Ruston, LA

Ruston is a north Louisiana city near the eastern edge of the Ark-La-Tex region, best known as the home of Louisiana Tech University. The university gives Ruston a college-town layer, while the Dixie Theater and older downtown blocks keep some of the city's regional character visible. Its development was tied to rail and post-Civil War growth in Lincoln Parish, and today Ruston works as both a local service center and a place with enough student life to feel livelier than its size suggests.