Edwin A. Gibson

His long career, which spanned from 1945 to 2002, included work in both the public and private sectors. He started at the venerable A. M. Strauss Associates, Inc., a Fort Wayne architecture firm, where he became a partner and treasurer in the firm. He later moved to Indianapolis to start his own firm. In 1962, Gibson won the Governor's Award for Outstanding Achievement, a year later, in 1963 he was appointed as Indiana State Architect, a position he held for two years, leaving in 1965 to work for Chas. W. Cole & Son, as the Architect-Director in charge of the Indianapolis office. The same year, the Indiana Society of Architects, AIA, honored Gibson with a recognition of meritorious service, which was presented to him on October 8, 1965. In December 1963, Gibson was honored with the Sagamore of the Wabash, one of Indiana’s highest civilian awards, bestowed by Governor Matthew E. Welsh in recognition of his pioneering contributions to architecture and public service in the state. Gibson opened his own firm (Ed Gibson & Associates, Inc.), a general architecture and engineering company, in 1968. The company was in operation until 1986 when he dissolved the company, and left to work exclusively for Methodist Hospital. After leaving Methodist Hospital, Gibson worked as a consulting architect until his retirement in 2002. Some of the buildings he designed or renovated were located at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, Evansville State Hospital, Central Elementary in Plainfield, Broad Ripple Library, renovations at Central Library in Indianapolis, IUPUI, IU Bloomington, including renovation of Ernie Pyle Hall, Hudnut Plaza, and other HUD projects throughout Indiana. When Gibson closed his private practice in 1987 to work exclusively for Methodist Hospital, most of the drawings in his office were discarded and those in this archival collection are the few examples of his work that remain. Shortly after his death in 2011, his family gave an additional donation of photographs and papers, including his Master of Science thesis, awards, and certificates to the Ball State University Drawings and Documents Archive. The family also donated Gibson's personal tape measure engraved with his initials, which can be viewed in the digital collection.