Bishop Hill State Historic Site, Illinois, United States
5.0 (2 reviews) Spent Ranking #4 in Bishop Hill Historic Sites
Fascinating Bit of Swedish American History
Visited Bishop Hill where 1846-1861 Swedish Utopian Religious followers of Jans(s)en settled in a communal arrangement. The historic sites are capably administered as an Illinois State Historic Site and by a local Bishop Hill Heritage Association. If you enjoy cultural, religious, and other history, it is a unique place to visit. Several local shops (pottery, fabric art, gifts, etc.) and food places. Helpful guides, particularly a docent at the church who had grown up in and then returned to Bishop Hill. The Steeple Building has many artifacts and displays of the local story. The commune disbanded in 1861, a few years after its charismatic fundamentalist founder was shot because of a family dispute.
Address
304 S Bishop Hill St, Bishop Hill, IL 61419-5028
Current local date and time now
Tuesday, May 14, 2024, 2:34
User Ratings
5.0 based on (2 reviews)
Reviews
-
5Taylor B 5:00 PM Nov 15, 2022
Site of a utopian religious community
Soon after Brigham Young led the Mormons from Nauvoo, Illinois, to Utah, another utopian religious community was founded in 1846 by Swedish pietist Eric Janson in Bishop Hill, Illinois, near Kewanee. The settlers included skilled carpenters and craftsmen and the settlement operated as a commune until its desolation in 1861. Today, Bishop Hill, which is located 170 miles west of Chicago, off I-80, two miles north of U.S. Route 34, is an open-air museum that includes four surviving buildings in the village, which is a state historic site that was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1984. Visitors can enter the two-story frame Greek Revival-style Colony Church, which was built in 1848 and once was used as single-room apartments by Colony residents. It features a museum about Bishop Hill's history and reproductions of Colony artifacts. Visitors also can enter the three-story stuccoed-brick Colony Hotel, the small two-story frame Boys Dormitory and the Colony barn which was relocated behind the hotel to the site of the original hotel stable. The village park includes a gazebo and memorials to the town's early settlers and Civil War soldiers. A brick museum building houses a collection of early American primitive paintings by colonist and folk artist Olof Krans. At its height, Bishop Hill had constructed a flour mill, two sawmills and a three-story frame church with crops being planted on 700 acres of land.
