Bishop Hill’s Christmas display gives nod to railroad
BISHOP HILL (AP) – Amid tomten, ljustrums and julboks, Lionel sticks out in Bishop Hill’s Colony Steeple building.
That’s Lionel as in model train. Tomte is the mythological protective elf; ljustrum is the traditional Swedish candelabra; and julbok is the Swedish yule goat, often represented as a straw figure.
New this year to the historic Swedish colony’s Julmarknad traditional Christmas market, which features a live julbok, the railroad display may at first glance be more reminiscent of a 1950s American holiday season. Yet, the layout, constructed by Farmington resident and railroad buff Barry Coulter, in fact represents a key, but neglected, link to the state historic site’s past.
A model railroad offers an excellent jump-off for discussing the town’s railroad heritage, as well as its relationship with neighboring Galva.
“Most people aren’t aware of the importance of the railroad to Bishop Hill and Galva,” said Mike Wendel, Bishop Hill Heritage Association’s administrator.
Already on the first day of the 2-weekend festival, nearly 400 visitors had visited the model railroad.
In 1871, both Bishop Hill and Galva were connected to the Rock Island branch of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad.
Galva, established in 1854, owes its existence to its proximity to another railroad, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad’s main line. Bishop Hill’s settlers, who came to Illinois in 1846, were skeptical about the railway’s influence.
The colony’s history notes residents’ concerns the railroad would attract “undesirable elements” to town.
In the end though, the railroad connection allowed Bishop Hill to ship the brooms made there across the country and was key to the town’s growth, Wendel said. The brooms are still made at the town blacksmith throughout the year and sold at Julmarknad.
Today, trains still bisect Galva, which was named for the Swedish seaport from which many of the Bishop Hill colonists sailed.
However, “many people don’t even know Bishop Hill had a railroad connection,” Wendel said. This is partly related to the now-defunct line not running straight through Bishop Hill but rather along the town’s northeast corner. After the Edwards River flooded that line in the late 1890s, the Rock Island Branch was moved further east in 1900.
“They didn’t want the railroad going straight through town,” Wendel said of the colony’s decision. The passenger trains quit stopping at the depot in 1933, and these days, besides abandoned railroad beds and the history Wendel offers, the sole remnant of the railroad’s presence in Galva is the wooden grain elevator east of town.
Dan Tingleaf, a state employee of the historic site stationed Saturday in the Old Colony Church Museum, has owned the Bishop Hill grain elevator since 1978, when he moved from Monmouth.
In his early years in Bishop Hill, Tingleaf witnessed the Rock Island Branch’s last gasps. He saw some of the last coal trains pass by, while living in the grain elevator’s former scale office for 10 years.
The tracks and most of the railroad ties were removed in 1982.
Julmarknad continues next weekend in Bishop Hill with a number of events including a chocolate walk at the Colony Steeple Building, featuring an assortment of homemade delicacies. Coulter will be in the Steeple building for the second festival weekend.
