Gillette

Gillette is a city in Northeast Wyoming halfway between Sundance and Sheridan on I-90. Gillette is a coal mining town with a population of about 33,000 (2020). Because of the coal, oil, and natural gas production, the city calls itself the energy capital of the nation.

History
Gillette started as a tent city called Donkey Town in the 1890s, when a railroad line was built. For Edward Gillette's surveying work, the company who owned the line named the town after him. The early days of Gillette were rough, with over a dozen saloons and no church. There are stories of cowboys burning down the jail they were in to flee, a shootout downtown that killed a man, and outlaws in a showdown with officers. Despite all that, it never reached "Wild West" levels of violence and outlaws.

After law and order took hold in Gillette, it became a quiet and small ranching town. Sometimes weeks happen in decades and decades happen in weeks. The sleepy cow town may had little in the way of happenings until the first hints of booms started with uranium in the 1950s. The nuclear programs of the United States made its influence felt slightly, then oil caused more growth in the 1960s.

Coal mining was always present around Gillette, but it was the opening of major coal mines by huge corporations that caused the rough days and rowdiness to return. Fast money, trailers, drinking, drugs, fights, and all sorts of problems happened as the town swelled in size. The city was overwhelmed in every way possible. Jobs paying insanely high wages poured like manna from heaven requiring little more than a pulse until the late 1970s to early 1980s, when job requirements settled in. The energy industries influence was so prevalent the city stopped calling it self nicknames such as Razor City and called itself The Energy Capital of the Nation instead.

During the 1970s, Gillette became known as a rough riding hell hole. A place where drugs were left as tips to waitresses. A place where wives refused to get out of the car upon arrival. A place so bad the media picked up on a term called Gillette Syndrome in a little known psychology paper and turned it into a lightning rod of every ill imaginable a boomtown could experience giving it unwanted attention against the wishes of its author.

Some of it was true, some of it was exaggerated, and some was a media invention. Though like the early days, the boom didn't go on forever. At that time nearly half the housing during was mobile homes until the city stepped in. The city focused on turning Gillette a place based around families, and succeeded in restoring order.

As the money rolled in from the mines, so did the amenities. It seems the city lacks for nothing. Some cities become a company town, others don't. Gillette has some perks found in company towns while remaining a little more true to its origins. Though the city changed, the perceptions did not. No one remembers the sleepy cow town as it passes from memory, but the place no one visited for the hell of it remains burned in, for now.

As for the traveler, throughout its history, Gillette has been a launching point or a place to rest along a journey. Photographer William H. Jackson and painter Thomas Moran went to Devil's Tower in 1892 by horse-drawn wagon, using Gillette for their round trip. Today the city still promotes itself as a good place to stay when traveling between the Black Hills and Yellowstone National Park.

When Custer Battlefield Hiway was built, Gillette became a stopping point. Many motels were built from around the 1930s to about the 1960s on what is now U.S. Highways 14 and 16. Those places lost their significance as the town shifted direction when Interstate 90 was built in the early 1970s.

Culture


Gillette is a blue-collar city where you will find tradesmen, coal miners, and a few large sunburned men sporting bushy beards. Mixed in with them are the occasional ranchers, clean shaven with their cowboy hats and shiny belt buckles. Women also dress casually, many still in their work hoodies and nurse scrubs. Suits are so rare that most of the lawyers and politicians don't wear them. Ethnic clothes are almost only worn by foreign tourists.

Politically, Gillette is one of the most Republican places in the country. Bumper stickers read "if you don't like coal don't use electricity" and signs with coal trucks tell residents to stay strong. People openly discuss their dislike of Democrats while also being cautious of some Republicans. A small streak of libertarianism runs through the region due to the culture of independence much of it from those who live out in the county such as the ranchers that want the government to leave them alone. The Green Party has no official presence in the state and Democrats will find themselves massively outnumbered.

In the early 1980s a writer for Playboy famously said "No one comes to Gillette for the hell of it." He wrote of drug abuse, hard work and even harder drinking, and transplants vs natives. Times have changed, but in some ways what he wrote still lingers on. Even the visitor center promotes the city as a stop rather than a destination. If you ask someone where they are from it most likely wont be Gillette. Drugs are a problem visitors will never encounter apart from the rare gaunt-faced creature licking their lips through missing teeth with serious skin problems. They remind everyone the billboards against meth are there for a reason.

With the mining related jobs, ranch history, and western ideas, come the trucks, and not of the small Japanese kind. A car feels small, sandwiched between all the pickups, SUVs, haul trucks, and semi-trucks on the road and in the parking lots.

Climate
Windy, cold, and dry. These are the words visitors use to describe Gillette. Keep water handy if you are from a humid climate and always have winter clothes for any season besides summer.

Tourist information

 * Visit Gillette website

By car
i Between the Black Hills of South Dakota and Yellowstone National Park, Gillette is an excellent place to stop if you are traveling I-90 East or West. Highway 59 connects the town with Montana to the north and Douglas, Wyoming, to the south.

Watch out for deer on the road, especially at night and early in the morning. Sometimes there are carcasses on the side of the road from previous collisions. The saying about a deer in the headlights is real. They will stare at the lights and not move. The pronghorn, seen everywhere, usually don't stop and get out of the way.

By plane
Flying directly to Gillette is expensive. If you plan to rent a car or have a ride, a cheaper option is to fly to Casper, Wyoming or Rapid City, South Dakota. Casper and Rapid City are about 2 hr away by car.



Get around
The main roads are 59 (South Douglas Highway or Highway 59) and 14/16 (US Routes 14 and 16 or 2nd Street). All the major business areas and half the interstate exits and on-ramps are located on or right off those two roads. Lakeway, Boxelder, and 4-J are the major arteries inside the city with Skyline (Highway 50) and Southern Drive on the outside.

