Kusa is a populated place located in Okmulgee County, Oklahoma, ^{[1] [2]} about 4 miles east-northeast of Henryetta. ^[3] Officially incorporated March 27th, 1916, ^[4] and located in the Henryetta Coal Mining District, ^[5] Kusa became a coal mining and lead smelting boomtown, complete with movie theaters, hotels, and banks. ^[6] It even had its own newspaper, The Kusa Industrial, which published between 1914 and 1920. ^[7] The population grew to a size of about 3,500, making it the largest town in the county at one point. ^[4]

While coal mining was the major draw, ^[4] the town was the site of a 47-acre horizontal retort smelter which processed zinc ore beginning in 1915, but ending in 1928. ^[8] Brickmaking grew up in the 1920s spurred by the need to make the construction grade bricks, fireclay retorts, and clay condensers that were used in the zinc smelting operation; but, those facilities were cleared by 1949. ^[9] Along with these shutdowns and the closure of the coal mines, ^[10] Kusa's anticipated bright future was short-circuited by the railroad bypassing the locale in favor of Henryetta, ^[4] and later by the highway ( Highway 266) bypassing it to the north. ^[6] The town's incorporation was eventually dissolved, ^[4] and nothing is now left of the original buildings except foundations, although some people still live in the area. ^[6]

References

35°26′57″N 95°55′27″W / 35.44917°N 95.92417°W / 35.44917; -95.92417

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