Honoring Prominent Figures in Campus History: The Gibson Center for the Arts
Most campus buildings bear the names of prominent donors or institutional figures. So, let’s talk about the Gibson Center for the Arts and its namesake, President Daniel Gibson.
In 1963 Clifton Miller, we’ll find out more about him when we talk about Miller Library, officially opened the Heritage Campaign for Education and Services. This ten-year project would add several buildings and additions to the campus. One of these was a Fine Arts Center that would be constructed over the athletics field. Though the project began in 1965, it wasn’t until 1967 that the building, with its six-hundred-seat theater and practice studios, was completed. It opened on convocation weekend, November 2, 1967, and the first play to take advantage of the new state-of-the-art lighting and sound equipment was a production of “Oh! What a Lovely War” by the Washington Players. When President Daniel Z. Gibson retired in 1970, the Board voted to rename the center The Gibson Center for the Arts in his honor.
Daniel Z. Gibson was one of the longest-serving presidents of Washington 
College, serving from 1950-1970. He oversaw numerous changes to the campus and curriculum.
After receiving his bachelor’s degree in 1929 from Kentucky Wesleyan College, he earned
his master’s and doctorate in English from the University of Cincinnati by 1939. He
then took a position at the Citadel from 1940-1943, when he resigned his post to accept
a commission in the United States Naval Reserve, where he worked until the end of
World War II. During this time, he was assigned to Franklin and Marshall College for
their V-12 Navy College Training Program. In 1950, he accepted the position of President
at Washington College. He served for two decades, and retired in 1970 due to his failing
health. . As president, he grew enrollment, oversaw the ending of the football team,
and saw the college integrate.
In 2009, the Gibson Center for the Arts, along with several other buildings on campus, underwent renovation. This added the Kohl Gallery and the Hotchkiss Recital Hall, which removed the sculpture depicting the Nine Muses by C. John Godfrey of Philadelphia.
