Saint Pauls, North Carolina

St. Pauls is a town in Robeson County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 2,035 at the 2010 census.HistoryThe town of St. Pauls was built up around St. Pauls Presbyterian Church which was built on land donated in 1799 by William Davis. St. Pauls grew slowly from a town of just the church, Davis' home, a post office and livery stable. The livery was built at the 16-mile post on the Fayetteville to Lumberton stage coach road. Growth began in earnest following the construction of the Robeson Institute, a co-educational school that served the children of northern Robeson County.The construction of the Virginia and Carolina Southern Railway through St. Pauls helped establish the community as a leading producer of textiles. Three cotton mills were constructed in the early part of the 20th century. The mills experienced periods of success and failure before coming under control of the Burlington Mills Corporation in 1943. Nearly all the mills closed in the 1990s as the textile industry moved from the American South to Latin America and Southeast Asia.The Gilmore-Patterson Farm and Kenneth McKinnon House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.