Bishop Hill’s history is
mostly unwritten
The public archives hold only 6 old photos of Bishop Hill. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗The village was founded in 1846 by Swedish immigrants affiliated with the Pietist movement, led by Eric Jansson. Prior to founding the Bishop Hill Colony, Jansson preached to his followers in Sweden about what he considered to be the abominations of the Lutheran Church 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 United States to find a suitable location where the Janssonists could set up a utopian 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 n…
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Start Bishop Hill’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bishop Hill’s history is told.
0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🗓️Date a photo6 archive items have no date+2 🔁Retake an old viewJansonist Colony, Bandstand: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Bishop Hill
See all 1 →
Bishop Hill, decade by decade
2000
1 historic place in Bishop Hill
Bishop Hill has 1 listing on the National Register, and they protect 35 historic buildings, because Bishop Hill Historic District alone counts 35. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier, which fewer than 3% of listings reach.
Where they are
When they were listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Jansonist Colony, Bandstand and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom the Library of Congress (6). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.