Editing Gilbert, Arkansas (section)

==History==
The Gilbert community was founded in 1902 when a railroad construction camp for the Missouri and North Arkansas (M&NA) Railroad was built and named in honor of Charles W. Gilbert, secretary-treasurer of Allegheny Supply Company, which was building the railroad. The M&NA began at [[Seligman, Missouri]] and rambled for 303 tortuous miles to [[Helena, Arkansas]] on the [[Mississippi River]]. In 1906, William Mays moved his store and post office to Gilbert. The Gilbert General Store, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places under the name Mays Store.

During the early 1920s, Reverend John Battenfield and his followers migrated into Gilbert and aspired to create a self-sufficient community to survive the return of the Messiah. They built a church and erected a sturdy building of smooth brown stones that was the print shop for their weekly newspaper, the ''Kingdom Harbinger''. Gilbert Cemetery, for those who didn't make it for the anticipated Rapture, was founded in 1920 at the top of the hill on Frost Street. Gilbert School District Eighty-eight was formed in 1921. Eli Jordan donated the land for a school, the residents donated money for lumber and materials, anyone with a team and wagon hauled in the lumber, and the men of Gilbert built the school. As the town grew, it boasted four stores, two hotels, an Eagle Pencil Company mill, several sawmills and three doctors. 1923 passed without the appearance of the Messiah, and in 1925 Reverend Battenfield and his family left Gilbert to look for another location.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

In the 1930s Gilbert had 116 people, its highest ever population count.<ref name=Bowdenstreetlights>{{cite web|last=Bowden|first=Bill|url=https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2022/oct/16/arkansas-smallest-town-replaces-streetlights-with/|title=Arkansas' smallest town replaces streetlights with LEDs in effort to cut light pollution|newspaper=[[Arkansas Democrat-Gazette]]|date=October 16, 2022|accessdate=October 16, 2022}}</ref>

Gilbert remained a hub for commerce for several years. Cotton, logs, ore and grain came by rail. By the 1940s, unsustainable logging practices led to a decline in logging activity. The railroad suffered. The railroad tracks were soon removed and sold as scrap. Concrete pylons stand as evidence of the railroad.

In 2022 the community phased out its use of traditional street lights for [[light-emitting diode]] (LED) lights using high-pressure sodium. This is an anti-[[light pollution]] measure.<ref name=Bowdenstreetlights/>