About Gilbert
this page was last updated in 2006

The People and the Place
Gilbert, Iowa, is nestled in the midst of gently undulating agricultural land. The landscape surrounding the town is dotted with conventional farm buildings and livestock as well as newer agricultural facilities and row crop farming systems. The area also includes farmsteads or acreages where non-farming residents have their homes. And a few miles to the southeast or southwest, on land bordering the Skunk River and Squaw Creek, there are substantial residential sub-divisions.

Gilbert’s southern boundary is only two miles north of the Ames boundary that was extended when Ames developed the Ada Hayden Heritage Park. It is not difficult to look south from Gilbert and see the Ames’ water towers or the power plant and Design Center building at Iowa State.

The 2000 census reported that Gilbert had 987 residents. Considering the influx of residents, it is most likely that there are now over 1,000 people who live in the town. A large percentage of the workforce is employed at Iowa State and other places outside of town.

The Schools
Generally speaking, people in the area are proud of the quality of education that the Gilbert Community Schools provide. The district covers 48 square miles. The enrollment has increased by 55% since 1990 with the number of students climbing to over 1,000 in April 2004. Many students live in the northern part of Ames. Also, in April 2004, the district held an election on a proposed $8,275,000 bond issue for a new middle school, vocational education facility, and air-conditioning at the current junior-senior high building. The voters overwhelmingly supported the project with 85 percent of 600 voters casting a "yes" ballot. The total cost is expected to be $11,870,000. The school board, anticipating that it will build another elementary school in ten years if the district continues to grow at its current pace of 3.5% per year, has obtained an option to purchase property northwest of Hayden Park for that facility. And if that rate of growth continues, the Gilbert schools will have 1,500 students in the fall of 2016.

Transportation
The main east-west road through Gilbert is county highway E23. It has only one stop sign within the city limits. A Union Pacific rail line goes north and south through the town. A long time ago, passengers could easily ride the train to Ames and other places, but today the railroad is mainly for hauling grain and other commercial uses. The train doesn't stop in Gilbert, but its whistle loudly announces its passage through the town and triggers a nostalgic feeling. The Heartland Senior Services of Story County provides van transportation to older people and other persons who wish to use the service.

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Includes map to Gilbert, street map of Gilbert.
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Recreational Facilities
Gilbert has attractive parks. The largest is Upstill Park. It is being developed by Gilbert Vision 2000, Inc. on behalf of the schools and city. The park consists of soccer fields, a marsh, and a hard-surfaced bicycle/walking trail surrounded by prairie patches and indigenous trees. The town also has Lion's Park and Banford Park. Both have playground equipment and picnic shelters. Lion's Park also has a tennis court and basketball hoop. Soccer is one of the most popular organized activities in the parks.

Gilbert residents are fortunate to have other great outdoor recreational facilities located only a few minutes from town. The Ames Country Club and Oaks Public Golf Course are within a couple of miles south of town. The Skunk River Green Belt, east of Gilbert, is under the jurisdiction of Story County and has a canoe trail with access to a 17-mile stretch of river at each bridge between Story City and Ames, a distance of nine miles as the crow flies. The green belt also includes Peterson Pits, where there is a beach for swimming and five miles of looped trails for walking, bicycling, and horseback riding. Hayden Park, two miles from Gilbert on the north edge of Ames, has 437 acres of land that surround and include a former rock quarry with 120 acres of water for non-motorized boating. There are hard-surfaced and crushed-rock trails for walking and bicycling.

The Churches
There are two churches in Gilbert. One is the Lutheran congregation. It is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of American. The other is an Evangelical Free congregation. Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church is a couple of miles northwest of town on County Highway E18. The Gilbert cemetery is a half mile north of town on 530th Avenue, a gravel road maintained by the county.

Urban Planning
Some residential sections of the community have an old-time, small town feel. There is also a large, newer area on the south part of Gilbert, consisting of homes built Rich Lepper Construction, Inc. during the last decade. The company is currently developing a new addition that will extend the residential area to the fence line that marks Gilbert’s southern boundary line. The town has a few apartment buildings and rental homes.

Gilbert's Planning and Zoning Commission and the city council worked for more than four years to create a comprehensive land use plan that was approved in December 2003. The consultants for the plan surveyed residents and concluded the people of Gilbert, generally speaking, place a high value on being able to live in an autonomous small town near Ames and Iowa State University with all the urban amenities that those places have to offer.

In part, the comprehensive plan is an attempt to ensure that Gilbert’s growth and development is based on a vision of the community and not driven by outside forces. The plan is also an attempt to ensure that Gilbert maintains its small town character. Currently, the council is working with the City of Ames and Story County to develop an urban fringe plan for greater cooperation between the jurisdictions as they face development pressure in the area between Ames and Gilbert. That plan is scheduled for completion and approval in 2005.

Communications Services
Gilbert has its own post office that provides prompt, personalized service. There is hardly ever a waiting line. The town also has high speed Internet service provided by the Complete Communications Systems (a cable company) and Prairie iNet (a wireless Internet company). The Gilbert Gazette, an unofficial web site, also serves the community.

