Gillett, Arizona

Gillett, Arizona
Ghost town
Gillett, Arizona

Location in the state of Arizona

Coordinates: 34°01′08″N 112°09′49″W / 34.01889°N 112.16361°WCoordinates: 34°01′08″N 112°09′49″W / 34.01889°N 112.16361°W
Country United States
State Arizona
County Yavapai
Founded 1878
Abandoned 1880
Elevation[1] 1,834 ft (559 m)
Population (2009)
 • Total 0
Time zone MST (no DST) (UTC-7)
Post Office opened October 15, 1878
Post Office closed August 11, 1887

Gillett, Arizona, is a ghost town, a stagecoach station, and then a settlement formed around an ore mill serving the Tip Top Mine, on the Agua Fria River in Yavapai County in what was then Arizona Territory.[1] It was named for the mining developer of the Tip Top Mine, spelled incorrectly as Gillette on U. S. Topographic Maps and elsewhere.[2]:104 [1]

Gillett was founded by the superintendent of the Tip Top Mine, where he located the mill to process the ore from Tip Top, 9 miles away.[3] Its post office opened October 15 1878.[2]:104 At its height in 1878 Gillett, had 6 streets and aside from its mill and post office, a bank, assay office, hotel, real estate office, livery stable, lumberyard, meat market, truck farm, dairy, warehouse, 2 blacksmiths, 2 stagecoach stations, 4 stores and 9 saloons or gambling houses.

After the mill was closed in 1880, and moved to Tip Top in 1884, the town was soon abandoned. It remained with a store and a stagecoach station in 1880 with a population of two.[3] Its post office had postmasters appointed up to October 1883, but it was discontinued in August of 1887.[2]:104 The stage station remained until 1912, then was abandoned. [3]

The Burfind Hotel was the largest structure in Gillett and ruins of it and a neglected cemetery remain.[3]

Reference

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Gillette
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 John and Lillian Theobald, Arizona Territory Post Offices & Postmasters, The Arizona Historical Foundation, Phoenix, 1961
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Gillett, Arizona, Arizona Pioneer & Cemetery Research Project from apcrp.org website accessed February 28, 2015]

External links