Gilbert is a town in Maricopa County located southeast of Phoenix with the metropolitan area. Incorporated on July 6, 1920, Gilbert was once known as the Hay Shipping Capital of the World. It is the 5th largest municipality in Arizona, and the 4th largest in the Phoenix metro area. Gilbert has made a rapid transformation from an agriculture-based community to an economically diverse suburban center and it has grown at an extremely high rate over the last three decades, with the population of the last census being almost 268,000 residents.