
The American religious foundation and philanthropy that informally became known as the American Colony of Jerusalem, was established in the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
in 1881 as a "
Christian utopian society" led by American religious leader
Horatio Gates Spafford and his Norwegian wife
Anne Tobine Larsen Øglende. Largely concerned with providing social services, education, meeting spaces, and medical care, it became known for producing and publishing an important documentation, photographic series of the area of Jerusalem starting in the early 1900s. The community lasted until the 1950s.
The colony is known today mainly for the luxury hotel that exists in the place where the colony was located.
History
After suffering a series of tragic losses following the
Great Chicago Fire of 1871 (see "
It is Well with My Soul
"It Is Well With My Soul", also known as "When Peace, Like A River", is a hymn penned by hymnist Horatio Spafford and composed by Philip Bliss. First published in ''Gospel Hymns No. 2'' by Ira Sankey and Bliss (1876), it is possibly the most ...
"), Chicago residents
Anna and
Horatio Spafford led a small American contingent in 1881 to
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
to form a Christian utopian society. The "American Colony," as it became known, was later joined by Swedish Christians. The society engaged in philanthropic work amongst the people of Jerusalem regardless of religious affiliation, gaining the trust of the local Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities. During and immediately after
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, the American Colony carried out philanthropic work to alleviate the suffering of the local inhabitants, opening
soup kitchen
A soup kitchen, food kitchen, or meal center is a place where food is offered to Hunger, hungry and homeless people, usually for no price, cost, or sometimes at a below-market price (such as coin Donation, donations). Frequently located in Low i ...
s,
hospital
A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...
s,
orphanage
An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or abusi ...
s and other charitable ventures.
Although the American Colony ceased to exist as a
religious community Religious community may refer to:
* Church (congregation), a religious organization or congregation that meets in a particular location
* Confessional community, a group of people with similar religious beliefs
* Institute of consecrated life, a ...
in the late 1940s, individual members continued to be active in the daily life of Jerusalem. Towards the end of the 1950s, the society's communal residence was converted into the
American Colony Hotel. The hotel is an integral part of the Jerusalem landscape where members of all communities in Jerusalem still meet. In 1992 representatives from the
Palestine Liberation Organization
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...
and Israel met in the hotel where they began talks that led to the historic 1993
Oslo Peace Accord.
The Spaffords
In 1871,
Horatio Spafford, a prosperous lawyer and
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
church elder and his wife, Anna, were living with their four young daughters in Chicago. That year, the
Great Fire erupted in Chicago, devastating the city. In November 1873, Anna and the children set sail for Europe aboard the with a group of friends. Horatio stayed behind, detained by business. On November 21, the ocean liner collided with a British vessel and sank within minutes. Anna was rescued, but all the children drowned. Horatio received the tragic news in a telegram from Anna that read: "Saved alone. What shall I do?" Horatio immediately left for England to bring his wife home. Crossing the Atlantic, the captain of the ship came to Spafford and said that they were approaching the area where the ship went down that had his wife and daughters on board. There Spafford wrote the lyrics of the hymn "
It Is Well with My Soul
"It Is Well With My Soul", also known as "When Peace, Like A River", is a hymn penned by hymnist Horatio Spafford and composed by Philip Bliss. First published in ''Gospel Hymns No. 2'' by Ira Sankey and Bliss (1876), it is possibly the most ...
," the music being added later by
Philip Bliss
Philip Paul Bliss (9 July 1838 – 29 December 1876) was an American composer, conductor, writer of hymns and a bass-baritone Gospel singer. He wrote many well-known hymns, including "Hold the Fort" (1870), "Almost Persuaded" (1871); "Hallelujah ...
.
Back in Chicago, the Spaffords tried to mend their shattered lives. In 1878, a daughter, Bertha, was born and, two years later, a son Horatio, who died in an
epidemic
An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of hosts in a given population within a short period of time. For example, in meningococcal infection ...
of
scarlet fever
Scarlet fever, also known as scarlatina, is an infectious disease caused by ''Streptococcus pyogenes'', a Group A streptococcus (GAS). It most commonly affects children between five and 15 years of age. The signs and symptoms include a sore ...
