Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Gilchrist

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Gilchrist

Gilchrist’s post office opened in 1938, and 49% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1935 on.

1938first post office
0on the National Register
49%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Orygun · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Gilchrist began

When was Gilchrist founded?

1938

The Gilchrist post office opened in 1938, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 21688 years
Founding year: the first Gilchrist post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Gilchrist’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Gilchrist are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Gilchrist’s homes were built before 1940.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Gilchrist’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Gilchrist’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Gilchrist came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Gilchrist.

Read it all →

Gilchrist was the last lumber company town in Oregon. The town was founded in 1938 by the family-owned Gilchrist Timber Company, with Frank and Mary Gilchrist as the owners and town founders. The mill moved there from Jasper County, Mississippi, in search of lumber and lower taxes, building a dam on the Little Deschutes River to create the mill pond. In 1939, Gilchrist School was built by the Public Works Administration.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Gilchrist, decade by decade

Today4 recent
Gilchrist 87452025Gilchrist 8745Gilchrist 87442025Gilchrist 8744Gilchrist 87412025Gilchrist 8741Mall clock tower, Gilchrist, Oregon, 20142014Mall clock tower, Gilchrist, Oregon, 2014
On the map

Gilchrist on the map, 1935 to 1999

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Gilchrist. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Gilchrist on the 1935 USGS mapGilchrist on the 1941 USGS mapGilchrist on the 1967 USGS mapGilchrist on the 1979 USGS mapGilchrist on the 1999 USGS map1935Chemult sheet · 1:125,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Gilchrist.

Questions about Gilchrist’s history

What year was Gilchrist founded?

The Gilchrist post office opened in 1938, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.