Mullens, West Virginia

Mullens is a city in Wyoming County, West Virginia. The population was 1,559 at the 2010 census.Located in a valley along the Guyandotte River within a mountainous region of southern West Virginia, the town was nearly destroyed by flash flooding in July 2001. While the town has attempted to redevelop with the aid of state and federal recovery money, many local businesses and residents have left the area permanently. Organizations like the Mullens-based Rural Appalachian Improvement League are working to improve conditions across the region. Mullens is also the hometown of former Los Angeles Lakers head coach Mike D'Antoni.HistoryMullens was incorporated as a town on September 17, 1912 and operated under a charter issued by the Circuit Court of Wyoming County. It was named for A. J. Mullins, who owned the land upon which the town is built. The town's original name was spelled with an "i"; a recording error accounts for the error in spelling, which was never corrected. An Act of the West Virginia Legislature granting a charter to the City of Mullens was passed February 22, 1929.The early growth of the Mullens community came with development of the lumber and coal mining industries. In the early 20th century, coal-mining manager and developer William Nelson Page of Ansted helped open the Winding Gulf Coalfield with plans for the Deepwater Railway, a new short-line railroad. When Page ran into competitive collusion by the bigger railroads which would have wrecked his project, backed by his silent partner, wealthy industrialist Henry Huttleston Rogers, the plan was expanded in a secretive and massive way to build a line all the way east to the port of Hampton Roads.