Gilbertsville is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

and

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Marshall County,

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is the closest village to the

Kentucky Dam Kentucky Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River on the county line between Livingston and Marshall counties in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The dam is the lowermost of nine dams on the river owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Auth ...

. The town was relocated to its present site when Kentucky Dam and

Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park is a Kentucky state park located on the northern shore of Kentucky Lake in Marshall County. The park encompasses and is one of the state's more popular resort parks. The park features a convention center, 1 ...

replaced the former site. As of the 2020 census, the population of Gilbertsville was 332.

History

Old Gilbertsville

The original town of Gilbertsville was founded in 1871 near the

Tennessee River The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names, ...

as "Clear Pond", named for a nearby lake. In 1874 it was incorporated and renamed "Gilbertsville" in honor of Jesse C. Gilbert, who served as a Kentucky state senator from 1871 to 1875. The town grew to include a bank, several stores, a jail, and a school teaching grades 1-12. It had a population of approximately 300 in 1930.''Marshall County'', by Connie M. Huddleston, Carol Aldridge, and Virginia Smith, Arcadia Publishing, 2005, . Retrieved January 20, 2010. The village thrived because besides the fertile bottomland, it afforded the combination of river access for transportation and fishing, and railroad transportation via the

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also co ...

Modern Gilbertsville

The construction of Kentucky Dam (1938–1944) meant the end for old Gilbertsville. The town was moved to its present site, initially called "West Gilbertsville", with the geographic coordinates given above, by the time Kentucky Lake was impounded in the early 1940s. A notable event in the town's history was the dedication ceremony for Kentucky Dam on October 10, 1945, at which President

Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

gave the dedicatory speech. Gilbertsville was a 6th class city from 1956 to 1976. The town incorporated at its new site circa 1953. The town later abandoned its incorporated status in 1976 by a referendum. Before dissolving its charter, the town of 241 had a budget of $2,000 to $3,000 per year, which paid for a town marshal, street lights, and street repairs. Tourism related to the dams and lakes created nearby by

TVA The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a Federal government of the United States, federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, an ...

has driven the economy of Gilbertsville since the 1940s. The town has an airport, an 18-hole golf course, a large marina, a car racing track, and has been the site of bass fishing tournaments. The town has been the site, for several decades, of the Kentucky Sheriff's Boys and Girls Ranch, which has provided a free week-long summer camp for children ages 8–11, with total attendance of 30,000 through 2008.

Geography

Gilbertsville is in northern Marshall County, on the south side of the valley of the

. It is less than downstream from (northwest of) the

, forming

Kentucky Lake Kentucky Lake is a major navigable reservoir along the Tennessee River in Kentucky and Tennessee. It was created in 1944 by the Tennessee Valley Authority's impounding of the Tennessee River via Kentucky Dam for flood control and hydroelectric p ...

. Between Gilbertsville and the dam is Kentucky Dam Village State Park.

Interstate 24 Interstate 24 (I-24) is an Interstate Highway in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It runs diagonally from I-57, south of Marion, Illinois, to Chattanooga, Tennessee, at I-75. It travels through Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, ...

/ 69 passes the southeast end of the community, with access from Exit 27 (

U.S. Route 62 U.S. Route 62 or U.S. Highway 62 (US 62) runs from the Mexican border at El Paso, Texas, to Niagara Falls, New York, near the Canadian border. It is the only east-west United States Numbered Highway that connects Mexico and Can ...

) to the southwest. Kentucky Route 282 (Gilbertsville Highway) passes through the town center, leading south two miles to US 62 and

641 __NOTOC__ Year 641 ( DCXLI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 641 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...

at the west end of Kentucky Dam and west to Calvert City. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the Gilbertsville CDP has a total area of , of which , or 2.68%, are water.

Demographics

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

system, Gilbertsville has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.

Annual events

* Arts and Crafts Festival—Every Memorial Day Weekend the festival is located at the Old Beach Area and features handcrafted items by artists from Kentucky and neighboring states. * Earth Day Celebration—Located at the Kentucky Dam Village Resort, the festival features activities to celebrate Earth Day.

References

External links

Kentucky Atlas and Gazetteer, showing present location of Gilbertsville. {{authority control Census-designated places in Marshall County, Kentucky Census-designated places in Kentucky Populated places disestablished in 1976