Gillette Wyoming History & Facts

Gillette is a city in and the county seat of Campbell County, Wyoming, United States. The town was founded in 1891 as a major railway town on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.

The population was estimated at 32,030 as of July 1, 2019. Gillette's population increased 48% in the ten years after the 2000 census, which counted 19,646 residents after a boom in its local fossil fuel industries.

Gillette is centrally located in an area involved with the development of vast quantities of American coal, oil, and coalbed methane gas. The city calls itself the "Energy Capital of the Nation"; Wyoming provides nearly 35% of the nation's coal. However, a decline in coal use in the U.S. has led to a decline in the local economy, leading some local officials to look for other industries or employment opportunities. As a major economic hub for the county, the city is also a regional center for media, education, health, and arts.

Before its founding, Gillette started as Donkey Town, named after Donkey Creek, and then was moved and called Rocky Pile after Rocky Draw.

Gillette was founded in 1891 with the coming of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad and incorporated on January 6, 1892, less than two years after Wyoming became a state. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad changed the name to Gillette for Edward Gillette, a surveyor for the company.

In November 1895, a fire destroyed most of the city. Only two saloons, two stores, and a restaurant survived.

In 1974, U.S. psychologist ElDean Kohrs used the town as the basic example of what he called the Gillette Syndrome, the social disruption that can occur in a community due to rapid population growth. During the 1960s, Gillette's population doubled from 3,580 to 7,194. Kohrs proposed that this fast increase caused increased crime, high costs of living, and weakened social and community bonds. Some of Kohrs's claims about the energy industry's influence have been disputed, since similar increases in divorce rates, welfare usage, and crime were also seen in other rapidly growing areas of the country.

Gillette annexed the census-designated place Antelope Valley-Crestview on January 1, 2018. Antelope Valley-Crestview's population was 1,658 at the 2010 census and it had an area of 4.9 mi2 (12.7 km²).

Gillette is located at 44°16′58″N 105°30′19″W (44.282660, −105.505256). It is situated between the Bighorn Mountains to the west and the Black Hills to the east, in the Powder River Basin.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 19.00 square miles (49.21 km2), of which 18.97 square miles (49.13 km2) are land and 0.03 square miles (0.08 km2) is water.

Few trees were in Gillette when it was founded. The native trees, box elder and cottonwood, were found along creeks. The oldest surviving non-native trees were planted in the 1940s. The earliest were almost exclusively elm, cottonwood, white poplar, green ash, Colorado blue spruce, and Ponderosa pine. In the 1960s, crab apples, honey locust, catalpa, European mountain-ash, and other evergreens were planted. Nurseries started to sell trees in the 1970s, which further increased tree diversity.

Famous Peoples From Gillette Wyoming

Eric Barlow

(born May 8, 1966) is an American politician current serving as the Speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives since January 12, 2021 and a Republican member of the chamber representing District 3 since January 8, 2013.

2012: When Republican Representative Frank Peasley retired and left the District 3 seat open, Barlow won the August 21, 2012 Republican Primary and defeated Douglas Gerard with 802 votes (49.8%), and was unopposed for the November 6, 2012 General election, winning with 3,670 votes.
2014: Barlow again defeated Douglas Gerard in the August 19, 2014 Republican Primary with 959 votes (53.0%), and was unopposed in the November 4, 2014 General Election, winning with 2,222 votes.
2016: Barlow defeated Frank Eathorne in the August 16, 2016 Republican Primary, winning with 1,207 votes (60.23%). Barlow was then unopposed in the November 8, 2016 General Election, winning with 3,822 votes.
2018: Barlow was unopposed in both the August 21, 2018 Republican Primary and the November 6, 2018 General Election, winning with 1,746 and 2,811 votes respectively.

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