Mauldin, SC: The Town That Almost Died, the Bridge Over I-385 and the Stadium on the Other Side

The biggest crowd in Greenville Triumph history filled GE Vernova Park for its first match in June 2026 and watched the Triumph beat Forward Madison 1-0, as FOX Carolina reported the next day. The stadium is at BridgeWay Station in Mauldin, on the east side of I-385. Ninety-four years before that night, Mauldin's own town council asked the State of South Carolina to take back the town's charter.

The Depression had emptied the farms around the old crossroads, and by 1940 most of the stores were vacant and the railroad depot had closed. South Carolina Public Radio calls Mauldin "the town that almost died." Mauldin is its own city on I-385 between Greenville and Simpsonville, and City Hall, the Cultural Center, Mauldin High, BridgeWay Station and GE Vernova Park are all on or just off Butler Road.

I'm Jeff Moran, NMLS #483943, a mortgage broker licensed in South Carolina through C2 Financial Corporation, and I have been in the mortgage business since 1996. My office is in Bluffton, at the other end of the state. Everything here comes from the public record, mostly the City of Mauldin, the county library, the state encyclopedia and Upstate news outlets, and I checked it on October 17, 2026. My Greenville area page already has Mauldin's census figures and the stadium's seats and cost. This page stays on the city itself, from the crossroads it started as to the homework I would do on a Mauldin address.

Butler's Crossroads, a railroad depot and the name that came with it

In 1853 Willis William Butler bought land here, and the community around him became known as Butler's Crossroads, according to the South Carolina Encyclopedia. The Greenville & Laurens Railroad reached the crossroads in 1886. The City's history page says the new depot was named for W.L. Mauldin, a former lieutenant governor who helped bring the railroad through.

The town took his name too. The county library's history of its Mauldin branch dates the change from Butler's Crossroads to Mauldin to the town's 1910 charter. That is the charter the council asked the state to revoke in 1932, with W.E. Murray as mayor. The encyclopedia says it was never formally repealed. It went inactive instead, and Mauldin did not reincorporate until May 28, 1957. It became a city in 1969.

The 1953 water line behind the Golden Strip name

In 1951 the Mauldin-Simpsonville-Fountain Inn Water District was formed, and in 1953 a water line ran from Greenville through Mauldin to Fountain Inn. The South Carolina Encyclopedia calls it the area's first adequate water supply. A newspaper editorial at the time predicted the line would make the area a "golden strip" ready for development, and the name stayed with the three towns along it.

As Greenville brought in industry through the 1960s and 1970s, many of the newcomers settled around Mauldin. By 2000 the town had grown about tenfold from its size in 1960.

The library grew up the same way, a little at a time. In 1961 residents got the county library to stock books in two unused rooms of the town hall. A visit to that small collection led the textile businessman Arthur Magill to give a building for it, and that building opened on East Butler Road in 1962. Since August 29, 1999 the branch has been the W. Jack Greer Library at 800 W. Butler Road.

The old Mauldin School, Beachin' Fridays and the SOOIE BBQ Cook-Off

The schoolhouse at 101 E. Butler Road went up in the late 1930s as a New Deal project, and the Living New Deal's record of it traces it to the WPA era. It was Mauldin's high school until 1957 and an elementary school until 2002. The City has owned it since 2005, finished renovating the auditorium in 2019, and runs it as the Mauldin Cultural Center, with an outdoor amphitheater on the grounds.

On summer Friday nights the amphitheater hosts Beachin' Fridays, the City's free concert series. The City's summer events page has it running from about June to mid-July at 7 p.m., with a special performance and fireworks on the last night. The dates and the lineup change every year, so please check the City's calendar for next summer's.

Every September the Cultural Center hosts the SOOIE BBQ Cook-Off, a barbecue competition that reached its 15th year in 2025. The City's 2026 event page listed it for September 11 and 12, with a Friday evening opening and the cook-off itself on Saturday.

December brings A Merry Mauldin Christmas to the same amphitheater. In 2025 the City's announcement had the market open from 5 to 8 p.m. on December 4, with the tree lit around 7 and leashed dogs welcome. Two days later the Christmas parade left the Golden Strip Career Center on East Butler Road, ran down Holland Road and finished at BridgeWay Station.

