The company Gross & Wisimer built the township's first three mills, two sawmills and a gristmill, in 1812.

These mills resulted in a series of fatal accidents as they were prone to exploding.

[3] 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 to Tamanend and rail interchanges at Haucks, Pennsylvania and Quakake.

[3] The declining use of coal to heat homes and generate electricity resulted in the closure of the Central Railroad of New Jersey in 1921.

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

Rush Township has a warm-summer humid continental climate (Dfb) and the hardiness zone is 6a.

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

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.