A beautiful church in the middle of the city
High Chaparral's founder, "Big Bengt" Erlandsson, believed that a western town must, of course, have a church. The church got its name, Bishop Hill, from a small village and Swedish colony in Illinois, USA, founded by the preacher Erik Jansson. Jansson emigrated from Sweden after escaping from a prison transport. The transport was on its way to the prison where Jansson was to serve a sentence for his beliefs. Bishop Hill is a beautiful little church with an altarpiece from Germany, created by Ernst Hildebrand (1882–1924), and a pulpit from Spain.
Sadly, Erik Jansson was murdered in 1874, but buildings from the colony's days and descendants of the Swedish emigrants who fled Sweden still remain in Bishop Hill today.
