Rush, Arkansas, grew from a zinc mining settlement into a community of up to 3,000 residents during the mining boom associated with the First World War. Rising demand for zinc, used in brass for weapons and ammunition, helped drive production at Rush Mountain between 1911 and 1918. However, the boom was short-lived. After the war, falling zinc prices forced mines to close, and the town’s population dropped to 344 by 1920. Mining eventually ended at the Morning Star Mine in 1931, but remnants of the industry, including abandoned mines, buildings and mill ruins, remain within the Rush Historic District along the Buffalo River.
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