Small Town Bishop Sees a Surge in Population and Business

By Charley Brooks

After decades of slow growth, the town of Bishop is experiencing a resurgence in new business and population. Houses and old stores are being restored, a new subdivision emerged, and there is a general sense of enthusiasm prevailing that has not been felt since before the Bishop Banking Company failed in 1923.

 “Things are really popping in Bishop,” Mayor Johnny Pritchett said at a recent city council meeting. Local businessman Bruce MacPherson is restoring one of the town’s largest commercial buildings along busy U.S. 44l, which also doubles as Main Street. Part of the building already houses a pottery shop. 

Local businessman Wallace Reed purchased an old house on Old Bishop Road, which is being restored by his grandson. Two other old houses have been purchased by an Athens real estate company and are planned for renovation.

During Bishop’s centennial celebration in 1990, the late Willard Kilpatrick described what was about to happen to the small town in an interview recorded for public radio. 

“Here in the last few years, we’re getting some young folks in here. In fact, in the last two or three months, we’ve had two or three families move in here with small kids,” Kilpatrick said. “I like to hear kids holler and squeal and run and play. But up until six months ago, we didn’t have any small kids. They were all old people like me.” 

For generations, Bishop has been haunted by events that long ago ended its prosperity. When the town’s bank failed in 1923, more than a few residents lost everything. Boll weevils destroyed the cotton crop and created a money panic that ruined many lives. 

The late Weyman Turnbull of Bishop was also quoted at the centennial celebration as saying he would never forget those days because he never got the bicycle his daddy had promised for Christmas.

“People were so depressed they bypassed the town so they wouldn’t have to look at the bank or the town,” he said. The pall that seemed to hang over Bishop and slow its growth lasted for generations. But, it was not always that way. 

In 1887, Press Elder and Guy Hodgson opened a store in what would become Bishop. Elder called the location Greenwood in honor of his young daughter, according to town history. Enthusiasm reigned and speculators rushed into the town in anticipation of a new railroad line from Madison to Athens. Hodgson must  have been excited about the future. 

A newspaper of the day reported that Hodgson would get up at all hours of the night and blow on a tin bugle that was about 20 feet long. The sound would echo through town. 

When the railroad construction approached the new town in 1888, there was a celebration described in an Athens newspaper: “This little village is determined to show their appreciation. A large number of fat juicy muttons, pigs, etc. have been subscribed for a barbeque and everybody is invited to partake of the hospitality of the little town.” 

The name of the village was changed to “Gould” for a brief time, but was renamed Bishop when it was legally incorporated as a city in December 1890. It only took a few years for Bishop to become one of the largest shipping points for cotton in the area. 

A history of Bishop written by New York writer Celeste Sharp includes the following account: “I guess before the boll weevil came, (Bishop) was the biggest little town in the state of Georgia. The warehouses were full of cotton, the streets were full of cotton ... the depot platforms were loaded with cotton.” 

After the boll weevil destroyed the cotton crop, the bank failed and the city began to decline. A few stores survived during the next 60 years, but with difficulty. Some businesses depended on the many travelers of U.S. 441. 

The Bishop City council approved the Townside subdivision in 2004 and eventually Bishop’s population doubled. According to U.S. Census data, the 2011 population of Bishop was 228. 

However, young families moving into town today know little about Bishop’s history. But they are buying and refurbishing many of the old houses from its heyday and participating in local government and events. 

When John Bradford, who moved to the town from New Mexico, held an open house for his pottery shop in Bishop in early June this year, the parking lot filled with cars and more cars spilled onto adjacent streets.

• Charley Brooks is a long-time Bishop resident and freelance writer and photographer.