Rush, Arkansas, USA
Created | Updated Aug 21, 2002
Rush is a ghost town1 in the Buffalo National River area. It's nestled in the Ozarks in northern Arkansas. It was founded in the late 1880s when zinc was found in the surrounding hills. The Morning Star Mine discovered the first ore. This led to development and prosperity throughout northern Arkansas and mines popped up through the area, although the Morning Star Mine was the most famous in Rush and was nationally known.
The population of the area grew and fell as the zinc industry expanded and contracted. It peaked just prior to WWI when more than 5000 hardy souls lived there.
Rush was a town that prided itself on being a clean, peaceful and successfully dry2 town. The town had everything from a hotel to a livery stable to a movie house.
After WWI, the zinc market collapsed and so did the town. In the 1960s, The Morning Star Mine Company sold its land and removed many of the buildings that were still there.
Several buildings from the early 1900s still stand. Some of them were occupied until the 1960s. The remaining buildings were homes, a general store and a post office. The buildings are fenced off to protect them.
The area is lovely, as is almost any given spot in the Buffalo National River area, or the Ozarks for that matter. There are woods to walk through and a stream to cool your feet in. There's a boat ramp just down the road where you can put into the Buffalo River.