Bishop Hill is a village in Henry County,

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, along the South Edwards River. The population was 113 at the 2020 census. It is the home of the Bishop Hill State Historic Site, a park operated by the

Illinois Historic Preservation Agency The Illinois Historic Preservation Division, formerly Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of Illinois, and is a division of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. It is tasked with the duty of ...

Geography

According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Bishop Hill has a total area of , all land.

History

Eric Jansson

The village was founded in 1846 by Swedish immigrants affiliated with the

Pietist Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christianity, Christian life. Although the movement is ali ...

movement, led by Eric Jansson. Prior to founding the Bishop Hill Colony, Jansson preached to his followers in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

about what he considered to be the abominations of the

Lutheran Church Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 15 ...

and emphasized the doctrine that the faithful were without sin. As Jansson's ideas became more radical, he began to lose support from many of his sympathizers and was forced to leave Sweden in the midst of growing persecution. Jansson had previously sent Olof Olsson, a trusted follower, as an emissary to the

to find a suitable location where the Janssonists could set up a

utopian A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', which describes a fictional island soci ...

community centered on their religious beliefs. According to Jansson, this community would become the "New Jerusalem", and their beliefs would soon spread across the world. As a result, 1400 colonists emigrated from Sweden to their new home in western

. The colony struggled early on after its founding. Many of the first 1000 colonists died from disease on the way to Bishop Hill (named for Eric Jansson's birthplace, Biskopskulla), while others became disillusioned and stayed in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. The quarters in Bishop Hill were cold and crowded and food was scarce. After the first winter, life at the colony began to improve. In the next few years housing was upgraded from dugouts to brick living areas, and crops were planted on of land. By 1849, Bishop Hill had constructed a flour mill, two sawmills, a three-story frame church, and various other buildings. The Bishop Hill colony was communistic in nature, as dictated by Jansson. Thus, everything was owned by everyone and no one had more possessions than another. Work in the colony was highly rigorous and regimented. It wasn't uncommon to see hundreds of people working together in the fields or large groups of laborers engaged in other tasks.

After Jansson and today

The Bishop Hill colony underwent a major upheaval in 1850 after the murder of Eric Jansson. Jansson was assassinated by a former colony member, John Root, who was upset with Jansson for interfering with his marriage to one of Jansson's cousins. After their leader's death, the people of Bishop Hill appointed a group of seven trustees to run the affairs of the colony. Among the trustees were Jonas Olsson and Olof Johnson, who would become the primary leaders of the colony as they had been two of Jansson's closest aides. Under these two men and the rest of the trustees, the colony continued to grow and flourish. The workforce was reorganized to become more efficient and more buildings were erected. However, despite Bishop Hill's success, in 1857 financial problems arose in the midst of accusations of mismanagement against Olof Johnson. Johnson had made several large investments, without colony approval, that had turned out to be disastrous. As Bishop Hill headed for financial ruin, colonists voted to end the communal system. In 1861 the formal dissolution of the colony was official, and many of its people would soon be forced to move away. Colony Church Bishop Hill Colony

The Janssonist emigrants were a significant group of men and women to move from

to the United States. Letters home from Janssonists to their friends and family, telling of the fertile agricultural land in the interior of North America, stimulated substantial migration for several decades and contributed to the formation of the

Swedish-American Swedish Americans () are Americans of Swedish descent. The history of Swedish Americans dates back to the early colonial times, with notable migration waves occurring in the 19th and early 20th centuries and approximately 1.2 million arrivi ...

ethnic community of the American

Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

. Descendants of Eric Jansson still lived in the colony until December 20, 2004, when Eric's great-great-grandson and Bishop Hill volunteer fireman Theodore Arthur Myhre Sr. died south of the Colony while on a fire service call. Other known descendants remain in Illinois. Surviving buildings built by the Janssonists are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. Bishop Hill is interpreted as a living community of Swedish-American heritage. Due to state budget cuts the Bishop Hill State Historic Site was closed for nearly 5 months from December 1, 2008, to April 23, 2009.

Demographics

As of the 2020 census there were 113 people, 53 households, and 29 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 68 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 97.35%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.00%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.00% Native American, 0.00% Asian, 0.00%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.00% from other races, and 2.65% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 0.00% of the population. There were 53 households, out of which 7.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.40% were married couples living together, 11.32% had a female householder with no husband present, and 45.28% were non-families. 41.51% of all households were made up of individuals, and 24.53% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 1.74. The village's age distribution consisted of 7.6% under the age of 18, 0.0% from 18 to 24, 21.7% from 25 to 44, 35.9% from 45 to 64, and 34.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 62.4 years. For every 100 females, there were 48.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 44.1 males. The median income for a family was $59,688. Males had a median income of $55,000 versus $17,250 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the village was $31,139. No families and 7.6% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including none of those under age 18 and 6.3% of those age 65 or over.

Education

It is in the Galva Community Unit School District 224.
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Notable person

* Hick Cady, catcher for the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

and

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

* Roy Magnuson, composer and professor of music at Illinois State University

References

External links

Bishop Hill informationBishop HillHenry County Historical Society
{{authority control Populated places established in 1846 Villages in Henry County, Illinois Utopian communities in Illinois Swedish-American culture in Illinois 1846 establishments in Illinois Villages in Illinois