In it’s brief history, the entire Valley of the Sun has seen a huge influx of settlers from all over the world and has transformed into one of the fastest growing metro areas in the country. Everyone who lives here knows that the Phoenix metro area is more than just one city, but more like a collection of several different cities, each with their own unique history. Here’s a brief look at the biggest incorporated town in the United States: Gilbert, Arizona.
Once known as the “Hay Shipping Capital of the World,” Gilbert’s earliest homestead was purchased in 1891. Back then, if a family stayed for at least five years, the land was free. Other times, settlers paid the government cash for their land, which was as cheap as 50 cents an acre. One of those early homesteaders was a man named William “Bobby” Gilbert. In 1902, the Eastern Railway had plans to construct a rail line between Phoenix and Florence, Arizona, which crossed through Gilbert’s property. Gilbert sold his land to the railway and a rail siding was built on the property. A town slowly started growing around the rail siding and depot that soon became known as Gilbert. The original depot built just north of the tracks and west of Gilbert Road in 1905 was torn down in 1969.
The first store to open in Gilbert was Ayer’s Grocery Store, which opened in 1910. In 1912, it also became the location of the first post office in the town. Over the years, the post office changed locations several times before landing on the east side of Gilbert Road in downtown, where it remains to this day.
Today, Gilbert emcompasses 76 square miles of land. In 1980, the population was about 5,700 people. That grew to about 208,000 in 2010. What was once an agriculture-based community is now an economically diverse suburb of the Phoenix metro area. In 2008, CNN’s Money magazine listed it as one of the best places to live in the United States.
Why is Gilbert Called Gilbert?
