Gilbert, Arizona: Once The Hay Shipping Capital of the World

Once hailed as the “Hay Shipping Capital of the World,” Gilbert came to its eponymous appellation in 1902, when local citizen William “Bobby” Gilbert sold a tract of land to make way for the Phoenix and Eastern Railroad Company to build a freight and passenger line that stretched, sinuously, from Phoenix to Kelvin, Arizona.

Newly minted, Gilbert soon became a bustling farming community thanks to the 1903 construction of the Consolidated Canal and later, in 1911, when Roosevelt Dam assured a steady flow of water to the area. Like the histories of so many other Southwestern communities illustrate, with the railroad and a steady supply of water, it wasn’t long before people migrated to Gilbert and a town was born. 

Throughout the early 1900s, Gilbert began to take shape, with a post office and grocery store opening their doors, and scores of dairy farmers buying cattle and staking out their acreages. But despite its initial flurry of development, the town settled into a long static period, maintaining a population of slightly more than 1,000 residents for well over 150 years. As far along as 1970, in fact, the population was still under 2,000 people.

In the 50 years following, however, Gilbert seemed to awaken to its destiny, defying demographics’ pundits who assumed the town would slowly lose its identity and get swallowed up in the Phoenix expansion juggernaut. 

Instead, with the help of some chance-taking town government leaders and a handful of local visionaries who saw the community’s potential, Gilbert—whose population now tops 250,000—has carved out its own unique identity as one of the most enviable places to live in Arizona, if not the entire Southwest.

As it’s continued to progress over the past couple of decades, the town has amassed a bundle of accolades. Just consider these few: Gilbert was designated as the fastest-growing municipality in the United States. It was ranked by CNN’s Money magazine as one of the best places to live in the country. It was also named one of the top 25 safest cities in the United States. So how did it manage such a transformation?

As Gilbert’s current mayor Jenn Daniels suggests, the town’s successful growth is owing in large part to the energy and vitality of its citizens, to their vision and “stick-to-it-tiveness.” Mayor Daniels knows of what she speaks; a longtime resident of Gilbert, she’s been an elected official in town since 2009, and its mayor for the past three years. 

The mayor continues explain, “They once provided for the agricultural needs of the area, but now they’ve converted their  efforts and invested themselves into helping the community grow, by, among other things, creating some beautiful housing developments that are so desirable for residents.” 

“These families care deeply for Gilbert and, clearly, they’re here to stay,” she continues. “They’ve found ways to replicate that hardworking spirit of Gilbert that was the town’s foundation, and they perpetuate that spirit over and over again.”

One doesn’t have to search very long or hard to find the personification of Mayor Daniel’s model Gilbertian (if that’s the term)—the type of resident with the passion and perseverance to literally shape what Gilbert has become and help ensure its future. She mentions local entrepreneur Joe Johnston, whom she says serves as a great example of the sort of long-term, visionary resident who time and again has demonstrated the forward-looking vision to see what’s possible in this community. 

Residents of the town for more than 50 years, the Johnston family bought a 320-acre farm in Gilbert in 1960 and, throughout the many decades since then, have become trailblazing pioneers for Gilbert’s prosperous, yet thoughtful development into a premier, forward-thinking Southwestern community. 

Perhaps Johnston’s hallmark “gift” to the town’s sense of itself is his brainchild commercial/residential real estate development called Agritopia. In 2000, he collaborated with land planners and community developers, landscape architects and the town managers to spearhead the evolution of the family’s vision for their farmland: creating a village neighborhood that harkens back to an earlier, simpler time, and honors the farming traditions of the past.

Joe Johnston describes it as a village built with a sense for what so many Americans yearn to recreate in their lives: a model neighborhood made real and set on the very foundations of the farm where Johnston and his siblings grew up. Johnston’s dream for Agritopia—and, by extension, for Gilbert itself—involved, as Agritopia’s website articulates, “A slower pace. A shared life. A connected existence.”

“All the original farm buildings and structures that were there have been repurposed—modified and upgraded—for the suburban environment,” Johnston notes with pride.

“The government for the town of Gilbert, and even just the general vibe from the townspeople, is that they are pro-business,” he explains. “But the difference in Gilbert is that they are looking for real quality businesses and people who are serious about doing a good job and serious about being a part of the community.”

The project wouldn’t have come together so successfully without all the involved parties being able to work together toward a common vision, he continues.