“During this era of comparative farm activity a laudable communal spirit developed. Almost from the start religious services were conducted every Sabbath morning, and Saturday was a day of cessation from labor. At first, worship was held in one of the little shacks, later a small synagogue was built. A schohet came from Saginaw, and for a few months during the summer and autumn of 1892 Rev. Charles Goodwin of Bay City was spiritual leader, cantor and religious teacher, acting in these various capacities without pay. Praiseworthy was the ardent desire to give the children a thorough Jewish bringing up. Hard as it must have been to get together the little money required, a modest Talmud Torah building was erected.”
Beginning in 1895 the colonists faced increasing difficulty in meeting the financial demands of the debts they had incurred. Unfortunately, things deteriorated with each succeeding year. “The disintegration of the colony began in the fall of 1899 when three colonists abandoned their farms. In 1900 only eight families remained in the colony and these rapidly disappeared.”
A bold experiment by a group of idealistic Jews who wanted to be farmers in America thus came to an end.