HUSUM, a town in the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein, situated in a fertile district about 2 J miles inland from the German Ocean, on the canalized Husumer Au, which forms its harbour and roadstead. It is a station on the branch railway from Tönning which joins the mainline at Jübek; and it has steam communication with the North Frisian Islands (Nordstrand, Pellworm, Föhr, Sylt) and with England. Besides the old ducal palace and park, it possesses two court-houses and a gymnasium, and its public endowments are reckoned at £100,000. There is a considerable local trade; grain and cattle are exported; and the oyster-beds in the neighbourhood yield during the season about 60,000 oysters daily. The population of the town in 1875 was 5765. Husum is first mentioned in 1252, and its first church was built in 1431. Wisby rights (see vol. xi. p. 449) were granted it in 1582, and in 1608 it was raised to the rank of a town by Duke Adolphus, who was also the builder of the castle. Husum is the birthplace of Forchhammer the archaeologist, Forchhammer the mineralogist, and Theodor Storm the poet.