Rush Township is a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

in Schuylkill County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, United States. The population was 3,423 at the 2020 census. The township is served by

Tamaqua Area School District Tamaqua Area School District is a Public school (government funded), public school district in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. It serves the borough of Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, Tamaqua and its surrounding townships of Rush Township, Schuylkill Co ...

and Mahanoy Area School District.

History

The township was incorporated in 1811 and is named after Judge Jacob Rush, younger brother of

Benjamin Rush Benjamin Rush (April 19, 1813) was an American revolutionary, a Founding Father of the United States and signatory to the U.S. Declaration of Independence, and a civic leader in Philadelphia, where he was a physician, politician, social refor ...

, a signer of the declaration of independence. Judge Rush was the judge of the third judicial district of Northampton County which included the area which would become Rush township prior to Schuylkill County's formation in 1811. Rush township has been greatly reduced in size since 1811. Mahanoy Township split off in 1849, Ryan Township and East Union Township took sections of Rush in 1866. In 1873

Kline Township Kline Township is a township in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. The population was 1,471 at the 2020 census. Geography According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the township has a total area of of which is land and (1.13%) is water. It is drain ...

split off, and in 1882 Delano Township split off.

19th century

The township was largely settled by German families during its foundation, with the economic basis of the township being agriculture. The company ''Gross & Wisimer'' built the township's first three mills, two sawmills and a gristmill, in 1812. However, during the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

the township focused almost entirely on

Gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...

production with five gunpowder mills being constructed in the township during the war. These mills resulted in a series of fatal accidents as they were prone to exploding. There were four notable and fatal explosions in 1868, 1871, 1874, and 1879. In 1854, the Catawissa and Little Schuylkill railroads where built through the township joined soon after by the Nesquehoning Valley Railroad Company building a spur connecting

Mauch Chunk Jim Thorpe (known as East and West Mauch Chunk until 1954) is a borough in and the county seat of Carbon County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania and is historically known as the burial site of Native America ...

Tamanend Tamanend ("the Affable"; ), historically also known as Taminent, Tammany, Saint Tammany or King Tammany, was the Chief of Chiefs and Chief of the Turtle Clan of the Lenni-Lenape nation in the Delaware Valley signing the founding peace treaty w ...

and rail interchanges at Haucks, Pennsylvania and Quakake. The rail industry came to dominate the local industry as millions of tons of

Anthracite coal Anthracite, also known as hard coal and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic lustre. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the highe ...

would pass through the township.

20th century

The declining use of coal to heat homes and generate electricity resulted in the closure of the

Central Railroad of New Jersey Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

in 1921. The massive decline in the rail industry greatly hurt Rush township which is still recovering.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the township has a total area of 23.9 square miles (61.8 km²), of which 22.9 square miles (59.2 km²) is land and 1.0 square mile (2.6 km²) (4.27%) is water. It is in the Delaware watershed and is drained by the

Schuylkill River The Schuylkill River ( , ) is a river in eastern Pennsylvania. It flows for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map(). accessed April 1, 2011. from Pottsville, Pennsylvania, Pottsville ...

via the

Little Schuylkill River The Little Schuylkill River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Schuylkill River in Northeastern Pennsylvania. It rises south of McAdoo H ...

and by the

Nesquehoning Creek Nesquehoning Creek is an east flowing tributary of the Lehigh River in northeastern Pennsylvania in the United States.Gertler, Edward. ''Keystone Canoeing'', Seneca Press, 2004. Nesquehoning Creek joins the Lehigh River 2 miles (3.2 ...

into the

Lehigh River The Lehigh River () is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Delaware River in eastern Pennsylvania. The river flows in a generally southward ...

. Its villages include Barnesville, Ginthers, Grier City (also in Delano Township), Haucks, Hometown, Park Crest (also in Ryan Township), Quakake, Still Creek, and

(also in Delano Township).

Neighboring municipalities

* Tamaqua (southeast) * Schuylkill Township (south) * Ryan Township (southwest) * Delano Township (northwest) *

(north) * Packer Township, Carbon County (northeast) * Nesquehoning, Carbon County (east)

Climate

Rush Township has a warm-summer humid continental climate (''Dfb'') and the

hardiness zone A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most widely ...

is 6a. Average monthly temperatures in Hometown range from 25.2 °F in January to 69.7 °F in July

The average annual absolute minimum temperature in Hometown is -9.6 °F

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 3,957 people, 1,419 households, and 1,058 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 1,563 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 96.44%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 2.35%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.03% Native American, 0.48% Asian, 0.03%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.25% from other races, and 0.43% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 1.11% of the population. There were 1,419 households, out of which 26.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.3% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 6.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.4% were non-families. 22.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 2.90. In the township, the population was spread out, with 18.3% under the age of 18, 9.8% from 18 to 24, 21.9% from 25 to 44, 26.3% from 45 to 64, and 23.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.3 males. The median income for a household in the township was $42,664, and the median income for a family was $45,750. Males had a median income of $35,386 versus $27,473 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the township was $17,893. About 4.3% of families and 6.3% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 7.7% of those under age 18 and 7.7% of those age 65 or over.

Transportation

STS STS, or sts, may refer to: Medicine * Secondary traumatic stress, a condition which leads to a diminished ability to empathize * Sequence-tagged site, a gene-reference in genomics * Soft-tissue sarcoma * Staurosporine, an antibiotic * STS (gene ...

bus route 45 serves the township along the Route 309 corridor, which runs north-to-south and intersects east-to-west Route 54 in Hometown. The bus route runs from Pottsville via Tamaqua to McAdoo. On Saturdays the Hometown auction bus 47 runs from Pottsville via Frackville, Shenandoah, and Mahanoy City to Hometown and McAdoo.

References

External links

{{authority control Townships in Pennsylvania Townships in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania