(Voiced by: Shelby Miksch)

Story: The History of Showalter Hall

 

Before I, Showalter Hall, existed, the Benjamin P. Cheney Academy stood in its place. Constructed in November 1881, the Cheney Academy was the first building constructed on what is now Eastern Washington University’s grounds. The Academy building unfortunately burned down a decade later on August 27th, 1891 and it took four years for there to be another building at that location. From the spring of 1895 to June of 1896, the Normal School building was constructed. This building survived until the fire on April 24th, 1912. It wasn’t until June 27th, 1914 that the cornerstone of what I would become was laid. Originally I was simply called the Administration Building and wasn’t renamed Showalter Hall until June 4th, 1940 in honor of the late Noah David Showalter, the 9th principal of the Normal School and the 1st president of the Normal School. In the spring of 1946, EWU bought me a frame structure from Spokane that was moved and annexed to me. This same annex was closed and raised in 1970, filling out my current figure. Today, I house many offices and two auditoriums for events on EWU’s campus. I am also a popular site for graduation photos in the spring because of the Herculean pillars, which you can see in the picture of what I currently look like, on the south-facing walkway. My pillars  were installed in June of 1915 and were made out of the granite from the Normal School building. 

Inside my halls, there is a plaster statue of Sacajawea, pictured below, that was gifted to me in June of 1916 by the graduating class. However, over the years the statue became rather battered so on October 24th, 1960 I received a new Sacajawea statue made out of brass and copper. It was nice for a while, but then the higher ups decided to move her in front of the university president’s house in September of 1986. I was kind of glad when the statue was stolen over spring break in 1997. Serves them right for moving her out of my safe walls. It wasn’t until April of 2001 that the plaster statue from 1916 was repaired and reinstalled. 

 

Question: How Do We Reconcile This History?

 

We’re all thinking it. What on Earth happened to me? Burned down not once, but twice? And what’s with that Sacajawea statue? Well, my friends, my history makes me the building that is most representative of the buildings on EWU’s campus. I have led a life of trauma, both physically and culturally. Like Martin Hall, I’ve had additions and reconstructions. Like Morrison, I’ve been a site of violence. Like Tawanka, I too have elements appropriated from Native American culture. I am the sum of it all, which begs the question: How do we reconcile this history? In their article “The Topography of Trauma,” Laura Cantarella and Lucia Giuliano write about how trauma is embodied in a physical space. They write: “Sometimes the trauma is metabolized through the construction of the monument, in other cases, the trauma stands as a monument to itself” (44). Maybe I am a monument of this university’s trauma, of its struggle towards a unified self. Or maybe my construction and reconstruction has been the university’s way of processing its trauma. Who can say? But with the knowledge that I am a voice that can represent the struggle of many others, how can I effectively address the past of Eastern Washington University? 

 

Dream: Nevertheless, I Persist

 

I’d like to begin with a quote by Richard Crownshaw. He writes: “Trauma, then, is contagious: unlocatable in and uncontainable by witness and event, and forever departing… if trauma has been disarticulated from the event and its witness, and if trauma travels across histories and cultures to resonate within the very structure of our being, then that new kind of witnessing does not describe the witness, but the witness to the witness, and entails ‘the possibility for transmission’ or ‘the traumatization of the ones who listen’” (Caruth qtd in Crownshaw 168). The traumas of this university resonate within the very structure of my being. I embody this university and sharing my history, my trauma, allows others to see the complexities of this space. We must not forget our history, no matter how painful it may be. To forget where I’ve been and where Eastern as a whole has been would be a mistake. How can we change if we simply erase the past? So, my dream is not revolutionary or world-changing by any means. My dream is simply to stand. To stand here so that I might share my trauma with those who listen. With those who can implement change. A building can only do so much for its university, but what I think Eastern Washington University needs from here can only come from the people who walk my halls.