. Horatio left the
Fullerton Presbyterian Church, which he had helped to build, organized a group of friends (dubbed "the
Overcomers" by American press
['' Jerusalem: The Biography'', page 365, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2011. ]), and decided to seek solace in the city of Jerusalem. After the birth of a daughter, Grace, in August 1881, the Spaffords set out for Jerusalem in a group of thirteen adults and three children.
In Jerusalem

Moving into rented quarters inside the
Damascus Gate
The Damascus Gate is one of the main Gates of the Old City of Jerusalem. It is located in the wall on the city's northwest side and connects to a highway leading out to Nablus, which in the Hebrew Bible was called Shechem or Sichem, and from the ...
in the
Old City of Jerusalem
The Old City of Jerusalem (; ) is a walled area in Jerusalem.
In a tradition that may have begun with an 1840s British map of the city, the Old City is divided into four uneven quarters: the Muslim Quarter, the Christian Quarter, the Arm ...
, the group adopted a communal lifestyle and engaged in philanthropic activities. Horatio took the
Bible
The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
as his guide and believed that the society's work would hasten the Second Coming of Jesus. As a commune, the society was suspect in the eyes of many. Members of the colony were shunned by the
American consuls (such as
Selah Merrill) in Jerusalem for their unusual lifestyle.
Horatio Spafford died of
malaria
Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...
in 1888, but the community continued to grow. Visiting Chicago in 1894, Anna Spafford made contact with the Swedish evangelist
Olof Henrik Larsson. Finding they had much in common, the Swedes from Chicago decided to join Anna on her trip back to Jerusalem. Larsson also exhorted his relations and friends in
Nås, Sweden, to go immediately to Jerusalem. As a result, 38 adults and seventeen children sold all their possessions and set off for the
Holy Land
The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...
to join the colony, arriving there in July 1896.
The colony, now numbering 150, moved to the large house of a wealthy Arab landowner,
Rabbah Husseini, outside the city walls in
Sheikh Jarrah on the road to
Nablus
Nablus ( ; , ) is a State of Palestine, Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 156,906. Located between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a ...
.
Part of the building was used as a hostel for visitors from Europe and America. A small farm developed with
cow
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are called co ...
s and
pigs, a
butcher
A butcher is a person who may Animal slaughter, slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale ...
y, a
dairy
A dairy is a place where milk is stored and where butter, cheese, and other dairy products are made, or a place where those products are sold. It may be a room, a building, or a larger establishment. In the United States, the word may also des ...
, a
bakery
A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based baked goods made in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, doughnuts, bagels, Pastry, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as Coffeehouse, cafés, servi ...
, a
carpenter
Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenter ...
's shop, and a
smithy. The economy was supplemented by a shop selling photographs, craft items and archaeological artifacts.
The American Colonists were embraced by the Jewish and Arab communities for their good works, among them, teaching in both Muslim and Jewish schools. In contrast to the Protestant missionaries in Jerusalem, they never worked for the conversion of those of other faiths.
Photography

Around 1900,
Elijah Meyers, a member of the American Colony, began taking photographs of places and events in and around the city of Jerusalem.
[Hallote, Rachel, "Photography and the American Contribution to Early "Biblical" Archaeology, 1870–1920," ''Near Eastern Archaeology'' vol. 70, no. 1 (2007), 32-33.] Meyers's work eventually expanded into a full-fledged photographic division within the colony, including
Hol Lars (Lewis) Larsson and
G. Eric Matson, who later renamed the effort as
The Matson Photo Service.
Their interest in archeological artifacts (such as the
Lion Tower in Tripoli pictured here), and the detail of their photographs, led to widespread interest in their work by archeologists.
The collection was later donated to the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
.
Plague of locusts
From March to October 1915,
a swarm of locusts stripped areas in and around
Palestine
Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
of almost all
vegetation
Vegetation is an assemblage of plants and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular Taxon, taxa, life forms, structure, Spatial ecology, spatial extent, or any other specific Botany, botanic ...
. This infestation seriously compromised the already depleted food supply of the region and sharpened the misery of all Jerusalemites.
Djemal Pasha, Supreme Commander of
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
and
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world.
