Cooperatives: Food Cooperatives in the United States

Cooperative activity in America dates back to the days of the early colonists. In 1752, Benjamin Franklin organized the first successful cooperative in the United States, the Philadelphia Contributorship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire. During the nineteenth century, cooperative experiments such as the Grange were widespread, with the majority resulting in failure. Immigrants from Finland and Bohemia who were familiar with the Rochdale cooperative principles established the first successful American food cooperatives in the early twentieth century.