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History · Hollins

Hollins’ post office opened in 1887, and 27% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1944 on and the census since 1890.

1887first post office
0on the National Register
27%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Hollins began

When was Hollins founded?

1887

The Hollins post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 422 in 18902020 census: 517139 years
Founding year: the first Hollins post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Hollins’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Hollins are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1890 and 1900, then more than doubled.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Hollins’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hollins’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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People over time

Hollins, census by census

01002003004005006007001900192019401960198020002020422 in 1890Low: 238

Lost a third of its people between 1890 and 1900, then more than doubled.

5 censuses, 1890–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hollins’ Wikipedia page.

The story

How Hollins came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Hollins.

Read it all →

Hollins is named after an official who worked for the Kaul Lumber Company. Hollins began when the Columbus and Western Railway reached the area in the late 1800s. In 1888, John Kaul bought out the Sample Lumber Company in Hollins and founded the Kaul Lumber Company. The large demand for lumber led to an increase in lumber jobs in Hollins. In addition to the Kaul Lumber headquarters and mill, Hollins was home to a hotel, several general stores, three churches, a school, and a cotton gin. Hollins was incorporated on February 21, 1893. In 1908, the Kaul Lumber mill burned and was rebuilt. In 1911, the mill was closed and was moved to Kaulton. The population began to decline, and Hollins' town charter was dissolved on September 25, 1919. A post office began operation under the name Hollins in 1887.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Hollins, 1887 to 1944

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1887Post officeThe Hollins post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1910CensusPopulation peaks at 688
  5. 1944On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Hollins on the map, 1944 to 2001

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hollins. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Hollins on the 1944 USGS mapHollins on the 1975 USGS mapHollins on the 1984 USGS mapHollins on the 2001 USGS map1944Goodwater sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Hollins.

Famous people

Famous people close to Hollins

Nobody well known was born in Hollins itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Jim NaborsAmerican actor and singer · b. 1930
Gerald WallaceAmerican basketball player · b. 1982
Bob RileyAmerican politician · b. 1944
Terrell OwensAmerican football player · b. 1973
R
Robert Daniel CarmichaelAmerican mathematician · b. 1879
Jamario MoonAmerican basketball player · b. 1980
Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Hollins’s post office has been open since 1887.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Skeggs Crossroads
Gone or out of use
Valley Grove Churchchurch
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Hollins
DarbyHollins Springs

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Hollins’ history

What year was Hollins founded?

The Hollins post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.