Geographically, the ...
, who mounted a campaign to limit the devastation, asked the American Colony photographers to document the progress of the locust hordes.
World War I
When the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
entered World War I as an ally of Germany in November 1914, Jerusalem and
Palestine
Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
became a battleground between the Allied and the Central powers. The Allied forces from
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
, under the leadership of the British, engaged the German, Austrian and Turkish forces in fierce battles for control of Palestine. During this time the American Colony assumed a more crucial role in supporting the local populace through the deprivations and hardships of the war. Because the Turkish military commanders governing Jerusalem trusted the colony, they asked its photographers to record the course of the war in Palestine.
The colony was permitted to continue its relief efforts even after the
United States entered the war on the side of the Allies in the spring of 1917. As the German and Turkish armies retreated before the advancing Allied forces, the American Colony took charge of the overcrowded Turkish
military hospital
A military hospital is a hospital owned or operated by a military. They are often reserved for the use of military personnel and their dependents, but in some countries are made available to civilians as well. They may or may not be located on a m ...
s, which were inundated by the wounded.
The outbreak of World War I in 1914 brought great suffering to the country. All young men were
conscripted into the army, while the older men were drafted into work brigades. Food supplies dwindled as the Allies sustained a blockade of the Palestinian coast, and the Turkish army confiscated provisions. Weakened by
malnutrition
Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients which adversely affects the body's tissues a ...
, people died of
typhus
Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...
and other epidemics. As famine, disease, and death ravaged the people of Jerusalem, the colony, struggling for their own survival, engaged in relief work. With money from friends in the United States, the American Colony ran a soup kitchen that fed thousands during these desperate times. When the British Allied commander,
General Allenby, entered Jerusalem on December 11, 1917, the colony offered their philanthropic services to the new rulers of Palestine and continued to serve their fellow Jerusalemites.
After the war
The colony also administered an orphanage to provide refuge for the many children torn from their parents during World War I. The charitable work begun by the Spaffords continues today in the original colony house abutting the walls of the
Old City of Jerusalem
The Old City of Jerusalem (; ) is a walled area in Jerusalem.
In a tradition that may have begun with an 1840s British map of the city, the Old City is divided into four uneven quarters: the Muslim Quarter, the Christian Quarter, the Arm ...
. The
Spafford Children's Center provides medical treatment and outreach programs for Arab children and their families in Jerusalem.
Inner tensions within the American Colony led to the final demise of this utopian Christian community in the 1950s. Descendants of the Spaffords own a hotel outside the city's walls named the
American Colony Hotel.
In fiction
Selma Lagerlöf
Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf (, , ; 20 November 1858 – 16 March 1940) was a Swedish writer. She published her first novel, ''Gösta Berling's Saga'', at the age of 33. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, which she was ...
's novel ''
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
'' made the colony famous.
In photography
The book ''
Österlandet'' is a visual record of Algot Sätterström's (inventor, painter) interaction with members of the American Colony Photographic Division Lewis Larsson, Erik Lind, Furman Baldwin and Eric Matson.
Jerusalem American Colony Cemetery
Located in
Tabachnik Garden on the southern slope of
Mount Scopus
Mount Scopus ( ', "Mount of the Watchmen/ Sentinels"; ', lit. "Mount Lookout", or ' "Mount of the Scene/Burial Site", or "Mount Syenite") is a mountain (elevation: above sea level) in northeast Jerusalem.
Between the 1948 Arab–Israeli ...
, next to the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...
. Another cemetery of the colony is located on
Mount Zion
Mount Zion (, ''Har Ṣīyyōn''; , ''Jabal Sahyoun'') is a hill in Jerusalem, located just outside the walls of the Old City (Jerusalem), Old City to the south. The term Mount Zion has been used in the Hebrew Bible first for the City of David ( ...
.
See also
*
Pro-Jerusalem Society (1918–1926) - Mr. John Whiting, member of the American Colony, was the Hon. Treasurer of the Society's leading Council, and the Spafford's adopted son Jacob was member of the Council
Jerusalem photographers
:19th century
*
Armenians in Israel#Photographers: see for Armenian photographers in Jerusalem since 1857
*
Antonio Beato (c. 1832–1906)
*
Felice Beato
Felice Beato (c. 1832 – 29 January 1909), also known as Felix Beato, was an Italian Briton, Italian–British photographer. He was one of the first people to take photographs in East Asia and one of the first war photography, war photographer ...
