Historical Timeline
Pre-1910s – The area that would become Llano was mostly undeveloped high desert, scattered with a few early settlers and attempts at dryland farming. It was quiet, isolated, and rugged to make a living.
1911—Job Harriman, a socialist leader who had just lost the Los Angeles mayoral race, began planning a new kind of community based on cooperative living instead of capitalism.
1913—Harriman and his supporters purchased about 9,000 acres in the Antelope Valley to create their utopia. The land had some existing development and, most importantly, access to water.
May 1, 1914 – Llano del Rio officially opened with a few dozen settlers. The goal was to create a working socialist colony where residents shared labor, profit, and ownership.
1915–1916 – The colony grew quickly to over 1,000 residents. They built communal kitchens, schools, workshops, and even a hotel. Architect Alice Constance Austin designed futuristic communal housing, which was never fully realized.
1917—Tensions rose over how the colony should be run. Combined with water shortages and its remote location, idealism began to crack. Disputes over leadership and resources pushed people to leave.
1918 – Llano del Rio folded. About 60 families relocated to Louisiana to try again in New Llano. The Antelope Valley colony was abandoned, leaving the stone ruins visible today.
Today, the remains of Llano del Rio can be seen along Highway 138. The site is a California Historical Landmark, remembered as one of the boldest and largest non-religious utopian experiments in the American West.