There were 18 mills by the 1830s. It became known as the textile center of the world. The mills started down here in the south because of the abundance of water power. Secondly, because of the abundance of people and employees, potential employees, and also, the obvious reason, cotton. There was plenty of short Staple Cotton everywhere. These men who decided to go into the textile industry had no experience whatsoever. They just decided to create these gigantic mills. The other thing that makes this very interesting is that these men got together as partnerships and that is so unlike anywhere else in the world because they competed with each other and yet, they partnered with each other, they served on each others boards. These men decided to build an empire together and they also decided to build greenville. The History Museum is a wonderful place, and it is a wonderful place because it pays homage to where greenville really started, and especially the textile industry, the textile ex