Gilbert

History

Gilbert was established by William "Bobby" Gilbert, who provided land to the Arizona Eastern Railway in 1902 to construct a rail line between Phoenix and Florence, Arizona. Ayer's Grocery Store, Gilbert's first store, opened in 1910 and became the location of the first post office in 1912. The post office moved several times before settling on the east side of Gilbert Road in downtown, where it stands today. In 1912, many Mormons who had fled the Mormon colonies in Mexico due to the actions of Pancho Villa's forces settled in Gilbert. By 1915, they began holding church meetings at the Gilbert Elementary School. In 1918, they were organized into the Gilbert Ward. Incorporated on July 6, 1920, Gilbert was primarily a farming community fueled by the rail line and construction of the Roosevelt Dam and the Eastern and Consolidated Canals. It remained an agricultural town for many years and was known as the "Hay Capital of the World" from 1911 until the late 1920s.

Geography

Gilbert is in the southeastern Phoenix metropolitan area. It is south of Mesa, northeast of Chandler, and northwest of Queen Creek. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has an area of , of which is land and is water.}} {|style="width:auto;text-align:center;line-height:1.2em;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto" class="wikitable mw-collapsible" |- !Colspan=14|Climate data for Gilbert |- !Month !Jan !Feb !Mar !Apr !May !Jun !Jul !Aug !Sep !Oct !Nov !Dec !style="border-left-width:medium"|Year |- !Mean daily daylight hours |style="background:#F0F011;color:#000000;"|10.0 |style="background:#F7F722;color:#000000;"|11.0 |style="background:#FFFF33;color:#000000;"|12.0 |style="background:#FFFF44;color:#000000;"|13.0 |style="background:#FFFF55;color:#000000;"|14.0 |style="background:#FFFF5D;color:#000000;"|14.5 |style="background:#FFFF55;color:#000000;"|14.0 |style="background:#FFFF4C;color:#000000;"|13.5 |style="background:#FFFF3B;color:#000000;"|12.5 |style="background:#FBFB2A;color:#000000;"|11.5 |style="background:#F4F419;color:#000000;"|10.5 |style="background:#F0F011;color:#000000;"|10.0 |style="background:#FFFF36;color:#000000;border-left-width:medium"|12.2 |- !Colspan=14 style="background:#f8f9fa;font-weight:normal;font-size:95%;"|Source: Weather Atlas |}

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Great-tailed Grackle

  Quiscalus mexicanus (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  45,613
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  45,389
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  38,097
• Verdin

  Auriparus flaviceps (Sundevall, 1850) · Aves
  38,046
• Anna's Hummingbird

  Calypte anna (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  38,040
• Gila Woodpecker

  Melanerpes uropygialis (S.F.Baird, 1854) · Aves
  37,215
• Curve-billed Thrasher

  Toxostoma curvirostre (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  36,792
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  36,374

Largest nearby schools

• Primavera - Online
  Other · Chandler · 6,392 students
• Hamilton High School
  High · CHANDLER · 3,850 students · 21.6:1 ratio
• Chandler High School
  High · CHANDLER · 3,597 students · 18.7:1 ratio
• Mesa High School
  High · MESA · 3,475 students · 20.9:1 ratio
• Red Mountain High School
  High · MESA · 3,448 students · 20.8:1 ratio
• Mountain View High School
  High · MESA · 3,372 students · 21.1:1 ratio
• Highland High School
  High · GILBERT · 3,174 students · 24.4:1 ratio
• Dr. Camille Casteel High School
  High · QUEEN CREEK · 3,140 students · 20.8:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.5 — 2026-03-15
  9 km SSE of Tat Momoli, Arizona
• M 2.6 — 2022-02-25
  1 km S of Roosevelt, Arizona
• M 2.5 — 2022-02-15
  6 km S of Roosevelt, Arizona
• M 2.5 — 2022-02-12
  2 km ESE of Roosevelt, Arizona
• M 2.6 — 2020-06-06
  5 km NW of New River, Arizona
• M 3.2 — 2016-12-10
  11 km ENE of Rio Verde, Arizona