ZIP Code 82716

Gillette was founded in 1891 with the coming of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad and incorporated on January 6, 1892. During the 1960s, Gillette's population doubled from 3,580 to 7,194. The city calls itself the "Energy Capital of the Nation"; Wyoming provides nearly 35% of the nation's coal. 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. Gillette annexed the census-designated place Antelope Valley-Crestview on January 1, 2018. It is located between the Bighorn Mountains to the west and the Black Hills to the east, in the Powder River Basin. The population was estimated at 32,030 as of July 1, 2019. The median income for a household in the city was $69, and for a family was $19,717 per capita for the city in 2000, the median for a semi-household was $41,377, and the city had a median income of $131,377 per capita in 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. As a major economic hub for the county, the city is also a regional center for media, education, health, and arts. The oldest surviving non-native trees were planted in the 1940s.

History

Gillette was founded in 1891 with the coming of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad and incorporated on January 6, 1892. In November 1895, a fire destroyed most of the city. Gillette annexed the census-designated place Antelope Valley-Crestview on January 1, 2018. During the 1960s, Gillette's population doubled from 3,580 to 7,194. 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. 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. At the 2010 census, the town had a population of 1,658 and it had an area of 4.9 mi2 (12.7 km²). Gillette is located in the Cowboy State, which is part of the Wyoming Bootheel region of the Rocky Mountains. The town is located on the Wyoming-Wyoming Turnpike, which runs through the town of Cheyenne. It is the only town in Wyoming that is not in the National Rifle Association's "No Man's Land" region. It was once known as Donkey Town, named after Donkey Creek, and then called Rocky Pile after Rocky Draw.

Geography

Gillette is located at 44°1658N 105°3019W (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. The city has a semiarid climate (Köppen climate classification BSk) and is in USDA plant hardiness zone 4b. 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 are land and 0.03 sq miles (0.08km²) is water. Few trees were in Gillette when it was founded. 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. Gillette is in the USDA planthardiness zone fourb. It has a Köppens climate classification of BSk. It is located in the U.S. National Park Service's Rocky Mountain National Park System. The park system is home to the Rocky Mountains National Park, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Demographics

As of the census of 2010, 29,087 people, 10,975 households, and 7,299 families resided in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 92.2% White, 0.4% African American, 1.2%. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 9.5% of the population. The median income for a household in theCity was $69,581, and for a family was $78,377. The per capita income for the City was $19,749, and about 7.9% of residents were below the poverty line. The average household size was 2.61, and the average family size was 3.09. The city's median age was 30.6 years, with 28% of people under the age of 18 living with them, and 5.8% were 65 years of age or older. The gender make-up of theCity is 52.3% male and 47.7% female. The population density was 1,533.3 inhabitants per square mile (592.0/km²). The 12,153 housing units averaged 640.6 per squaremile (247.3/km 2). The city has a population of 29,000, and its population density is 1,500 people per square miles (592/ km²) The city is located on the Mississippi River, which runs through the center of the town. It is the only city in the state to have a city center on the river.

Arts and culture

In 2021, 7,338 people visited the Gillette Convention and Visitors Bureau. Of the 569 visitors in 2018 who identified where they were from, 473 were from 46 states and 96 were from 23 other countries. Gillette chapter of PFLAG hosts an annual pride event to support the local LGBTQ community. In 2019, PFLAG held the Pride Drag Show at AVA Community Art Center as part of its pride event. There are art and food vendors and alcohol is available at a beer garden. 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. There is a free multi-day event, Donkey Creek Festival, held in every June at theGillette College. It includes the Avenues of Arts reception, concert, car and motorcycle show, disc golf tournament, and 5K run and walk. The festival has grown significantly since starting in 2006 and is now in its 10th year. It is held at Gillette College in the town's historic downtown area and is free to the public to attend. The town is home to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is based in Gillette, Wyoming. It also has its own museum, the Museum of American History, which was established in 1875. The museum is open to the general public and has a collection of more than 2,000 pieces of art. It has been open since 1875 and is located in a former mining site.

