Who We Are

I am preparing for yet another speech on Ruston for my speech club by reviewing some papers I have written. I am reminded about an old article from the 1800's where this community was worried about annexation by Tacoma . The area was called Swansea at the time, and residents were thinking of incorporating so that Tacoma could not take over. When assured that the big city had no such intentions, the idea was laid to rest until William Rust lead the drive a few years later.

Interesting how that issue has been around so long.

I've posted the papers if you'd like to hear more. Here is a flavor. Enjoy! Karen

Community Jewels, 1997:
The town of Ruston remains hidden, tucked away at the north end of Tacoma’s waterfront between an old dark tunnel and Point Defiance Park. The tiny town stands, in many ways, as one of the last vestiges of small town Amercia. Surrounded on all sides by the big city, community connections are strong, neighbors know one another and town pride is pervasive. And yet this modest town has been the stage of major battles; big city versus small town, corporate giant versus big government, environmental perfection versus reality.

This small town heritage is often carried in the memories of the elderly, in the stories they tell, and in the imagination of the young who allow themselves to be transported to a long ago time and place. Such stories can only be protected if told and captured. This paper attempts to preserve a few pieces of Ruston’s heritage, to tell a small number of stories gleaned from the old and wise among us and the documents they have left behind.

Ruston’s legacy is that of the Industrial Revolution, of man’s pride in taming the earth and using its riches to enhance his own life. It was that force that laid the seed for the community when Tacoma business leaders built a smelter on Commencement Bay. More

The View From Here, 1998:
As I look out my window to the water stretched out below, I wonder what view greeted the distant occupant of this house when it was built in 1912. What was life like for former inhabitants of this little town? Did they face the same struggles as a community? Were their heartaches and joys the same as ours today? Was the town close-knit or divided? Has the view out my window changed or remained the same?

Words help to paint pictures, to make the imagined real to the reader. Living in a small town can bring meaning to words only dreamed about in modern suburbia. Community: a body of people living in the same place under the same laws. Home: the social unit formed by a family living together, a place of origin, a congenial environment. Society: a voluntary association of persons for common ends, i.e. companionship, a part of a community bound together by common interests and standards. Such words blend into stories that make a group of individuals into a community, into a town. These pages will document but a few of the stories of my home, Ruston, and give fleeting glimpses of the pictures that might have been seen out my window over the past century.

The town of Ruston remains hidden, tucked away at the north end of Tacoma’s waterfront between an old dark tunnel and Point Defiance Park. The tiny town stands, in many ways, as one of the last vestiges of small town America. Surrounded on all sides by the big city of Tacoma, community connections are strong, neighbors know one another and civic pride is pervasive. More

Community Transformation: Change and its Effects on Quality of Life (MBA project applying change management principles to Ruston, 2005):

Shirley Bennett watched in dismay as the crowd jeered and shouted at the departing councilman. The small town of Ruston was embroiled in controversy and the last few community meetings had turned ugly. The threat of personal lawsuits had just caused one of the elected officials to resign, to the seeming delight of the angry crowd. Despite her own opinion on the current conflict, Shirley was more concerned about how her neighbors were treating each other. She had seen many heated debates over in her 20 years in town, but none as confrontational as this one. “Does change have to be this difficult?” she wondered. She worried about the future, too. Consensus on where the town was headed seemed impossible. More