The Corvallis Arts Center building began as an Episcopal church built in 1889 a block south of here, one result of the influential English emigrants who came to Benton County in the late 1800s under Wallis Nash. Nash, an English lawyer who served on the Board of Regents of the fledgling State College and as vice president of the Oregon Pacific Railroad Company, enlisted railroad bridge engineers to design the church, and many of its materials were salvaged from the Episcopal girls' school and chapel in Central Park. After the parish built a new church on 35th Street in 1961, the old Carpenter Gothic building stood empty at Seventh and Jefferson and was sold to the Corvallis Elks Lodge #1413. Meanwhile, Corvallis citizens had begun organizing an arts council to serve theater groups, artists, reading groups, musicians, dancers, and crafters, and under Marion Gathercoal's leadership the Corvallis Woman's Club hosted the city's first community-wide arts festival involving more than 30 organizations from the community and OSU. On September 12, 1961, the Corvallis Arts Council became the 21st arts council in the United States and the first in Oregon. By 1962, the council was seeking a home for an arts center, and after secretary Corrine Chaves Woodman contacted the Elks Lodge about the vacant church, volunteers quickly began cleaning and repairing it. After months of work, the Corvallis Arts Center held its grand opening in the former church on January 26, 1963. That use remained uncertain, however, and in 1967 the building and property were sold again for construction of a new Corvallis Gazette-Times headquarters. New owner Stan Wilt agreed to give the building to the group if it could be moved, the city donated a lot at Seventh and Madison, and citizens and businesses raised money to place the building on the National Register of Historic Places so it could qualify for grant funds. The building was moved in July 1970 and reopened to the public at its new Madison Avenue location on November 21, 1971. With steady community support through memberships, participation, donations, and voter backing for stable funding, the 1889 structure became a permanent part of the town's civic life in 1979 with completion of the plaza linking the Arts Center and Central Park, a project that also began broader improvements making Madison Avenue a key connection between OSU, downtown, and the riverfront.