[1] In 1947, Fred Mantey, a local philanthropist, offered to donate one acre of land and $1,000 to establish an art center in Grand Junction.

[3] In 1957, the board of trustees, with the approval of Mantey's widow, made the decision to sell the donated land because it was too far from the town center.

A professional fundraising effort kicked off in October 1967, and the Art Center took over its own campaign several months later.

[3] The Art Center also purchased additional land north of the new building to Orchard Avenue which now serves as the parking lot.

[1] The Art Center hired its first director in September 1978,[7] and programs were expanded to include more classes and some major juried shows.

This money came with two conditions: Matching funds must be raised from the community and the Art Center must break ground on its second expansion before January 1983.

[9] New features included a lobby with an art shop, two courtyards, the North Gallery, storage areas, and a ceramics studio.

[4] The Art Center planned to reopen with an exhibition from the Smithsonian Institution featuring works of 20th century artists, including Pablo Picasso.

[10] The $750,000 expansion coincided with the collapse of the oil shale industry and downturn of Grand Junction's economy.

The Art Center turned its focus to local artists and exhibits, and cut its professional organization memberships.

[13] In 1986, 10 members of the Board of Trustees put their own money into sponsoring the biggest juried art show undertaken in Grand Junction to date.

The unusually high cash prizes were designed to attract a large number of entries, and announcements were sent to art schools and institutions nationwide.

[18] In 1992, an emergency membership drive was staged, and the board agreed to charge a general admission fee to the Art Center as a "last resort.

In 1993, the Art Center abandoned plans to move into the old Main Street Mercantile building when another buyer beat it to the purchase.

[23] That same year, the Art Center also sponsored a used bookstore, with books donated by local artists, to raise funds for the young adult intern and scholarship programs.

A collection of Japanese art—mostly ukiyo-e prints but also drawings, bugaku masks, and woodcuts by Shiko Munakata—was bequeathed to the ACF in 2015 by Bill Robinson, the founderof Colorado Mesa University's theater department.

[27][22] Classes and workshop topics cover painting, photography, stained glass, sculpture, figure drawing,[22] mixed-media collage[28] and ceramics.

[31] The Artability program offers art classes to people with mental, social or physical special needs.

This featured enamelling work by late Grand Junction artist Margaret Kuntz which is now a part of the Art Center's permanent collection.

Although The Art Center began as a purely volunteer-staffed non-profit, it now has six paid, full-time staffers, two part-timers and a rotating group of teachers, and 300-plus volunteers.