Unfortunately, however, two pests appeared which they
had not foreseen. Harassed by malaria and meddlesome neighbors,
Father Rapp a third time sought a new Canaan. In 1825 he sold the
entire site to Robert Owen, the British philanthropic socialist, and
the Harmonists moved back to Pennsylvania. They built their third and
last home on the Ohio, about twenty miles from Pittsburgh, and called
it Economy in prophetic token of the wealth which their industry and
shrewdness would soon bring in.
The chaste and simple beauty of this village was due to the skill and
good taste of Friedrich Reichert Rapp, an architect and stone cutter,
the adopted son of Father Rapp. The fine proportions of the plain
buildings, with their vines festooned between the upper and lower
windows, the quaint and charming gardens, the tantalizing labyrinth
where visitors lost themselves in an attempt to reach the Summer
House--these were all of his creation. Friedrich Rapp was also a poet,
an artist, and a musician. He gathered a worthy collection of
paintings and a museum of Indian relics and objects of natural
history. He composed many of the fine hymns which impress every
visitor to Economy. He was likewise an energetic and skillful business
man and represented the colony in its external affairs until his death
in 1834.
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