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I think, by the census of 1890, Mullins had a population of 282. In one respect, Mullins has outstripped all other towns in the county, Marion not excepted, and that is in establishing and keeping up her Sunday schools, in both her churches. They were living, moving institutions years ago, and the interest in them does not seem to abate, either in the attendance or in mastering the lessons. No other public Sunday meeting, however important, such as a district conference or an association, is allowed to side-track the Sunday schools. It has been so for years, the interest in them does not seem to abate in the least.
The moral influences at Mullins, which are very good, may be attributed in great part to those Sunday schools, which have been in existence for a generation, and it tells upon the town and surrounding country. In addition to this, they have and keep up, and have for years, a school, the peer of any school in the county, don't know whether it is what is called a graded school or not, but it is deeply rooted in the minds of the people of the town, and is much to their credit. What is now booming in Mullins is the tobacco trade-it has only been a few years that tobacco has been cultivated in the county. The Mullins region early saw its opportunity, and embarked largely in its culture and production, and in that regard is far ahead of any section of the county. The consequence is that Mullins sells more tobacco than any market in the State. She sold last year, 1900, over 4,000,000 pounds, and bids fair to become the Danville of South Carolina. She has three large and well equipped tobacco warehouses, a number of pack houses, and four large and well equipped tobacco stemmeries (one of brick), and employs, of men, women and children, four or five hundred hands.
It has given Mullins an impetus not dreamed of ten years ago. People are emigrating to Mullins from all parts, houses (dwellings) are not to be had. From 1890 to 1900, as shown by the census, the population increased from 282 to over 800; and now, 1901, it is over 1,000. The town is spreading; large and handsome houses, dwellings, stores, &c, are going up all around (some of brick); a spirit of enterprise and "expansion" is engendered and developing fast, and bids fair to equal, if not surpass, in wealth and population in the near future her near neighbor (might say mother), Marion; she has a bank, through which her finances pass and are transacted, and is also doing a good business, launched and based on the capital of her own people. The spirit that animates the town actuates and permeates the whole surrounding country. A new and active life manifests itself everywhere. Much more might be said of this thriving town, but want of space will not permit.
Source: A History of Marion County, South Carolina, by W. W. Sellers, Esq., Columbia, South Carolina, 1902.
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