Harriet Bishop

Harriet E. Bishop (January 1, 1817 – August 8, 1883) was an American educator, writer, suffragist, and temperance activist. Born in Panton, Vermont, she moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1847. There, she started the first public school as well as the first Sunday school in Minnesota Territory. She was a founding member of temperance, suffrage and civic organizations, and played a central role in establishing the First Baptist Church of Saint Paul. An active promoter of her adopted state, she was the author of books such as Floral Home, or First Years of Minnesota and Dakota War Whoop, or Indian Massacres and War in Minnesota of 1862–63 (1863).

Harriet Island, now part of the Mississippi shoreline near downtown Saint Paul, was named after Bishop.

The first schoolhouse, which she opened in a former abandoned blacksmith shop with rats and snakes in the corners on July 19, 1847. covered with bark and chinked with mud" at what is now St. Peter Street and Kellogg Boulevard in the relatively isolated fur trading post of Saint Paul. Within less than a year, she organized the Saint Paul Circle of Industry to raise funds to build a new structure for the students. The new building also served as a church, meeting hall, courtroom, and polling place. Dakota War Whoop, or Indian Massacres and War in Minnesota of 1862–63, published in 1863 Minnesota Then and Now, published in 1869

Legacy Harriet Island, now part of the Harriet Island Regional Park in Saint Paul, was named after Harriet Bishop. Harriet Bishop Elementary School in Rochester, Minnesota and in Savage, Minnesota are also named for her.