Three Arrows Cooperative Society.

The cooperative colony managed by Three Arrows Cooperative Society, Inc. originated with the purchase of Barger Farm, a hilly 125-acre property in Putnam Valley, NY in December 1936. The original organizers, among whom were Louis Hay, a psychologist, Joseph Glass, an attorney, and Jack Schaffer, a member of the Socialist Party familiar with the local area, obtained a state charter as the Barger Street Cooperative Society in 1937 and began to sell shares in the venture for $100, with a minimum purchase of two shares. By the end of the second season thirty families had purchased shares, and a number of tents had been erected on the property. Many of the first participants were affiliated with the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, the Jewish Labor Bund, the Socialist Party, USA, or the Party's youth group, the Young Peoples' Socialist League. Some had attended socialist summer camps as children. The colony later adopted the name Three Arrows Cooperative Society to honor a traditional symbol of the international socialist movement. An important influence on the early members was long-time Socialist Party leader, Norman Thomas, who visited Three Arrows every summer and spoke there during his several presidential campaigns. After his death in 1968, the colonys social hall was named for him.