The oldest parts of the city downtown are laid out in a grid. Roads are called East or West depending on where they are in relation to Gillette Avenue - the middle of the city. Roads going East and West are often named streets. Those going North and South are often named avenues.

A few of the numbered roads are split. It's not possible to travel all the way down a numbered road straight through. This applies to South Gillette Avenue. The downtown portion is north of I90 (Interstate 90). The part south of I90 is a residential area.

By car


Gillette is best navigated by car. Parking in the city is free and street parking outside the downtown area is usually plentiful. All the major business areas have parking lots. One-way streets are rare. Rentals are available at the airport and near the downtown area.

By bike
While some bike lanes and paths do exist they are better used for recreation in the summer than as a main form of transportation. People often park RVs, trailers, cars, and trucks in some of the unused bike lanes. Sometimes snow plows push snow to the side blocking both bike lanes and sidewalks. The bike paths separate from the road are not always cleared during winter. Even when the paths are cleared the snow can melt during the day and freeze in the evening creating sheets of ice.

By taxi
Taxi service in Gillette is slow because of the distances they take passengers. Some services don't give an exact time you will be waiting outside in the heat or snow for a while. Many of the vehicles operating as taxis are dirty and run down as well.

Art
Gillette has over 110 sculptures across the city picked by the Mayor's Art Council and even more at Mount Pisgah Cemetery. Several buildings have large murals including one downtown and another on one of the L&H buildings. On the outskirts of town two water towers in Sleepy Hollow have been painted based on the story Legend of Sleepy Hollow.



History




Overlooks




Do
A common complaint by some locals and many transplants is there is nothing to do. That depends on what you enjoy and are willing to try especially those from big cities.

Generally speaking, Gillette only seems to have two seasons - summer and winter. Most of the events and tours occur in the summer because of bad weather during the winter.







Buy
The old advice of locals has always been to travel to Rapid City, South Dakota, or Casper, Wyoming, to shop. The biggest reason people say to go out of town is because Gillette doesn't have a classic indoor shopping mall. The only attempt at one failed in the 1990s and was turned into a school learning center. While the old advice is still true, it isn't anywhere near as strong as it used to be as more places to shop have opened up over the decades it has been repeated.

Besides some lack of shopping options one of the major problems Gillette has is overall bad customer service. Every city has places with good and bad service, but Gillette on the whole has a much lower bar for what is acceptable. Even worse, service is random. It can be great or terrible so every shopping experience can be an adventure. Another problem is high prices. Being further out of the way and all the money flowing through the hands of coal miners drives the cost of living up. This leads to some places charging even more than the sticker price (MSRP) for products.

Despite the problems, Gillette is still a hub for shopping to the surrounding area. People travel an hour away to come to Gillette to get what they need.

The major shopping areas are along East and West Lakeway Rd, South Douglas Hwy (Hwy 59), E 2nd St, and S Gillette Ave in the downtown area. Most of the local shops with unique or locally made goods are going to be found downtown. These local shops tend to have much better service as well.





Groceries
Gillette is a hub for groceries in the area because of the distance to nearby cities.



Sleep
Gillette has over 2,000 hotel rooms, many motels, and a few campgrounds one of which is in the middle of the city. There are usually plenty of rooms even during summer events. Prices go up and down in the same cycle as the boom and busts come and go.

Stay safe


There is little to worry about in Gillette. Violent crime is rare and visitors are not targets. It is safe to go around the city without fear day or night. The only threat to visitors is the occasional theft. The best deterrent is to lock your car because thieves do handle checks to find things to steal. The police make their presence known at night, especially when the bars let out. During the day, the newly created traffic unit is cracking down on bad drivers. They won't hesitate to stop you. Out–of–state plates will find an extra set of eyes on them, because of previous drug runners caught passing through.

Ignore the occasional beggars along Hwy 59 especially near Walmart. They aren't locals, but drifters passing through. They purposely stick to open private property such as shopping centers. Don't let them sucker you with their cute dogs. Though not perfect, Gillette has many social services including a food pantry, thrift store vouchers, food and rental assistance, job training and placement, soup kitchen, homeless shelter, and so on. If after seeing them you still feel compelled to give to charity, give to the local Council of Community Services or shop at the charity thrift store Seconds on the Avenue which uses it's revenue to fund those programs.

The police in Gillette are extremely quick. Expect them to show up within a few minutes; they are never far. Often the police will render medical assistance first since they are faster than an ambulance. The sheriff's department is as helpful as the police are fast. Both the police and sheriff's office record all interactions with headcams.



Stay healthy


Gillette has always had a shortage of doctors. Most of the established family doctors won't see new patients, much less visitors. Call around first anyways because they charge less than the walk-in clinics do.

Dentists are especially hard to get into. They almost always refer problems such as chipped and broken teeth to the emergency room at the hospital. The ER can patch you up, for a price, both in time and money. Those coming to the ER with serious problems are seen immediately with no issue, while the rest must wait and wait and wait. Expect to spend at least 3-4 hours if not much longer at the ER for any reason other than a true emergency.

While there are several pharmacies in Gillette, Walmart is usually the cheapest for prescriptions.



Religious services
While Gillette isn't an extremely religious place it does offer a diverse range of religious services for a rural community in rural state.



Connect




Go next
If you are headed east be sure to visit Devils Tower National Monument on your way into the Black Hills National Forest. Mount Rushmore National Memorial is over-rated, but Custer State Park, the Needles Highway, and the various caves of the Black Hills National Forest are all worth checking out.

If you are headed west take Hwy 16 on into Yellowstone National Park. Watch out for bison!