Gilchrist, Oregon
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Location of Gilchrist, Oregon
ORMap-doton-Gilchrist.png
Location of Gilchrist, Oregon
Gilchrist is an unincorporated community in Klamath County, Oregon on US 97 between Bend and Klamath Falls.
Gilchrist was the last lumber company town in Oregon. The town was founded in 1938 by the family-owned Gilchrist Timber Company, which moved there from Mississippi in search of lumber and lower taxes.
The company was sold to Crown-Pacific in 1991, which subsequently fired all its employees. The town of 120 homes and other facilities were subsequently sold to residents and others around 1998, with Crown-Pacific retaining the sawmill and timberland.
The town's mill, upgraded to handle smaller logs in 2000, is one of the remaining assets of Crown-Pacific, which declared bankruptcy in 2003.