The town was never formally instituted and construction of commercial and residential structures occurred in an ad hoc fashion.

[5] By July 2000, the remains of Guston were composed of several mining structures and a bridge that carried the Silverton Railroad through town.

[9][10] In 1888, the noted railroad and later toll road financier Otto Mears established the narrow gauge Silverton Railroad to connect the Red Mountain Mining District with the larger settlement of Silverton.

William Davis found some success evangelizing the miners and their families after establishing a church in Guston in 1892, the only one in the Red Mountain Mining District.

The day after the Guston church opened, the commercial district of Red Mountain Town was destroyed in a fire, with some local residents suggesting it was the result of "divine intervention".

[10] Between 1941 and 1945, the by-then abandoned Guston church had begun to tilt heavily, eventually collapsing.