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Founded in 1938 by the Gilchrist Timber Company, Gilchrist, Oregon was the last lumber company town in Oregon. The company, run by Frank W. Gilchrist Sr. and his wife Mary Gilchrist, was “a company that took good care of the employees”. The mill had an active union and the town provided ample social and employment opportunities for workers families and those not employed at the mill. The facilities and homes in the town all belonged to the company, were painted "Gilchrist brown," and rented to businesses and families of those working at the timber company, with peak population reaching 500-600 residents during its company town years.

Housing was dictated by availability and family size with single men living in a commissary made up of two-man cabins and families renting homes at low rates. Housing was partially based on a waitlist system that allowed residents to move to larger homes when they became available. "Fewer than half a dozen” women were employed at the Gilchrist Timber Company, but single women did live and work in the town.

In 1938 the Gilchrist school was built, serving students grades 1-12 from Gilchrist and surrounding communities, and run by the Klamath County School District. Over time buildings were built or converted for different uses, including Methodist and Catholic churches, and the Gilchrist mall in 1939, which was the first mall opened east of the Cascade Mountains. The mall served as a local social area for children in the town and included a full beauty and barbershop, a bowling alley, a social space called “the club," and a grocery store. The town's community was affected by the company and the school, which held social events including regular formal dances, but the town also held other functions which was different than other company towns which had few entertainment or social opportunities. Stores in town were relatively well stocked but goods not found were purchased in the closest town, Bend, Oregon. Residents would also go to Bend to see a doctor or rely on the services of nurses living in Gilchrist since there was no medical clinic.

During World War II many of the unmarried men in town went to into service and some were replaced by women in their jobs at the mill. The Gilchrist Timber Company was sold to Crown Pacific Partners in 1991 and all employees were fired. All homes and all facilities aside from the sawmill and timberland were sold to individual owners in 1997. In 2003, Crown Pacific Partners declared bankruptcy and the company was taken over by Interfor Pacific, a Canadian company, in 2006.

[Oregon Encyclopedia. "Gilchrist." Accessed October 25, 2023. https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/gilchrist/]