Bishop Hill, Illinois

Geobox|Settlement
name = Bishop Hill
native_name =
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category = Village
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country = United States
state = Illinois
region = Henry
region_type = County
district =
district_type = Township
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lat_d = 41
lat_m = 12
lat_s = 3
lat_NS = N
long_d = 90
long_m = 7
long_s = 6
long_EW = W
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area_imperial = 0.5
area_land_imperial = 0.5
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population = 125
population_date = 2000
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leader_type = Village president
timezone = CST
utc_offset = -6
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utc_offset_DST = -5
postal_code = XXXXX
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map_caption = Location of Bishop Hill within Illinois
map_background = Illinois - background map.png map_locator = Illinois2
commons = Bishop Hill, Illinois
statistics =
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Bishop Hill is a village in Henry County, Illinois, along the South Edwards River. The population was 125 at the 2000 census. It is the home of the "Bishop Hill State Historic Site", a park operated by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.

Geography

Bishop Hill is located at coor dms|41|12|3|N|90|7|6|W|city (41.200711, -90.118327).GR|1

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 0.5 square miles (1.4 km²), all of it land.

History

The village was founded in 1846 by Swedish immigrants affiliated with the Pietist movement, led by Erik Jansson. Prior to founding Bishop Hill, Jansson preached to his followers in Sweden the abominations of the Lutheran Church and emphasized the doctrine that the faithful have no sin. As Jansson's ideas became more radical, he began to lose support from many of his sympathizers and was forced to leave the country in the midst of growing persecution. A scout, who Jansson had previously sent to the United States for this very reason, found a suitable location where the Janssonists could set up a utopian community centered around their ideology. In Jansson's vision, this community would become the New Jerusalem, which would soon spread across the world. As a result, from 1846-1856, a migration that would eventually amount to 1400 colonists, left Sweden for their new home in western Illinois.

The colony struggled early on in its life. Many of the first 1000 colonists died from disease on the way to Bishop Hill (named for Eric Jansson's birthplace), while others became disillusioned and stayed in New York. Housing was cold and crowded, while food was scarce. After the first winter, life at Bishop Hill drastically improved. In the next few years housing was upgraded from dugouts to brick living areas, and crops were planted on convert|700|acre|km2 of land. By 1849, Bishop Hill had constructed a flour mill, two sawmills, a three story frame church, and various other buildings. The 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 some other task.

Bishop Hill suffered a massive catastrophe in 1850 with the death of Erik Jansson. Jansson was assassinated by a former colony member, John Root, who was upset with Jansson for breaking up 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.

The Janssonist emigrants were the first significant group of men and women to move from Sweden 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 the formation of the Swedish-American ethnic community of the American Midwest.

Descendants of Erik Jansson still lived in the colony until December 20th, 2004 when Erik'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 descendents remain in Illinois.

Surviving buildings built by the Janssonists are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Bishop Hill is interpreted as a living community of Swedish-American heritage.

Demographics

As of the censusGR|2 of 2000, there were 125 people, 56 households, and 38 families residing in the village. The population density was 232.0 people per square mile (89.4/km²). There were 59 housing units at an average density of 109.5/sq mi (42.2/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 100.00% White. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.80% of the population. 26.9% were of Swedish, 15.1% American, 14.3% English, 14.3% German, 7.6% Italian and 5.9% Polish ancestry according to Census 2000.

There were 56 households out of which 23.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.7% were married couples living together, 7.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.4% were non-families. 28.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.69.

In the village the population was spread out with 18.4% under the age of 18, 7.2% from 18 to 24, 16.0% from 25 to 44, 38.4% from 45 to 64, and 20.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 48 years. For every 100 females there were 89.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.9 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $47,083, and the median income for a family was $50,000. Males had a median income of $38,214 versus $18,750 for females. The per capita income for the village was $26,145. None of the population and none of the families were below the poverty line.

References

Further reading

* Mikkelsen, Michael A. “The Bishop Hill Colony: A Religious Communistic Settlement in Henry County, Illinois.” "Church and State Columbus And America". Baltimore, MD: The John Hopkins Press, 1892. 11-80.
* Wagner, Jon. “Eric Jannson and the Bishop Hill Colony.” "America’s Communal Utopias". Ed. Donald Pitzer. North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 1997. 297-318.

External links

* [http://www.outfitters.com/illinois/henry/bishop_hill.html Bishop Hill information]
* [http://www.bishophill.com/ www.bishophill.com]