelphi, Texas. The membership has accepted the responsibility for being a precursor city to the Nation of God and educating future generations in the Lemurian Philosophy. It is our job to survive the cataclysm (Armageddon and Doomsday, ed.) by means of technology and positive karma and quickly rebuild and establish a highly cultured Lemurian civilization."'' Residence is limited to members of The Adelphi Organization, which also manages community affairs.

Sister communities

The Adelphi Community has a sister community in

Stelle, Illinois Stelle is an unincorporated community located in Rogers Township in northern Ford County, Illinois, United States. Its estimated population as of 2013 is 100. Although Stelle started as an intentional community in the early 1970s, it became a ...

, which was founded in 1973, also based on Kieninger's writings. Residence there has been open to anyone since 1983 and the community disavowed Kieninger in 1985. The population of the Stelle Community is 101.

References

{{authority control Populated places established in 1976 Intentional communities in the United States 1976 establishments in Texas