In the fall of 1884 a colored school was established on or near the current site of Olive Branch Baptist Church. It was a two-story building. It was located between 2nd and 3rd NE and first named Provine Street Colored School. Around 1900 it was renamed after Mayor John C. Gibbons who was known as "the father" of the Paris Public School System. The building burned around 1914 and was rebuilt prior to the Great Fire of 1916.

Gibbons included an elementary department on the first floor with the high school on the second. The gymnasium/auditorium was added in 1948 at the rear of the school. In September 1962, the Gibbons and Bankhead Elementary Schools consolidated to form T. G. Givens Elementary School. Gibbons became Gibbons Junior-Senior High. In 1966 it became a junior high for grades 6-9 with grades10-12 integrating with Paris High School. Gibbons closed in May 1969. The students entered either Travis or Crockett. The Gibbons property was sold in December of the same year for $5,100.