Gulu town owes its origin to the effects of the colonial era, the East African railway line and the presence of missionaries. Gulu was declared a township in 1906 and had assumed the role of facilitating communication between settlers, exchange and transshipment of agricultural produce of the northern Uganda region. The major planning attempt on the town, which was a gridiron pattern, was done in 1915 and by then the town had now been identified as the colonial administrative headquarter for the northern region otherwise called the Acholi District. Gulu became a Town Council in 1974 under the Urban Authority Act of 1964, which has been repealed and became a Municipality in 1977. It was among the very first Municipality in this Country. Gulu City was created through an Act of Parliament in and became operational on 1st July 2020. 

Gulu City is urbanizing rapidly; it is also emerging as the economic hub for Northern Uganda and is now poised to be the regional centre for economic growth and socio-economic transformation in the sub-region. These prospects make Gulu City an attractive destination for investment, innovation and thereby job-creation. The realization of this potential however, will largely depend on the City’s commitment to adoption of pragmatic approaches and strategies for addressing its multifaceted development challenges. The successful formulation of the Development Plan is not only a good sign of things to come, but also a significant step in our quest to develop our city to address not only the basic needs of residents (i.e., clean water, electricity, solid waste disposal, drainage, basic infrastructure & housing, roads etc.), but also the aspirations of new Cities in the 21st Century.