Biohazard Cleanup Near West Gilbert Gilbert, AR

Gilbert is a town in Searcy County, Arkansas, situated on the Buffalo River, and with a population of 26 at the 2020 census it ranks as the smallest municipality in Arkansas and one of the smallest in the nation.

Gilbert was founded in 1902 as a construction camp for the Missouri and North Arkansas (M&NA) Railroad and was named for Charles W. Gilbert, secretary-treasurer of the Allegheny Supply Company, which was building the railroad.

The town was incorporated on February 13, 1913.

In 1906 William Mays moved his store and post office from the nearby community of Duff to Gilbert; the Gilbert General Store, built in 1901, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places under the name Mays Store and remains the town's biggest attraction.

In its railroad heyday Gilbert boasted four stores, two hotels, several sawmills, and three doctors, and shipped cotton, logs, ore, and grain by rail; the railroad's repair shop there operated until 1946.

In August 1915 a Buffalo River flood washed away the Gilbert Saloon — the town's first and only saloon — along with the Eagle Pencil Company mill.

In the early 1920s Gilbert hosted a utopian religious colony led by Reverend John Battenfield and his Incoming Kingdom Missionary Unit, whose followers moved to the town hoping to build a self-sufficient community to survive the return of the Messiah.

Gilbert peaked at 116 residents in the 1930 census before shrinking to 28 in 2010 and 26 in 2020, and the town covers only about 0.37 square miles.

Gilbert has a long-standing reputation, shared with Calico Rock, as one of the coldest spots in Arkansas, a claim the town proudly notes on its welcome signage.

Today Gilbert is a quiet gateway for canoeists, rafters, and anglers on the Buffalo National River, and the old railroad bed survives as the Old Railroad Trail, an easy 3.4-mile round-trip hike along the riverbank.