Gillette, Wyoming, United States

🇺🇸 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. Gillette's population increased 48% in the ten years after 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 centre for media, education, health, and arts.

History 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, after 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. A group of families from Mathews County, Virginia and Gloucester County, Virginia settled in the town between 1895 and 1905, all of whom were members of the Episcopal Church, and there has been an Episcopalian presence in Gillette ever since. During this same era a group of immigrants from County Antrim, Ireland (in what has since become Northern Ireland) also settled in Gillette, these settlers were Presbyterians of Scottish descent, this population was referred to as "Scots-Irish" in the United States, however this was not a term used in Ireland. Norwegian immigrants arrived in the town during the same era, all of whom were Lutheran. There were also a small group of settlers from rural New England, these were old stock "Yankee" New Englanders who were members of the Congregational church.

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 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).

Geography Gillette is located 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.

Arts and culture The volunteer board called the Mayor's Art Council runs the Avenues of Art program. The program pays artists to display sculptures for sale. Each year newly selected works are shown at the Donkey Creek Festival, where visitors can meet the artists. 113 sculptures are currently on display through the Avenues of Art program and 289 have been shown since 2004. Participating artists have included Jane DeDecker, Gary Lee Price, and Benjamin Victor.

A second program, Sculpture Walk, is operated by the Sculpture Committee. Started in 2018, it pays artists to display their sculptures for sale at Mount Pisgah Cemetery.

The city choose to increase investment in the arts program during the Great Recession and mayor Louise Carter-King describes the investment as a quality of life one.

Annual cultural events A free multi-day event, Donkey Creek Festival is held in every June at the Gillette College. It includes the Avenues of Arts reception, concert, car and motorcycle show, disc golf tournament, and 5K run and walk. There are art and food vendors and alcohol is available at a beer garden. The festival has grown significantly since starting in 2006.

The Gillette chapter of PFLAG hosts an annual pride event to support the local LGBTQ community. Previous years have included a potluck, picnic, and bowling. In 2019, PFLAG held the Pride Drag Show at AVA Community Art Center as part of its pride event.

Tourist Industry In 2021, 7,338 people visited the Gillette Convention and Visitors Bureau. While hunters always use the centre, most visitors asked about coal mine tours and museums. Of the 569 visitors in 2018 who identified where they were from, 473 were from 46 states and 96 were from 23 other countries.

Wyoming Center at the CAM-PLEX The Wyoming Center at the CAM-PLEX is a 9,000 seat event centre located just outside of Gillette. Ground was broken in 2006 and it was completed in 2008.

It hosts both sporting and community events. The centre can be divided into 3 rooms by using moveable soundproof walls; which retract if more space is needed for a certain event. More walls can further divide the centre into 9 rooms.

The Frontier and Equality Halls (located in the west and middle parts of the centre, respectively) are used for various purposes; while the Spirit Hall (located on the east side) is used for ice skating and hockey. As stated before, it can be taken down should an event need more space.

The centre currently hosts the National High School Finals Rodeo, amateur wrestling, and the Gillette Mustangs of the CIF. The Mustangs use the Equality Hall of the CAM-PLEX for their home games. The seating capacity is 4,000 for Mustangs games.

Other facilities The Campbell County Recreation Center is a 190,000-ft2 facility that was established April 2010. This facility includes a 42-ft climbing wall resembling the Devils Tower National Monument. Also, an 81,000-ft2 field house that contains basketball courts, a six-lane track, swimming and diving facilities, and five indoor tennis courts.

The Campbell County Ice Arena contains an ice rink for ice hockey and ice skating plus an area for curling.

The Energy Capital Sports Complex site has four fast-pitch softball fields that can be converted for Little League baseball. The fields use Slitfilm synthetic turf with sand-rubber infill. A 28,000-ft2 protected spectator viewing area has a grass play area. A 2.4-mi recreation trail runs around the complex. Since the grand opening in 2015, the complex has hosted many tournaments, including the Razor City Showcase softball tournament and the 2016 Wyoming ASA State softball tournament.

Government Gillette is governed by an elected mayor and a city council of six members. Gillette is split into three wards, each represented by two council members. The mayor and council members serve four-year terms.

Under the mayor and city council, the city government consists of the city attorney, municipal court, and city administration. The city administration consists of several departments and their divisions. The departments are Human Resources, Finance, Police, Development Services, Public Works, and Utilities.

The city council holds regular sessions on first and third Tuesday of every month in the Council Chambers at City Hall. The council also holds agenda review meetings and meetings before regular sessions. All meetings are open to the public except executive sessions. The council members are Gregory Schreurs and Tricia Simonson for Ward 1, Tim Carsrud and Billy Montgomery for Ward 2, Nathan McLeland and Shay Lundvall for Ward 3.

The sale and production of liquor is regulated by the city. The number of licenses is capped by population by state law and due to scarcity have been sold privately for as much as $300,000.

Education Public education in Gillette is provided by Campbell County School District Number 1. It is home to Campbell County High School and Thunder Basin High School. Gillette College, a two-year college, is part of the Northern Wyoming Community College District.

Gillette has a public library, a branch of the Campbell County Public Library System.

Media Gillette has one newspaper, the Gillette News-Record, published by Ann Kennedy Turner. It was originally two papers, the Gillette News and the Campbell County Record. The News-Record became a daily on July 14, 1975.

Gillette receives a strong digital television signal from KOPA-CD on channel 9, a moderate signal from KHSD-TV FOX on channel 5, and a weak signal from KQME ABC on channel 11 and KSGW-TV ABC on channel 12.

Gillette Public Access Television is Gillette's only TV station. It is a traditional PEG cable-access station operated by the city. It can be viewed on Charter Communications Cable channels 189 (Education), 190 (Public Access) and 192 (Government).

Healthcare Campbell County Memorial Hospital in Gillette is part of Campbell County Health. The hospital has 90 beds for acute care and is certified as an area trauma hospital.

Police The Gillette Police Department consists of several divisions including Administration, Animal Control, Communications Center, Detectives Division which includes school resource officers (SRO), Evidence, Patrol Division, Records, and Victim Services. Police headquarters are located in City Hall, but the Animal Control division is located at the Animal Shelter on 950 W Warlow Dr. It consists of one Animal Control Supervisor, three Animal Control Officers, and two Animal Shelter Assistants. In addition to enforcing animal-related ordinances Animal Control sells pet licenses and acts as an animal shelter both housing pets and providing adoption services.

Military At Gillette is a Wyoming National Guard armory. The A Battery, 2nd Battalion, 300th Field Artillery of the Wyoming National Guard are based in Casper, Gillette, and Lander. Also, the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System unit is based in Gillette. In recent years, soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 300th Field Artillery have been deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Freedom's Sentinel.

Transport Northeast Wyoming Regional Airport (GCC) is served by United Airlines operated by SkyWest Airlines. SkyWest currently operates six flights daily in and out of Gillette to Denver.

Intercity bus service to the city is provided by Jefferson Lines.

Transport: Road • I-90 • I-90 BL • US 14 • US 16 • WYO 50 (Skyline Drive) • WYO 51 • WYO 59 (South – Douglas Highway).