Gilbert is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA. It was founded on July 6, 1891 as a rail siding for Arizona Eastern Railway, and the town that sprang up around it was incorporated as the Town of Gilbert in 1920. Gilbert received its name from William "Bobby" Gilbert, the owner of the property that the rail siding was built on. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the town is 191,517.
Although it is large and growing rapidly, Gilbert is still incorporated as a town rather than as a city; it has the highest population of any area incorporated as a town in the United States (and the second largest in North America, after Markham, Ontario, Canada), and as of the 2000 census was the only town with more than 100,000 people (although by 2002 Cary, North Carolina had also passed this mark). Gilbert was also the fastest-growing place among all cities and towns in Arizona of any size between 1990 and 2000. The center of population of Arizona is located in Gilbert.