Sports

The Wyoming Center at the CAM-PLEX is a 9,000 seat event center located just outside of Gillette. Ground was broken in 2006 and it was completed in 2008. The center currently hosts the National High School Finals Rodeo, amateur wrestling, and the Wyoming Mustangs of the CIF. The Campbell County Recreation Center is a 190,000-ft2 facility that was established April 2010. The Energy Capital Sports Complex site has four fast-pitch softball fields that can be converted for Little League baseball. Since the grand opening in 2015, the complex has hosted many tournaments, including the Razor City Softball Tournament and the 2016 Wyoming ASA State softball Tournament. The Frontier and Equality Halls (located in the west and middle parts of the center, respectively) are used for various purposes; while the Spirit Hall (locate on the east side) is used for ice skating and hockey. The seating capacity is 4,000 for Mustangs games. The Center 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 center into 9 rooms. As stated before, it can be taken down should an event need more space. This facility includes a 42-ft climbing wall resembling the Devils Tower National Monument. It also has basketball courts, a six-lane track, swimming and diving facilities, and five indoor tennis courts. It has an ice rink for ice hockey and ice skating plus an area for curling. A 2-mi recreation trail runs around the complex.

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. 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. The city government consists of the city attorney, municipal court, and city administration. The departments are Human Resources, Finance, Police, Development Services, Public Works, and Utilities. All meetings are open to the public except executive sessions. The council holds regular sessions on first and third Tuesday of every month in the Council Chambers at City Hall. They also hold agenda review meetings and meetings before regular sessions. They hold executive sessions on the third and fourth Tuesday of the month at the same time as the regular meetings. The meetings are held in the City Hall Council Chambers, which is located on the second floor of Gillette City Hall on the east side of the downtown square. The meeting is held from 7 to 9 p.m. every week. The public is invited to attend the meetings and is encouraged to bring a photo ID to prove you are a resident of the town. The cost of living in the town is about $1.5 million per year. The average cost of a home in the city is around $1,200,000, according to the city's 2010 census.

Education

Gillette 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. The city has a public library, a branch of the Campbell County Public Library System. The town is located in Campbell County, Wyoming, a county in the state of Wyoming. It is located on the Wyoming-Wyoming border and is located near the town of Cheyenne. The population of Gillette in 2010 was 2,715. It had a population of 2,816 in the year 2000, a population growth rate of 0.7% over the previous decade. It has a population density of 1,074.5 per square mile. It was the site of the first U.S. Air Force base in the United States, built in the early 1950s. It also hosted the opening of the Wyoming State Air Force Base in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which is now the base for the Wyoming Air Force Academy. The airport is located at the center of the town. It opened in 1973. It serves as a hub for air and sea travel in the region. The local economy is based on tourism, with the town's population growing at a rate of 1.6% per year. The economy is the second largest in the county, after Cheyennes, Wyoming. In 2010, Gillette had a GDP of $1.2 billion. It hosted the Wyoming International Airport, which opened in 1974.

Infrastructure

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. The A Battery, 2nd Battalion, 300th Field Artillery of the Wyoming National Guard are based in Casper, Gillette, and Lander. The High Mobility Artillery Rocket System unit is based in Gillette. The Gillette Regional Airport is served by United Airlines operated by SkyWest Airlines. SkyWest currently operates six flights daily in and out of Gillette to Denver. The hospital has 90 beds for acute care and is certified as an area trauma hospital. In recent years, soldiers from the 2nd battalion, 300rd Field Art artillery have been deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Freedom's Sentinel. The city is home to the National Guard's A Battery and the Wyoming Army National Guard. Gillette is also the home of Campbell County Memorial Hospital, which is part of the Campbell County Health System. The town is also home to a Wyoming State Police Station and the Gillette Animal Control Division, which sells pet licenses and acts as an animal shelter both housing pets and providing adoption services. It 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, the Animal Control division also acts as a shelter for pets.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Gillette, Campbell County, Wyoming = 99. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 20. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 89. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Gillette = 3.6 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 33,403 individuals with a median age of 33.3 age the population grows by 26.03% in Gillette, Campbell County, Wyoming population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 1,384.66 residents per square mile of area (534.63/km²). There are average 2.53 people per household in the 9,680 households with an average household income of $67,437 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 6.10% of the available work force and has dropped -1.06% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 31.78%. The number of physicians in Gillette per 100,000 population = 140.5.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Gillette = 15.6 inches and the annual snowfall = 56.5 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 81. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 209. 86 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 11.1 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 66, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Gillette, Campbell County, Wyoming which are owned by the occupant = 63.72%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 26 years with median home cost = $128,300 and home appreciation of -1.28%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $5.84 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $5,949 per student. There are 14.2 students for each teacher in the school, 212 students for each Librarian and 200 students for each Counselor. 7.77% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 12.81% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 5.19% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).