Built in 1892 by Asa Faulkner and several others, Falls City Cotton Mill was the only textile mill in Warren County prior to 1930. It operated until the great flood of 1902 destroyed many mills in the region. The structure, situated on the bluff above the Great Falls of the Caney Fork River, survived, but the mill was forced to close after its turbine washed away. Powered by water diverted from the falls through a flume, turbine, ropes, and pulleys, it manufactured cotton and wool products and was well known for heavy cotton sheeting. Wanting to help those most in need, Faulkner hired and housed some 300 workers, predominantly widows and children, creating a booming city with its own blacksmith, post office, farm, market, and store of company products. In the 1840s, Bosson Mill, one of the earliest mills in the area, stood just downstream, where local stones ground corn and Thomas Bosson used stones shipped from France for $300 to grind wheat. By the 1920s, after Great Falls Mill had closed, many residents were employed by the Tennessee Electric Power Company, which began construction on the nearby dam and power station in 1917.