Kusa

In 1778 at the confluence of the Kusa River into the Ai, during the development of mining industry in the Southern Urals Kusinsky iron-smelting and iron-making plant was founded. The initial products of the plant were metals, simple tools, accessories for agriculture and factory construction (crampons, hooks, bolts, hoops, axes, slide rails and other utensils). Fifty serfs moved from Zlatoust. Under the guidance of craftsmen they began to build a settlement and a wooden dam across the river Kusa. This year is considered the year of the foundation of the city of Kusa. Throughout the nineteenth century the factory produced cast iron, ammunition, thin-walled crockery castings and garnish for household stoves. The factory's artistic castings were awarded prizes at world exhibitions in Copenhagen, Chicago, Stockholm (silver medal in 1897), Paris, Glasgow, Liege, Milan (gold medal in 1906) and St. Petersburg. Nowadays, the Kusinskites do not compete with the Kaslinskites, having abandoned (they did not survive the democratic changes in society) the business of iron art casting. There is a museum of artistic iron casting in the city (stolen).

Since February 17, 1940, the district center.

In 1942, the Precision Engineering Stone Plant (from St. Petersburg) was evacuated to Kusa.

In the 1970s, the beginning of the workshop "Crystal", whose products are diamonds, became one of the symbols of the coat of arms of the city.

At the end of the 1990s in Kusa, the production of paintings from stone chips and souvenirs made of stone, mainly serpentine, became widespread. This is a noticeable milestone in the development of the city. For 10-15 years, this direction became a private business for many families and allowed to survive hard times. Interestingly, despite the spontaneity of the development of the industry, there was a narrow specialization of work: some people made stone blanks, the basis of paintings and souvenirs ("frames", "slices"), some were exclusively engaged in "drawing", or rather sprinkling of small colored stone chips, some preferred to take on the sales and went to other cities of the country. By the mid-2000s, the market began to become saturated and most residents stopped making paintings and souvenirs.