Editing Ruston, Louisiana (section)

== History ==
[[File:Louisiana - Ruston - NARA - 23940451 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Ruston in 1935]]
During the [[Reconstruction Era]] following the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], word soon reached the young [[List of parishes in Louisiana|parish]] near what is now Ruston, that the [[List of Louisiana railroads|Vicksburg, Shreveport, and Pacific Railroad]] would begin to run across north [[Louisiana]], linking the [[Deep South]] with the [[American Old West|West]] (the current operator is [[Canadian Pacific Kansas City]]). Robert Edwin Russ, the Lincoln Parish [[sheriff]] from 1877–1880, donated {{convert|640|acre|km2}} to the town and the area was eventually known as Ruston in his honor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lahistory.org/site35.php|title=Robert E. Russ|publisher=lahistory.org|access-date=October 5, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150202074651/http://www.lahistory.org/site35.php|archive-date=February 2, 2015}}</ref>

In 1883, commercial and residential lots were created and sold for $375 apiece; and soon the sawing of [[lumber]] and clacking of hammers could be heard throughout the area.

[[Vienna, Louisiana|Vienna]] was the parish seat of [[Lincoln Parish, Louisiana|Lincoln Parish]] from its creation in 1873 until 1884, when a parish-wide vote moved it to the new town of Ruston.<ref>{{cite news |title=A bill has passed both Houses... |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-ouachita-telegraph/147227851/ |access-date=12 May 2024 |work=The Ouachita Telegraph |date=15 February 1873 |pages=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=AN ACT Creating the parish of Lincoln, aud providing for the organization thereof |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/bossier-banner-progress/147228016/ |access-date=12 May 2024 |work=Bossier Banner-Progress |date=9 August 1873 |pages=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The people of Lincoln parish... |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-donaldsonville-chief/147227639/ |access-date=12 May 2024 |work=The Donaldsonville Chief |date=25 October 1884 |pages=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The people of Lincoln parish... |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-donaldsonville-chief/147227588/ |access-date=12 May 2024 |work=The Donaldsonville Chief |date=15 November 1884 |pages=1}}</ref>

As the town began to take shape, new churches, businesses, civic organizations and schools were being established. [[Cotton]] farming fueled the economy. In 1900 a second railroad, running north and south, was built through Ruston (the operator before the tracks were removed was [[Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad]]). This brought even more business and industry to the area and the population continued to provide a foundation for the local economy. By the time the U.S. entered World War I in 1917, Ruston was established as a center for learning, a place of civic pride, and as an area of economic prosperity throughout the region.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

In 1938 Ruston received national attention when an African-American teenager named R.C. Williams was lynched in one of the most brutal attacks of its type in many years.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.rarenewspapers.com/view/573065|page=12|newspaper=The New York Times|title=NEGRO, 19, IS LYNCHED BY LOUISIANA MOB|date=14 October 1938|location=Ruston, LA}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | url=http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/article-summary/rc-williams-lynched-1938#.XXjs5S5KjIU |title = Lynching No. 3|newspaper=Pathfinder Magazine|date=29 October 1938|page=6|access-date=5 January 2021}}</ref> The 19 year old Williams was accused by a mob of vigilantes of killing a white man and assaulting a white woman, although it was later determined to be highly unlikely that Williams was guilty of these, or any other crimes.<ref>{{Cite journal | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6loEAAAAMBAJ |journal = The Crisis|date = January 1939|volume=46|number=1|issn=0011-1422|publisher=The Crisis Publishing Company, Inc.|page=9|title=Can the States Stop Lyncing?}}</ref>  The vigilantes captured Williams and after torturing him with red-hot pokers (castration was also suspected)<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.withoutsanctuary.org/pics_73.html | title=Picture 73|website=Without Sanctuary: Photographs and Postcards of Lynching in America|publisher=Twin Palms Publishers|last=Allen|first=James|access-date=5 January 2021}}</ref> and shooting him numerous times, he was hung from a tree.   Although a local sheriff tried to stop the mob, they then threatened the sheriff's life, and the lynching continued.  A grand jury of all white men later cleared all of the perpetrators of any wrongdoing.  The crime had a significant and long lasting impact on state and national politics, and can be directly related to the rise of segregationist demagoguery in the south.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://citation.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/2/6/3/2/p126321_index.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140319004900/http://citation.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/2/6/3/2/p126321_index.html|archive-date=19 March 2014|access-date=5 January 2021|title=The Consequences of a Small Town Murder: The Lynching of W.C. Williams and Louisiana Politics|last=Gelpi|first=Paul|journal=Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology|date=16 December 2013|publisher=[[American Society of Criminology|ASC]]}}</ref>

Ruston grew steadily during the post-World War II years. The [[GI Bill of Rights]] sent war veterans to college, helped to fuel the local economy, brought growth to the two local universities, [[Louisiana Tech University]] and nearby [[historically black]] [[Grambling State University]], and new families moved into Lincoln Parish. By the middle 1960s, [[Interstate 20]] passed through the northern part of Ruston. This major interstate highway made Ruston more easily accessible, much as the railroad had done a century earlier. In the 1980s, the state of Louisiana economy declined as the [[oil industry]] went into a [[1980s oil glut|recession]].

Ruston, however, continued growing steadily because of the rapid expansion of Louisiana Tech. The city also had its [[centennial]] celebration during this decade, and emphasis was placed on revitalizing the historic downtown district. A joint effort between the city and the Louisiana Main Street Program and the Louisiana Department of Historic Preservation brought forth  [[beautification]] projects to rehabilitate the downtown district, and helped draw the community closer to its roots. More than fifteen buildings have been placed on the [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana|National Register of Historic Places]].

The city has a new general aviation [[airport]] to serve existing business and industry, and the [[timber]], [[poultry]] and [[cattle]] industries continue to expand.

The Arkansas Southern Railroad Company (ASRR), that became the [[Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway]] (CRI&P), built a station named Chautauqua, north of Ruston that became part of the town.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-jZJDwAAQBAJ&q=Historic+Alexandria%2C+Junction+City+%26+Shreveport+Railroad&pg=PA236|title=The Grand Western Railroad Game: The History of the Chicago, Rock Island, & Pacific Railroads: Volume I: The Empire Years: 1850 Up to the Great War|last= Farnsworth|first=Robert S.|page=236|publisher=Dorrance Publishing|date=Dec 11, 2017|access-date=2019-05-19 |isbn=9781480927070}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MSbUOTHeSWoC&q=Chautauqua+station+in+Ruston%2C+Louisiana&pg=PA28|title=Louisiana Place Names of Indian Origin: A Collection of Words|last= Read|first= William A.|page=28|access-date=2019-05-19 |isbn=9780817355050|date=2008-10-12|publisher=University of Alabama Press }}</ref>