Bishop

Why our Post is unique: E. L. Weber, our first Commander, explained our origins this way: “A few days after the St. Louis Convention, where the first National Convention was held, as I was walking to get my mail, a friend hailed at me and said to a man at his side that I was one of the veteran soldiers. That man was Attorney Leo G. Hance of Peoria who was returning from St Louis, where he was appointed District Chairman. I ask him if we could organize a Post in our City. He said it would be OK as long as we gathered fifteen signatures. I told him we should go to a quieter place and so we went to the undertaker’s parlor below my office since it was quieter. While he was filling up the papers, I went out to the street and began sending fellows in to sign up for a Legion Post. Finally, I rounded up fifteen signatures who would become our first members. My name appeared ninth on the list. I asked Corporal Potts, a Civil War veteran, to go down to the mortuary with me and the other men. We gave the list of signatures to Atty. Hance who filled out the necessary papers. Potts suggested we name the Post as Bishop Post after Ray M. Bishop, the first Lewistown, IL casualty in World War I. We decided to do so and since Hance stated that we may get the #1 Post in Illinois, we rushed to the Post Office so the paperwork could go out on the eight o’clock train.” (Excerpts are taken from Charles O. Parkinson-a local historian notes). This is the story of the organization of the American Legion Bishop Post 1 in Lewistown, Illinois. Full credit is given to E. L. Weber who managed to get 15 applicants to sign up; he also signed a personal check for the initiation fees for all 15 men so that the application could be mailed out that same night.