The society attained its greatest prosperity in the 1850s, when it owned over 10,000 acres of land and was worth approximately $1 million.

Many German-style structures have been restored and are part of the Zoar Village State Memorial.

[6][7] These Radical Pietists, also known as Separatists, or Zoarites, emigrated from the kingdom of Württemberg in southwestern Germany due to religious oppression from the Lutheran church.

Having separated from the established church, they based their theology in part on the writings of Jakob Böhme.

[8] An early event critical to the success of the colony was the digging of the Ohio and Erie Canal.

The Society struggled for many years to determine what products and services they could produce in their village to pay off the loans.

The Zoarites then spent several years in the 1820s digging the canal and thus were able to pay off their loans on time with much money to spare.

Bimeler's death on August 31, 1853, led to a slow decline in the cohesion of the village.

By 1898, the village voted to disband the communal society, and the property was divided among the remaining residents.

Zoar village is 3.2 road miles north of Zoarville, Ohio, an unincorporated community.

[citation needed] As of the census[14] of 2010, there were 169 people, 77 households, and 58 families residing in the village.

The village sits at the base of the levee, which was built by the Corps in 1936 as part of its water management program in the region.

[18][19][20] In 2023, the Army Corps of Engineers completed a $14 million project to repair the levee and save Zoar Village.

[21] After fleeing from Germany, due to the financing of their emigration and the settling in Ohio, the settlers needed help.

During this period, blacksmithing and tin shops were flourishing in the village, as well as flour and wool mills.

[22] As construction of the village began, the buildings were subsequently numbered in the order that they were built.

Originally built in 1835 to house the elders of the village, Joseph Bimeler and his family made this building their home.

The lower level is used as a governmental chamber and the two upper floors house artifacts that were commonly used throughout the village.

The preservation committee, Zoar Community Association, is currently waiting on funding for inside renovation.

[23] Nixon, Edgar Burkhardt, The Society of Separatists of Zoar, Ph.D. dissertation, The Ohio State University, 1933.