Gibbs & Parker, Architects
David W. Gibbs (1836-1917)[3]
Charles F. Parker (1848-1907)[4]
Gibbs & Parker was an architectural partnership briefly based in Kansas City, Missouri, responsible for the design of "Old Main" at Nebraska Wesleyan University in University Place (now Lincoln), Nebraska.[1][a] The partnership was listed only in 1887 in the Kansas City directory, when Charles F. Parker resided at 509 E. 11th in that city and David W. Gibbs was listed as "r.[esides] Toledo, Ohio." A Kansas City newspaper announced in late 1886 that "Gibbs & Parker, formerly of Toledo, O., have established their office in our city. This firm has an extensive record of important buildings throughout the states of Ohio, Michigan and Indiana and are now building the capitol at Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory."[2]
Both Gibbs and Parker practiced architecture in Ohio before and after their Nebraska project, and D. W. Gibbs was responsible for the design of major public buildings such as county courthouses, opera houses, and Masonic temples in many Ohio cities, as well as the Wyoming territorial capitol. What is less clear is whether the Gibbs & Parker partnership extended beyond their single, important project in Nebraska. This page is intended to provide some context to the careers of "Old Main's" designers, without chronicling either architect's whole career.
David W. Gibbs was born in Somerset, Bristol County, Massachusetts in 1836; his John father was a farmer.[5][6] He served in a Ohio artillery regiment from 1863-1865 and after the Civil War was enumerated in the 1870 U. S. Census in New Haven, Ohio, as a bricklayer.[7][8] David and his wife Sidney had two sons and two daughters. The 1880 census was the first to list Gibbs as a architect (in Toledo, Ohio). Gibbs appears to have been a leading regional architect in Ohio from the mid-1870s through the late 1880s.[9][10][b] Some of his projects are listed below. By the time of the 1900 census David and Sidney were in Oklahoma City, where David was listed as an architect and identified as a civic leader as early as 1890.[11][12][13]
Charles Foster Parker was born in Lebanon, Ohio in 1848 to Julia and Joseph Parker; his father was listed as a carpenter in the 1860 census, as was Charles in the 1880 census.[14][15] Only in 1900 did the census identify Charles Parker as an architect, in Washington Court House, Ohio.[16]
This page is a contribution to the publication, Place Makers of Nebraska: The Architects. See the format and contents page for more information on the compilation and page organization.
Contents
Compiled Nebraska Directory Listings
none
Educational & Professional Associations
===David W. Gibbs===
Architect, Toledo, Ohio, 1874-circa 1890[c]
Architect with Gibbs & Moser, Toledo, 1877.[19]
Architect with Gibbs & Cobb, Toledo, 1880.[20]
Architect in partnership with David L. Stine (1857-1941), as D. W. Gibbs & Co., Toledo, 1881-1887.[23][24][25][27][d]
Architect in partnership with C. F. Parker, 1887.
Architect in Oklahoma City, 1890-1910.
===Charles F. Parker===
Architect in partnership with D. W. Gibbs, Kansas City, Missouri, 1887.
Architect in Washington Court House, Ohio, c. 1890s-1907.
Buildings & Projects
---Select projects by Gibbs---
Methodist Church (1874) Wauseon, Fulton County, Ohio.[17]
Joel Brigham residence (1875), Clinton and Elm Streets (probably extant house in 2022 at 204 Elm West), Wauseon, Ohio.[18]
New school building for Ohio Soldiers Orphans' Home (1877), near Xenia, Ohio.[19]
Opera House (1880), Mansfield, Ohio.[20]
Masonic Temple (1880), Toledo, Ohio.[21]
Union County Courthouse (1880), Marysville, Ohio.[22]
Marion County Courthouse (1883), Marion, Ohio.[26]
Wyoming Territorial Capitol (1887), Cheyenne, Wyoming.[1][2]
---Select projects by Gibbs & Parker---
"Old Main" (1887), Nebraska Wesleyan University, University Place (now Lincoln), Nebraska.[1] Extant 2022.
---Select projects by Parker---
Masonic Temple (1898), Washington Court House, Ohio.[28]
Notes
a. The York Republican newspaper reported in March of 1887 that four plans were considered by the trustees of Wesleyan University. "The competing architects were Hakins, of LIncoln, Ellis of Omaha, Eckler & Mann of St. Joseph and Fuehrmann of Grand Island. It was deemed best on account of the importance of the undertkaingto invit still further competition and the time for selecting the plans was postponed for one month. The secretary was authorized to insert a notice to that effect in the newspapers."[28] The identification of "Old Main's" architects in the Nebraska State Journal of April 13, 1887 reads in full: "The drawings for the new Wesleyan university building are daily expected from Kansas City, where they were sent to be copied by the architects, Messrs. Gibbs & Parker."[1]
b. Gibbs appears to have been using drafting skills to promote himself as a builder, and perhaps transitioning from bricklayer/builder to architect, in the early 1870s. A Tiffin, Ohio newspaper carried an announcement: "ARCHITECTURE--D. W. Gibbs, an able architect and builder, of Toledo, announces to the people of Tiffin and vicinity that he is prepared at all times to give accurate estimates on all classes of buildings from pencil sketches, thereby saving parties desiring to build, and wishing to expend a given sum of money, the expense of architect's fees, without knowing the cost of the improvement they wish to make. All estimates so furnished will be guaranteed or no charges for plans and specifications."[9] In 1875 he advertisement himself as an architect with "Twenty Years Experience," probably an exaggeration as in 1855 he was 19 and would be listed in the census of 1860 as a laborer.[10]
c. Gibbs was listed in Toledo city directories in 1871-73 as a contractor and builder, then in 1874 identified himself as an architect and builder, purchasing an advertisement on the front cover of that year's edition.