(1832–1909)
*
Francis Bedford (photographer) (1816–1894)
*
Félix Bonfils (1831–1885)
*
Mendel Diness (1827–1900), the first Jewish photographer in Jerusalem during the 1850s
*
James Graham (1806–1869), Scottish photographer who took some of the earliest images of the Holy Land (1853–1856)
*
Khalil Raad (1854–1957), known as "Palestine's first Arab photographer"
*
James Robertson (photographer) (1813–1888)
*
:de:Auguste Salzmann (1824–1872), French archaeologist, painter and pioneer of archaeological photography; photographed in Jerusalem in c. 1854
*
Zangaki brothers, C. and G., worked out of Egypt c. 1860s-1890s
:1900-1948
From the above various Armenian photographers in Jerusalem, and Khalil Raad.
*
Najib Anton Albina (1901–1983), master photographer of the Palestine Archaeological Museum
*
Ze'ev (Wilhelm) Aleksandrowicz (1905–1992), photographed in Mandate Palestine in 1932-1935
*
Ya'acov Ben-Dov (1882–1968), arrived in Ottoman Palestine in 1907
*
Elia Kahvedjian (1910–1999), active in Jerusalem; mentioned
here
*
Zoltan Kluger (1896–1977), in Mandate Palestine and Israel between 1933–58
*
Samuel Joseph Schweig (1905–1985), arrived in Mandate Palestine in 1922
*
Herbert Sonnenfeld (1906–1972), German Jewish photographer, photographed in Mandate Palestine in the 1930s
[Beit Hatfutsot Photo Collections]
The Herbert and Leni Sonnenfeld Collection
accessed April 2020
*
Rudi Weissenstein (1910–1999), arrived in Mandate Palestine in 1936, author of iconic Israeli Declaration of Independence picture
References
Bibliography
*Ariel, Yaakov, & Kark, Ruth. (1996). "Messianism, Holiness, Charisma, and Community: The American-Swedish Colony in Jerusalem, 1881-1933," ''Church History'', ''65'' (4), pages 641-657. This article also discusses Swedish author and
Nobel Prize for Literature
The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in t ...
winner
Selma Lagerlöf
Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf (, , ; 20 November 1858 – 16 March 1940) was a Swedish writer. She published her first novel, ''Gösta Berling's Saga'', at the age of 33. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, which she was ...
's positive outlook toward the commune, including the influence it had on her when she wrote her novel ''
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
''.
*
*
* Memoir and family history by a daughter of the Colony's founders and its latter-day matriarch.
* A well-researched, critical treatment of the American Colony phenomenon.
External links
Spafford Hymn ManuscriptPeace Like a River / It is Well with my Soul - as originally penned by Horatio Spafford, at the site on the ocean where his children drowned in a ship collision.
The Spafford Children's Centerfounded by the American Colony and named after its founders, Anna and Horatio Spafford. Still active today. 11/25/2023.
The American Colony Archive Collections [email protected]website.
The Colony Heritage SocietyAn online meeting place for American Colony descendants and researchers, with image galleries, discussion forums and other tools. (Link is broken. November 25, 2023. No quick results in search.)
at the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
website. Selected documents from the American Colony in Jerusalem Collection in the Manuscript Division of the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
.
*.
Album MIZPAH Publication of an album which was given to Herbert Samuel by the members of the American Colony in 1925. Israel State Archives site.
The American Colony in JerusalemCollection of Images in Watercolors including the original Ustinov Palm Tree.
The American Colony Hotelwebsite.
{{Coord, 31, 47, 24, N, 35, 13, 52, E, region:PS, display=title
Neighbourhoods of Jerusalem
Late modern history of Jerusalem
Christianity in Jerusalem
Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem
1881 establishments in the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire–United States relations
American diaspora in Israel
Palestine–United States relations
American expatriate organizations
Populated places established in 1881