Editing Ruston, Washington (section)

==History==
[[File:IMAG1554-point-ruston-tacoma.jpg|thumb|left|Mixed-use buildings at Point Ruston, on the former site of a smelter]]

In 1890, [[industrialist]] William R. Rust established Tacoma Smelting & Refining Company and a [[company town]] named the "Smelter District".<ref name="TNT-Smelter">{{cite news |last=Nunnally |first=Derrick |date=November 7, 2015 |title=Three decades after the Asarco smelter shutdown, its toxic legacy surprises Tacoma newcomers |url=https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/article43503663.html |work=The News Tribune |accessdate=February 13, 2021}}</ref> The company took over an existing smelter that had opened two years earlier and began refining lead;<ref name="Crosscut">{{cite news |last=Chasan |first=Daniel Jack |date=October 6, 2010 |title=Memories of toxic rain in Ruston, and the smelter that shaped a city |url=https://crosscut.com/2010/10/memories-toxic-rain-in-ruston-smelter-that-shaped |work=[[Crosscut.com]] |accessdate=June 10, 2023}}</ref> it expanded to more than 300 employees by 1905, with most living in the Smelter District. In 1906, Rust proposed the creation of a new city, which residents named "Ruston" in his honor. Ruston was officially incorporated as a city on November 10, 1906, surrounded on one side by [[Commencement Bay]] and all other sides the city of [[Tacoma, Washington|Tacoma]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Brock |first=Amber |date=March 12, 2019 |title=Residents of Tacoma's Smelter District vote to incorporate as the City of Ruston on October 19, 1906. |url=https://www.historylink.org/File/20738 |work=[[HistoryLink]] |accessdate=June 10, 2023}}</ref>

The Tacoma Smelting & Refining Company was acquired by the [[American Smelting and Refining Company]] (ASARCO) in 1905 and its Ruston facility was converted for copper smelting. A prominent brick [[smokestack]] was constructed in 1917 and originally measured {{convert|571|ft|m}} in height and was the tallest in the world until it was reduced to {{convert|562|ft|m}} following earthquake damage in 1937.<ref name="HistoryLink">{{cite web |last=Riddle |first=Margaret |date=August 26, 2008 |title=The ASARCO smokestack — once the world's largest — is demolished at the company's old copper smelter in Ruston, north of Tacoma, on January 17, 1993. |url=https://www.historylink.org/File/8744 |work=HistoryLink |accessdate=June 10, 2023}}</ref> The facility's waste [[slag]] was dumped into Commencement Bay for land expansion, while the smokestack produced plumes that polluted portions of Pierce County.<ref name="Crosscut"/><ref name="Times-2006">{{cite news |last=Cornwall |first=Warren |date=March 9, 2006 |title=Once-toxic town wrestles with upscale makeover |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=20060309&slug=smelter07m |work=[[The Seattle Times]] |accessdate=June 10, 2023}}</ref> The smelter closed in 1985 due to a decline in copper prices and new regulations on arsenic pollution;<ref name="Crosscut"/> the facility employed 700 people at the time. The smokestack was demolished on January 17, 1993, amid a major environmental cleanup under the [[Superfund]] program.<ref>{{cite news |last=Murakami |first=Kery |date=January 18, 1993 |title=Tumbling landmark: Smokestack bites dust |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19930118&slug=1680633 |work=The Seattle Times |accessdate=June 10, 2023}}</ref>

The Superfund cleanup extended to most of the town and required the removal of contaminated soil in and around properties. By 2006, cleanup was largely complete and median home prices had doubled over a three-year period as Ruston became a desirable [[bedroom community]].<ref name="Times-2006"/> The Ruston town council passed a measure to become a noncharter code city under [[city government in the state of Washington|Washington law]] in late 2012. Officials indicated that the "Town of Ruston" moniker would continue to be used.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.king5.com/news/local/Town-of-Ruston-grows-up-179947491.html |title=Town of Ruston grows up |publisher=KING5.com |author=John Langeler |date=November 19, 2012 |location=Seattle |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121128125547/http://www.king5.com/news/local/Town-of-Ruston-grows-up-179947491.html |archive-date=November 28, 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/10/02/2318217/change-from-town-to-city-gives.html |title=Change from town to city gives Ruston leaders more autonomy |date=October 2, 2012 |author=Matt Misterek |newspaper=The News Tribune |location=Tacoma |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113162916/http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/10/02/2318217/change-from-town-to-city-gives.html |archive-date=November 13, 2012 }}</ref> Development of residential and commercial buildings on the {{convert|97|acre|ha|adj=mid}} smelter site, renamed "Point Ruston", began in 2013 and the first phase opened the following year.<ref>{{cite news |last=Gillie |first=John |date=July 10, 2014 |title=Point Ruston moving quickly to second phase |url=https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/business/article25871800.html |work=The News Tribune |accessdate=June 10, 2023}}</ref> The area, described as an urban village, also includes waterfront parkspace and a [[multi-use path]] that connects to [[Point Defiance Park]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Levy |first=Nat |date=October 22, 2015 |title=Real Estate Buzz: Perseverance pays off at Point Ruston |url=https://www.djc.com/news/re/bzz.html?id=12082834 |work=[[Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce]] |accessdate=June 10, 2023}}</ref> The full development of Point Ruston is planned to include 1,200 residential units, a waterfront hotel, and various commercial spaces.<ref>{{cite news |last=Driscoll |first=Matt |date=March 25, 2017 |title=Matt Driscoll: Will affordable housing be the next amenity added to Point Ruston? |url=https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/matt-driscoll/article140010328.html |work=The News Tribune |accessdate=June 10, 2023}}</ref> The development's properties were later placed in [[receivership]] due to failed payments to a lender by the new owners of various phases.<ref>{{cite news |last=De La Rosa |first=Shawna |date=June 8, 2023 |title=Point Ruston properties put into receivership after lender sues for $74M |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2023/06/08/lender-calls-in-738m-in-loans-from-point-ruston.html |work=[[Puget Sound Business Journal]] |accessdate=June 10, 2023}}</ref>