d. A newspaper in Crestline, Ohio reported in 1881 that Gibbs had taken D. L. Stine, "a Crestline boy," into co-partnership as "Gibbs & Co." Stine had been working in Gibbs' office for more four years. Stine married Gibbs' daughter Adalaide in 1882. In 1887, the same Crestline newspaper noted that Stine had "succeeded to the business of that firm," implying that Gibbs' practice would be focused elsewhere--presumably on the Wyoming territorial capitol. Stine left Toledo for several years to work as a contractor in New York State, then returned to Toledo and his architectural practice for many years.[23][24][25][27]
References
1. "The drawings for the new Wesleyan university building..." (Lincoln) Nebraska State Journal (April 13, 1887), 7.
2. "Personal," Kansas City (Missouri) Star (December 9, 1886), 2.
3. "David W. Gibbs," Soldier Grave Registrations, 1804-1958 [database on-line], Ancestry.com. Ohio, U.S., . Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2017.
4. "Charles Foster Parker," Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/111047621/charles-foster-parker (accessed November 2, 2022).
5. "David W. Gibbs," Find a Grave," https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/88172093/david-w-gibbs (accessed November 4, 2022).
6. U. S. Census, 1850, s. v. "David W. Gibbs."
7. Ohio Civil War draft
8. U. S. Census, 1870, s. v. "David Gibbs."
9. "Architecture--D. W. Gibbs..." Tiffin (Ohio) Tribune (June 25, 1874), 3.
10. Advertisement: "D. W. Gibbs ARCHITECT. Twenty Years Experience, News Herald (Port Clinton, Ohio), (February 5, 1875), 1.
11. U. S. Census, 1880, s. v. "David W. Gibbs."
12. U. S. Census, 1900, s. v. David W. Gibbs."
13. "Sudden Death Takes Away Early Settler" (Mrs. Sidney C. Gibbs), Oklahoma City Examiner (December 1, 1910), 4.
14. U. S. Census, 1860, Turtle Creek, Warren County, Ohio, s. v. "Charles F. Parker."
15. U. S. Census, 1880, Wayne, Fayette County, Ohio, s.v. Charles Parker (with mother Julia).
16. U. S. Census, 1900, Washington Court House, Fayette County, Ohio, s.v. "Charles F. Parker."
17. "The Methodist [sic] at Wauseon, Fulton county, are intending to build a church this summer D. W. Gibbs, of Toledo, is the architect," Fremont (Ohio) Weekly Journal (March 13, 1874), 3.
18. "A Fine Residence," The Republican (Wauseon, Ohio) (December 2, 1875), 3.
19. "Gibbs & Moser, of Toledo, architect..." Findlay (Ohio) Jeffersonian (July 20, 1877), 3.
20. "Mansfield, O[hio]," Cincinnati (Ohio) Daily Star (April 6, 1880), 2.
21. Laying of cornerstone, Toledo Masonic Temple, Summit County (Ohio) Beacon (August 4, 1880), 1.
22. "Profile of the New Court House," Weekly Marysville (Ohio) Tribune (August 18, 1880), 3.
23. "Reward of Merit," Crestline (Ohio) Advocate (January 7, 1881), 3.
24. Toledo Library, “David L. & Sidney L. Stine Collection, Mss Coll 80, Scope & Content Note,” 10 pp. Accessed on-line November 4, 2022 at http://www.toledolibrary.org/images/docwidget/Mss_Coll_80_Stine/Mss_Coll_80_Stine.pdf
25. "Branching Out," Crestline (Ohio) Advocate (September 9, 1887), 1.
26. "The New Court House," Marion (Ohio) Star (January 20, 1883), 4.
27. "D. L. Stine," in Men of northwestern Ohio. A collection of portraits and biographies of well known men in this section..., (Toledo, Ohio: Hadley Printing Company, 1898), 41.
28. "Plans Accepted--For a New Masonic Temple at Washington C. H.," Cincinnati (Ohio) Enquirer (October 17, 1898), 6 (illustrated with rendering).
Page Citation
E. F. Zimmer & D. Murphy, “Gibbs & Parker, Architects,” in David Murphy, Edward F. Zimmer, and Lynn Meyer, comps. Place Makers of Nebraska: The Architects. Lincoln: Nebraska State Historical Society, November 6, 2022. http://www.e-nebraskahistory.org/index.php?title=Place_Makers_of_Nebraska:_The_Architects Accessed, October 31, 2024.
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