The first instance of what might be termed Territorialism, though the term did not yet exist, much predated Zionism. In 1825 the playwright, diplomat and journalist, Mordecai Manuel Noah – the first Jew born in the United States to reach national prominence – tried to found a Jewish "refuge" at Grand Island in the Niagara River, to be called "Ararat", after Mount Ararat, the Biblical resting place of Noah's Ark. He purchased land on Grand Island – then on the frontier of white settlement – for $4.38 per acre, in order to build a refuge for Jews of all nations. He had brought with him a cornerstone which read "Ararat, a City of Refuge for the Jews, founded by Mordecai M. Noah in the Month of Tishri, 5586 (September, 1825) and in the Fiftieth Year of American Independence." However, the scheme failed to attract Noah's fellow Jews. It began and ended with the ceremonial laying of that cornerstone.