Building History

Ballou Junior High School
9916 136th Street East
Puyallup, WA 98373

Our school was originally built in 1970 and named in honor of Mr. Frank H. Ballou. Mr. Ballou was born in Sanborn, Iowa, and moved to the Firgrove Community in 1943. Frank was very interested in youth and the activities of youth. In an effort to provide better education for Firgrove children, he spearheaded the consolidation of the Firgrove Elementary School District with the Puyallup School District in 1950.  Our school, along with neighboring Firgrove Elementary, are built on previous farmland owned by the Ballou family and ancestral land of the Puyallup nation.  (For more information about the Ballou family, visit https://bjh.puyallupsd.org/about-us.) 

A newly remodeled and expanded Ballou Junior High School was completed in 2001 as part of the 1997 Bond Program. It is located on South Hill, west of Meridian Street South and just south of 136th Street East. The project architect was Burr Lawrence Rising+ Bates of Tacoma. Ballou Junior High was a state matched project with the local funds coming from the 1997 Bond Issue.

In 2020, construction began to add an addition funded with state match funds generated from the 2015 Bond. The project was a GC/CM (General Contractor/Construction Manager) project which constructed an addition south of the existing facility to increase capacity to 1,000 students. This is the first project built by PSD using this delivery method.  Modifications included seven (7) additional classrooms, two (2) science rooms, a new library, an auxiliary gym, and removal of portables. The project was completed in Sept. 2021.

The permanent buildings have a total of 38 classroom spaces, one (I) enlarged gymnasium, one (1) auxillary gym,  one ( 1) multi-purpose space, two (2) special education rooms and several smaller specialty instructional spaces. In 2012, the building received a Building Assessment Score of 81, compared to a districtwide rating average of For 76.4. Ballou JH will be eligible for state matching funds for modernization or new construction in lieu of modernization in the year 2031.

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