HistoryLink Tours

Gilman Village sprang from an idea in 1972 by two local businesswomen, Betty Konarski and Marilyn Gray. The two women operated a small arts and crafts store named The Country Mouse that operated out of a house built in 1909, but the house was in danger of being razed for development. Konarski approached local developer Marvin Mohl with the idea to move the house (and two other nearby older houses which were also scheduled to be razed) and start a specialty shopping center with the buildings. Mohl liked the idea, and by early 1973 Gilman Village had opened.

Gilman Village opened with four buildings on the site — the three transplanted buildings, and the Livingstone House, which was already on the property after being moved from its original location in the middle of what is now I-90. The Wold House, which dates from 1908, is the only building in the village which is in its original location; it was added to the property when Gilman Village expanded in 1979. By 1992 Gilman Village had grown to 28 buildings, most of them old houses dating from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. But there are other buildings in Gilman Village, including an old feed store, a drive-in, and even a couple of former garages. The little homemade shopping center has successfully weathered changing tastes and times in the past half-century, and currently there are approximately 40 shops operating in Gilman Village, ranging from restaurants to home décor to pottery.