GILLETTE COMMUNITY

This area, known originally as Frog Creek, received its first American settlers before the Civil War. Many of them came from Alabama, northern Florida, and Georgia. Among the Georgians was Daniel Gillett, who brought his family to Frog Creek in the late 1840s. Like many other area pioneers, Gillett raised cattle and citrus. He and his descendants were so closely identified with the Frog Creek settlement that it became known as Gillette, and a post office bearing that name existed here from 1895 to 1910. Benevolence, a Baptist church, formed the stable institutional backbone of the community. Formally organized in 1868, Benevolence loaned its facilities to other religious and secular groups in the area, emphasizing frontier cooperation rather than competition, and provided inspiration and leadership to nearby Baptist and other congregations. Gillette First Baptist Church is the present - day successor to Benevolence. Gillette has been known through the years as an agricultural community, producing winter vegetables, cattle, and citrus.