William Wilson Corcoran

The Milken Center is located in the former headquarters of Riggs National Bank. The bank was founded by William Wilson Corcoran and George Washington Riggs, young financiers instrumental in the birth of the capital’s Financial District. 

In 1839, William Corcoran, an established banker, wrote to George Riggs proposing a formal partnership that would create a new bank in response to President Jackson’s dismantling of the Second Bank of the United States. Riggs agreed to the partnership. After purchasing the Second Bank’s assets and building, Corcoran & Riggs was born.

William Wilson Corcoran retired after 14 years at Riggs Bank and became a philanthropist and arts supporter. He founded the Corcoran Gallery of Art with his private art collection. Its school became George Washington University’s Corcoran School of the Arts & Design.