Victor Bouillon 1942
While most of CWU’s buildings are named for donors, former administrators, or faculty, a handful honor long-serving members of the Board of Trustees, including the longest-serving member in the board’s history—Victor J. Bouillon.
Bouillon was a trustee for an amazing 32 years, from 1932 to 1964. During his tenure, enrollment at the university increased from 377 students (with 42 faculty members) to 3,754 students (and 188 faculty) by the time he stepped down.
Bouillon was born in Seattle in March 1890 and educated at Seattle public schools and the University of Washington. Immediately following his graduation in 1913, he was hired to serve as the assistant registrar at the University of Washington.
In 1917, he became cashier of the King County State Bank in Seattle, serving in that capacity until 1925. After a year as vice president and manager of the Marine State Bank in Seattle, Bouillon became cashier and manager of the Washington National Bank of Ellensburg. He would spend the rest of his career with the bank, serving as its president from 1932 to 1956.
In 1962, the Board of Trustees voted to name the new library building after the modest Bouillon, who had opposed the decision, saying that he believed there were others more worthy of the honor. The board vote came at a meeting he was unable to attend.
In the November 2, 1962 edition of the student newspaper, The Campus Crier, BOT member Mary Ellen Davis noted, “Although we knew he was opposed to our doing this, we felt justified, in this case, to vote against his wishes.”
CWU President James Brooks, who supported naming the library after Bouillon, told the paper that it was well-deserved and “pleases us all very much.” Earlier, Central’s Gifts and College Building Names Committee had unanimously voted that the library should be named for Bouillon.
In addition to serving on Central Board of Trustees, Bouillon was a longtime member of the Washington Bankers Association and served as a past president of the Ellensburg Chamber of Commerce, the Ellensburg Rotary Club, the YMCA, and the Community Concert Association.
Following his retirement from the bank in 1962, he and his wife, Edna, remained in Ellensburg. Edna died in 1963 at the age of 72 while Victor died in 1969 at the age of 79. Both are buried at Evergreen-Washelli Memorial Park in Seattle.
The brick and concrete building named for him, Bouillon Hall, was constructed in 1961, at a cost of $1.5 million. Construction was funded from a referendum approved by Washington voters to pay for buildings at state institutions.
The rectangular, two story structure, which is covered with distinctive, large, exterior honeycomb panels, won the 1961 Honor Award from the Washington State American Institute of Architects.
Bouillon Hall was designed by acclaimed Seattle architect Fred Bassetti in what is called the Mid-Century Modernism style with elements (the screens) of what is described as Subliminal Eclectic Modern substyle.
While constructed to serve as the campus library, by 1965 the library had outgrown the building. However, the library wasn’t able to move into a new home until 1976, when the Brooks Library was completed.
Bouillon has been remodeled several times over the years and, after the relocation of the library, has served for a time as the home of the Computer Sciences Department, Speech Pathology and Audiology Program, Audio-Visual Services, the Department of Communication, and the Department of Human Resources.
More recently, it has been home to Student Success offices including Career Services, Student Financial Aid, Admissions/Processing and Registrar Services.
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