Ruston, Washington
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1942 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the Tacoma census division. It lies in ZIP code area 98407. The Survey maps it on the Gig Harbor quadrangle. 1,055 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 43 feet above sea level.
On record in Ruston
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 1 record
Winnifred Street Bridgelisted 1995
Population over time
2 figuresRuston grew from 749 to 1,055 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 749 | |
| 2020 | 1,055 | +306 (+41%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 15 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1942 USGS Gig Harbor quadrangle1:62500
- 1943 USGS Gig Harbor quadrangle1:62500
- 1953 USGS Gig Harbor quadrangle1:24000
- 1958 USGS Seattle quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1959 USGS Gig Harbor quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1962 USGS Seattle quadrangle1:250000
- 1975 USGS Tacoma quadrangle1:100000
- 1991 USGS Tacoma quadrangle1:100000
- 1997 USGS Gig Harbor quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
3 since 2001Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3 fires within 5 miles of Ruston between 2001 and 2005, burning about 40 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Recreation and ceremony | 3 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 2005 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | SPILLMAN |
| 17 August 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 40 acres | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | not named |
| 26 May 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
6 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Ruston: 5 past producers, 1 plant. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Copper, Nickel, Arsenic. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Facility) Asarco Refinery | Copper, Nickel, Arsenic | Plant | ||
| Christel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Pohl Pit - Div. 10 | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Weathers Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
1 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ruston in 1 storm report in 1996: 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 1996 | Tornado (F0) | Ruston | $50,000 | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Nisqually | 1.1 miles | 15 | |
| Cebalop (historical) | 2.4 miles | 24 | |
| Old Tacoma | 2.6 miles | 24 | |
| Shore Acres | 3.4 miles | 15 | |
| Browns Point | 3.5 miles | 24 | |
| Caledonia | 4.1 miles | 24 | |
| Fircrest | 4.1 miles | 16 | |
| Midway | 4.3 miles | 15 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Ruston | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1507715 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1512629. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.