Local Businesses
There are two restaurants in downtown Gilbert. The Open Flame Steakhouse is on Main Street and serves Iowa cuisine and has a full service bar. People can even grill their own steaks and other meat. There is also Daisychains and Laughs, a coffeebar and gift shop that opened on Main Street in the fall of 2003. During that same time, the Left Bank Studio opened in the historic brick bank building at the corner of Main and 1st Streets.

The Consignment Gallery for gently-used furniture is the third new business in town. It opened on Main Street on July 1, 2004. Two more businesses joined Main Street in November of 2005.  Signature Style, a full-service hair salon is owned and operated by Julie Spear.  JB Knacker moved from "the barn", previously located a mile southeast of town, to the store front just south of The Left Bank Studio.  Their specialties include antiques, vintage pieces and funky finds.  Other local businesses include the well-known Companion Animal Clinic, where people from miles around bring their pets for veterinary attention (now located at the corner of 2nd and Dunn Streets), the Heart of Iowa Coop, Dairyland Seed Research, Gilbert Mini-Storage, Mike’s Custom Cabinets, The Gilbert Car Wash and Mullenbach Construction and Self-Storage.

Gilbert has neither a grocery store nor a gas station, but there is a Casey's convenience store located one mile east of town on Highway 69. The other businesses at the corner of Highway 69 and E23 include: All-American Turf Beauty, Jerry's Country Store, Redling Repair (for vehicles), Risco Self-Storage, the Suburban Café, and the Suburban office complex. Many local farmers gather for morning coffee and conversation either at the coop or the Suburban.

The DeMoss Pumpkin Farm is a half mile west of town. They sell seasonal garden produce and baked goods at farmer's markets and on the farm.

Community Involvement
The Gilbert fire department's firefighters, first responders and EMT's were awarded The President's Volunteer Service Award for Community Service from the President's Council on Civic and Service Participation in May 2004.

Gilbert has an active Lion’s Club that organizes hamburger fries, the Spring-time city-wide cleanup day, and an occasional pancake breakfast. The proceeds support screening programs for preschool youth to discover potential vision problems and projects that aid seeing-impaired persons.

There are three chapters of the Beta Sigma Phi Sorority that organize Gilbert’s annual Easter egg hunt, provide clothing for needy Gilbert students, sponsor scholarships for Gilbert High School graduates, and donate monies to the teacher discretionary fund.

Gilbert and area residents are also active in the community via the Vision 2000 organization to develop the Upstill Park, the Heart of Iowa Soccer Club, baseball and softball teams, 4-H and scouting programs, the Triple G Square Dance Club, TOPS Club, Fifty Plus Club, and the Fabricators quilting club.

The Gilbert quasquicentennial
The town celebrated its 125^th anniversary on July 30-31, 2004. An amorphous group of more than a dozen volunteers began meeting in March of 2003 to organize the festivities. It was known simply as the G125 Group, and the theme was "Knowing the past, growing the future." Part of the goal for the weekend was to honor the town’s heritage and have the largest and most festive celebration that the community had known since its centennial in 1979 and the Gilbert Days tradition that included an annual rodeo and ended in the mid-1980s.

The G125 Group hoped the celebration would foster a greater sense of Gilbert identity and community spirit and leave a legacy for future generations. As the G125 fund-raising brochure said, "We want memories of it to live long and fondly in the hearts and minds of people of all ages. It’s for Gilbert residents, whether newcomers, old-timers or those who are someplace in between. And it’s for people from the greater Gilbert community as well as visitors from near and far." Time will tell the impact of the celebration on the community; however, it appears that the committee rose to the occasion and met its expectations.

The Gazette has prepared a flyer with an unofficial directory of businesses, churches, and city offices that are located in the Gilbert area and two maps. One map is of the town of Gilbert. The other shows the relationship of Gilbert to Ames and highways in central Iowa.

The Gazette has also prepared another flyer with the same maps and general instructions of how to get to Gilbert. The flyer contains no directory.

We encourage visitors to download the pdf files for the flyers, make as many copies as you want, keep one or two, and distribute the rest to friends, family, and colleagues.

Main Street Memories
Reflections of Life in Gilbert around 1915 by Eugene Eness (1906-1996)
    

  Long vertical view, includes Gilbert and as far south as the Ada Hayden Preserve.

  Medium view of Gilbert area.

  Closer view of Gilbert.

You can also go to the Iowa Geographic Map Server. It's a fascinating web site at Iowa State University where you can select any area of the State of Iowa and see aerial photos and maps.
 

Black and white aerial photos of Gilbert and surrounding land obtained from the
United States Department of Agriculture

  August 13, 1953
  September 22, 1972
  April 18, 1994
     

  1998
     

Story County Assessor's Office real estate data and GIS information

find information about specific parcels of property and the homes on them

find an interactive map of story county where you can zoom in on parcels