THE TOWN OF BISHOP WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1910 BY .F.Z. BISHOP ON LAND HE HAD PURCHASED FROM THE DRISCOLL RANCH. THE TOWNSITE WAS STAKED ON BOTH SIDES OF THE ST.LOUIS,BROWNSVILLE & MEXICO RAILROAD LINE.

F.Z.BISHOP,WHO DREAMED OF BUILDING A MODEL TOWN ON THE PRAIRIE, MANAGED CONSTRUCTION OF THE TOWN. BISHOP PLANNED THE TOWNSITE AND DESIGNED THE BUSINESS DIS-TRICT TO HAVE A UNIFORM APPEARANCE WITH BRICK FACADES. BE BEGAN CONSTRUCTION OF AN BLBCTRIC PLANT AND WATER SYSTEM, PLANTED 600 PALM TREES AL0NG TBE STREETS, AND LAID THREE MILES OF SIDEWALKS IN TOWN. A IO-ACRE CITY PARE WITH A LAKE, BAND PAVILION AND DEER PARR WERE UNDERWAY. A FRAME SCHOOLHOUSE WAS BUILT, AND OPENED IN SEPTEMBER 1910. THE TOWN GREW QUICKLY, AND WITHIN TW0 YEARS THE POPULATION BAD GROWN TO 1,000. THE TOWN WAS INCORPORATED IN APRIL 1912; R.R.HALL, BUSINESS MAN- . AGER FOR F.Z. BISHOP, WAS ELECTED FIRST MAYOR. CHURCHES WERB BUILT. A TWO-STORY BRICK SCHOOL WITH A RAISED BASEMENT REPLACED THE FIRST SCHOOL.

ALTHOUGH F.Z.BISHOP DECLARED BANKRUPTCY IN 1916,THE T0WN CONTINUED T O GROW AND PROSPER. OIL AND GAS DIS-COVERIES IN THE 1940s CAUSED PETR0LEUM-RELATED INDUS-TIRES TO SUPPLANT AGRICULTURE AS TBE CHIEF ECONOMIC BASE. F.Z.BISHOP WAS BURIED IN BISHOP IN 1950.
(1996)