HISTORY OF GILLETT

  The history of a community is constructed event by    event, until recollection of the earliest event is lost, and posterity sees only the obvious, just as we see the facades of a building but do not know the shape of the beams and walls that support it. Unless we have watched its construction, much that is good and much that is interesting is hidden from us, yet these things determined the destiny of the community and shaped it as it is today.

In 1856 the United States assigned the land that is now Gillett to Mr. Chauncey Baker, who reassigned it in the same year to a Mr. R.A. Jones. Mr. Jones evidently was not a lumberman, because he sold the pine timber on his land to William Brewster, and then sold the land back to Mr. Chauncey Baker. All of these transactions took place in 1856. The following year, the downtown area was sold to Edward Ramsey. In February of 1858, Rodney Gillett of Stiles, Wisconsin and Otis Flanders leased this land plus other lands for a term of three years. They were to pay for the lease by clearing 40 acres, enclosing it with a rail fence 7 rails high, and leaving 4-1/2 tons of English hay on the premises at the expiration of their lease. Mr. Ramsey agreed to pay for all necessary improvements that Mr. Gillett put on the premises. Mr. Gillett operated under this lease from February of 1858 until October of 1858, when for some reason he deemed it wiser to clear and improve his own land, so in October he purchased an interest in this property and other properties from Mr. Ramsey for $600.00. In 1860 Edward Ramsey sold his undivided half interest in the land to Mr. Gillett and his wife Mary who held the land all during the period of the Civil War, until shortly after the surrender at Appomattox Court House, then sold their belongings in this part of Wisconsin to Commink Tourtilotte on a deed dated May 15th, 1865. Mr. Tourtilotte deeded the land back to Rodney Gillett just 5 months later, October 15th 1865, except for three acres which he had sold to William John.

~Taken from: The History of Gillett written by Marie Darrow

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HOUSE THAT IS NOW A MUSEUM

The land on which this museum was built was owned by Rodney Gillett in 1858, after which the city was named. His framed portrait is on the living room wall in the museum, along with photos of his family. Rodney built the first frame house here, where he lived with his wife and family.  His wife Mary died in 1902, and in Feb of 1906, he sold the house to Luella Goldberg, and she and her husband, a famous attorney who was disbarred from practicing law in the state, moved to Gillett [see booklet Benjamin M. Goldberg - A Nefarious Gillett Citizen] .  A few years later, in March of 1908, the house rather mysteriously was destroyed by fire [see news item of fire in Goldberg booklet].   After several court proceedings, in June of 1909 the land was sold to Walter Smith who had come to Gillett to establish a Woodenware Factory.  Walter Smith [see Walter W. Smith Timeline booklet] built the house that is now a museum in 1910.  A descendant of the Smith family had lived in the house until 2005.  At that time it was sold briefly to another couple, who, in 2007 sold it to the Gillett Area Historical Society.  And now we have a Museum With a Past.