 Bishop
Hill was the site of a utopian religious community founded
in 1846 by Swedish pietist Eric Janson (1808-1850) and his
followers. Many consider the Jansonist emigration as the beginning
of Swedish America. A number of historically significant buildings
have survived and are scattered throughout the village, four
of which are owned by the state and managed as part of the
Bishop Hill State Historic Site. The Colony Church (1848)
is a two-story frame building. The basement and first floor
each contain ten rooms, once used as single-room apartments
by Colony residents. The second floor contains the Jansonists’
sanctuary, complete with original pews. The three-story stuccoed-brick
Colony Hotel (1852-ca. 1860) served commercial travelers and
provided a link to the outside world. The “Boys Dormitory”
(ca. 1850) is a small two-story frame structure believed to
have provided housing for boys making the transition to working
adulthood. A Colony barn (mid-1850s) was relocated behind
the Hotel to the site of the original Hotel stable.
 In
addition to the historic structures, the state owns the
village park with a gazebo and memorials to the town’s
early settlers and Civil War soldiers. The brick museum
building houses a valuable collection of primitivist paintings
by colonist Olof Krans (1838-1916).
The site’s historic buildings are located within
the Bishop Hill Historic District, added in 1970 to the
National Register of Historic Places and listed in 1984
as a National Historic Landmark.
Visitors can make self-guided tours of the Colony Church,
the Colony Hotel, and the Museum. Only the first floors
of the Museum, Church, and Hotel are accessible to persons with disabilities.
An orientation video at the Museum provides information
on and images of the non-accessible areas. The tour brochure
“Bishop Hill Colony—Of Faith and Freedom”
guides visitors through the town and the Colony’s
history.
The site sponsors two special events: “Jordbruksdagarna”
(last full weekend in September), a traditional nineteenth-century
harvest festival with demonstrations of harvesting and processing
of crops, and “Julotta,” a Christmas morning
(6 A.M.) service at the Colony Church.
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