Orville Gibson founded the company in 1902 as "The Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co., Ltd." That's right...mandolins, and mandolins only. After World War I, the interest for mandolins faded, and by World War II, Gibson was making guitars, along with munitions for the war effort. From 1942-1946, Gibson hired more women than any other guitar/munitions manufacturer. After making munitions, the ladies secretly kept cranking out the guitars.
Although Orville created the company in 1902, the Gibson guitar factory in Kalamazoo wasn't built until 1917.....but 100 years later, big changes were taking place. The iconic Gibson smokestack was being dismantled (see photos below), the factory name was changed to Heritage Guitars, and now it's going to be turned into a Hard Rock Hotel.