PEORIA MAGAZINE October 2023

The Bishop Hill Colony Store flies the flag of Sweden

A walk through the past at The Colony Steeple Building (1854) and Bishop Hill Heritage Museum

A crowd gathers at the Public Square in Bishop Hill to hear the storytelling of historic re-enactors

now occupied by a baseball field. At the time it was constructed, it was the largest brick structure west of Chicago. It was destroyed by fire in 1928. For Janson, the utopian dream end ed just four years after he arrived in America when he was murdered by the disgruntled husband of a loyal com mune member at the Henry County Courthouse in Cambridge. He is buried in Bishop Hill Cemetery, his marker engraved in English and Swedish. A group of trustees held the colony to gether for a time, but by 1861 it was dissolved and the assets distributed among residents. That could have marked the end, but the children and grandchildren of the settlers kept the village and its heritage alive. Groups such as the Old Settlers’ Association and the Bishop Hill Heri tage Association began working to save the historic structures, and in 1946,

the Colony Church, Village Park and several other buildings were gifted to the State of Illinois, which set about restoring them. LIVING IN A LIVING MUSEUM Unlike other historic settlements that can be “a mishmash of historic struc tures,” according to the Bishop Hill Arts Council website (visitbishophill.com), Bishop Hill is “a living, fully function al village” with a mayor and modern services. Cheryl Dowell, 84, is a fifth-genera tion descendant of the original settlers. She has lived in or near the village since 1942. She remembers her parents and grandparents speaking Swedish, which they refused to teach her. “They told me, ‘This is America and the language is English,’” she said.

So Dowell learned English at the Old Colony School, which survives as a meeting venue. Two of Dowell’s four children and their families also live in the village, bringing the generations represented to seven. “They love Bishop Hill and love their Swedish heritage,” Dowell said. “It really warms my heart. “I’ve stayed in Bishop Hill because we are indebted to the village and our ancestors,” she added. “They sacrificed to make a better life for their descendants.” A tour of the Colony Church might be led by Martha “Marty” Ray, 81, a volunteer guide for 20 years. She is a sixth-generation resident whose father ran a local gas station, now a popular restaurant called The Filling Station. She lives in the home she grew up in, a former meat storage building.

OCTOBER 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE 33