When news broke recently that the iconic "GIBSON" smokestack at 225 Parsons St. in Kalamazoo could be demolished, we took the opportunity to look back at the city's heritage of guitar making.

KALAMAZOO, MI -- After years of local workers fighting to show their worth, the writing was officially on the wall in February 1984: Gibson Guitar announced it was leaving Kalamazoo for good.

Gibson was founded in Kalamazoo in 1894 as a mandolin maker and long manufactured instruments there. Now based in Nashville, the company plans to reorganize.

Here, we highlight 20 of the company’s most defining moments. 1902: Birth of the Gibson company. Around 1880, Orville Gibson ...

The rhythm of rock and roll isn’t something out of the ordinary to the seemingly warn down building at Kalamazoo’s 225 Parsons Street. At the original home of Gibson Guitars, you can still ...

The iconic Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Co. site in downtown Kalamazoo will be redeveloped into a new hotel property, under plans that will retain the smokestack. Historic Kalamazoo ...

It was 1984 before Gibson moved all of its production out to Nashville, but a few people didn't want to leave Kalamazoo, so they stayed and created a new guitar company in Gibson's old building ...

For decades, Gibson built its acoustic guitars at a factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Artists such as B.B. King and Johnny Cash made the instruments famous. Mandolin designer Orville Gibson opened ...

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) - When the guys at Heritage Guitar Inc. developed a new guitar model, they would show it at a large guitar industry trade show. If retailers there were interested, they’d ...

Kalamazoo — People who don’t often make it to Kalamazoo’s north side could be excused if they’re puzzled by the sounds of rock ballads echoing inside the former Gibson Guitar Co. factory.

From the bold introduction of the Flying V and Explorer, to the acquisition of Epiphone, we celebrate 130 years of Gibson with a recap of the most significant stages of its history ...