It began in Aberdeen, South Dakota: a modest home, built by a thirteen-year-old Belgian immigrant with the help of a carpenter and a laborer. Gus J. Bouten, son of a master craftsman, had made his mark on the world with little more than an eighth-grade education, a single-minded work ethic, and a knack for building things that last.
Working their way westward from Detroit, Gus and his father Theodore built houses across the northern plains, landing in Spokane 15 years after their journey began. By the time they arrived, however, the housing market had stalled, so father and son split up. Gus plied his trade as a carpenter throughout the northwest, returning to Spokane in 1931, where, in spite of the Depression, homes were once again going up.
For the next ten years, Gus J. Bouten, contractor, built homes for some of Spokane’s more prominent citizens. At a time when houses in some of the tonier neighborhoods could be had for less than $6,000, Gus, not yet 30 years old, was building homes for two and three times that amount. “A program of building for the future,” was how one newspaper account put it. While a tapestry brick exterior suggested antiquity, inside were spacious rooms, air conditioning, and modern style touches like Carrara glass and polished chrome. And in every home, the Bouten trademark: meticulous craftsmanship and unsurpassed value.
At the outset of World War II, building supplies became scarce, and the housing market experienced yet another slump. Gus joined the Clyde M. Ludberg Company, where his first experience in the commercial construction industry came as Ludberg’s general superintendent building the Ephrata Army Air Base. Gus liked what he saw: a challenging yet lucrative business for someone who had the knowledge, the skills, and the foresight to pull it off.
On March 13, 1944, Gus, along with three partners and a handful of employees from the air base job, formed the Gus J. Bouten Construction Company. To some, it must have looked like an inauspicious start. But three generations later, Bouten Construction Company is synonymous with service, depth of expertise, and the best and brightest people in the business. Gus J. Bouten would feel right at home.
