Timmonsville was founded in 1852 and named for Rev. J. Morgan Timmons. Its initial growth was spurred by the Wilmington and Manchester R.R., which carried cotton and forest products to the port of Wilmington. J.M. Timmons established a turpentine distillery by 1854, and a steam-powered saw mill produced 5,000 feet of plank that same year. The Timmonsville Tobacco Warehouse Co. organized in 1895, placing the town at the center of the growing Pee Dee tobacco belt. A fire in 1901 burned much of downtown, but driven by profits from the tobacco industry, the town rebuilt, and by 1910 its population had doubled. The Atlantic Coast Line R.R., which absorbed the W.M.R.R. in 1898, built a brick depot on Railroad, now Main, St. The Seaboard Air Line R.R. was operating a second line through Timmonsville by 1914, reflecting its place as the third largest tobacco market in the state, with leaf factories and warehouses.