Gilman is a city in Douglas Township, Iroquois County, Illinois, United States.

This was based on a Depot Ground, a wider area of railroad-owned land where the tracks pass through a town.

Except for a slight bend in Central and Chamberlain streets, the plan is generally similar to that of Chatsworth, Fairbury, Gridley and Watseka (platted as "South Middleport").

This was evident early in its history when Beckwith remarked, "The town is the most diffusely settled, probably, of any of like population in the state.

"[9] The first new inhabitant of the area was W. P. Gardner from Pennsylvania, who at first lived in a shanty maintained by the railroad for its workers.

The first recorded event in Gilman's history was a ball held on 22 February 1858 at the hotel to celebrate George Washington's birthday.

Some of the less respectable young men of the neighborhood objected to the ladies being inside the hotel while they were left out on the frigid street.

Wise in the ways of frontier towns, Lawrence had taken the precaution of bringing a stout stick to the dance.

Rushing downstairs he burst out the door swinging his shillelagh and quickly dispersing the rowdies.

[10] D. Harwood was the first merchant to open a store in Gilman which maintained a full stock of goods.

The first train through Gilman arrived on 21 September 1857 and was to take local people to the State Fair in Peoria.

It was three hours late, but its arrival signaled the start of a period of rapid growth for the new town.

The eastern branch of the Illinois Central linked St. Louis and Chicago, while the Toledo Peoria and Western ran east and west across the state, from the Mississippi River to Indiana.

In 1923 and 1924, the state of Illinois began building a new "hard road" paralleling the Toledo Peoria and Western Railroad, which was at first called the Corn Belt Trail, but soon became U.S. Route 24.

A second new road, paralleling the Illinois Central Railroad through Iroquois County, initially known as the Egyptian Trail, evolved into Interstate 57 in the 1970s.

The Gilman Star is a weekly newspaper established in 1869 with general circulation in Western Iroquois County.