The Gateway Bridge over I-385, and BridgeWay Station across it

Six lanes of I-385 run between Mauldin's City Center and BridgeWay Station, and since 2023 the Mauldin Gateway Bridge has carried walkers over them near the Bridges Road exit. Council approved the development agreement in December 2019 and construction started in June 2022. Mayor Terry Merritt later put the total cost near $5.4 million. The City's bridge page says you can walk to it from the quarter-mile Mauldin City Trail on East Butler Road, across from Mauldin High. Even the name took a vote, and council chose "Mauldin Gateway Bridge" by 4-3 in February 2024.

The City says its trail will eventually connect to the Swamp Rabbit Trail, and that link is still in the future. The City of Greenville has been building a pedestrian bridge on Verdae Boulevard since about August 2025, and it is expected to finish in late 2026. SC Biz News reports that the bridge lets the Swamp Rabbit extension continue toward Mauldin. I could not find a schedule for the Mauldin segment itself.

On the far side of the bridge is BridgeWay Station, Hughes Investments' mixed-use district along I-385, just south of Butler Road. Ground was broken on April 8, 2021. The City's page on BridgeWay shows a plan of nine mixed-use buildings along both sides of a main street, two hotel sites, a movie theater and a five-acre park.

Dodge Industrial, the power-transmission company, moved its headquarters into 75,000 square feet at BridgeWay in September 2022, with about 770 Upstate employees at the time by Greenville Business Magazine's count. The first restaurant, BridgeWay Brewing Co., opened on December 22, 2023 with its brewery on site, as FOX Carolina covered that day. Several more restaurants were announced for BridgeWay in 2023.

Construction on the stadium started in September 2025, and GE Vernova announced its naming rights on November 15, 2025. GE Vernova Park is now home to the Greenville Triumph and the Greenville Liberty, and that June win came in the Triumph's eighth season.

New homes and stores on the edges of town

One recent rezoning is at Fork Shoals Road and Ashmore Bridge Road, on the city's edge. There the council took up a rezoning of a 25.8-acre tract next to the Spinx for Cottage Green, about 500 rental units mixing single-level rental homes with two- and three-story apartment buildings. FOX Carolina covered the council's 4-3 first reading in October 2025, and the second and final reading was on the council's November 2025 agenda.

Earlier rezoning requests proposed townhomes on Fowler Circle and on North Main Street, where the Parker Group planned townhomes and a public park on about 15 acres. For groceries, Publix is at 111 W. Butler Road, and Aldi broke ground at 209 N. Main Street in 2021.

Butler Road, Main Street and four exits on I-385

Butler Road is Mauldin's main east-west road, and Main Street, which is US-276, runs north and south through the City Center where the two cross. On I-385, AARoads' guide to the interstate lists four exits that serve Mauldin. Exit 30 takes I-185 and US-276 into Mauldin, and Exit 31 is the junction with I-185 and SC-417. Exit 33 is at Bridges Road near the footbridge, and Exit 34 is at Butler Road.

East Butler Road is due for an SCDOT rebuild of about 1.7 miles, from Main Street out to the Mauldin Senior Center entrance, at an estimated $17 million. The plan adds turn lanes at each intersection instead of widening the through lanes, plus a 10-foot multi-use path and new stormwater work. Council backed SCDOT's "Alternative One," which reroutes Old Mill Road. GPATS is the planning group for regional transportation projects in the Greenville area. Its July 13, 2026 study team packet put right-of-way purchases at about 96% complete, with utility and railroad work setting the pace and funding still under discussion. I did not find a construction start date, so on a home along that stretch, please look at SCDOT's right-of-way plans for the parcel.

Mauldin High, the Holland Road schools and the career center

Mauldin High School opened at 701 E. Butler Road in 1973, was renovated in 2002, and marked its 50th year as the home of the Mavericks. Before 1957 Mauldin's high school students went to class in the old schoolhouse that is now the Cultural Center.

Mauldin Middle and Mauldin Elementary share a campus on Holland Road, at 1190 and 1194, and both carry Simpsonville 29681 addresses. Bethel Elementary, at 111 Bethel School Road, has a Simpsonville address too. The Golden Strip Career Center at 1120 E. Butler Road is one of Greenville County Schools' four part-time career centers. Students are assigned by home address, so please check the specific address with Greenville County Schools instead of going by a school's name or ZIP code.

Doctors, urgent care and the Mauldin Fire Department

Mauldin has no hospital of its own. Prisma Health runs an urgent care at 122 S. Main Street, open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day, and Bon Secours has a primary care office at 309 W. Butler Road. The hospitals are outside the city, among them Prisma Health Hillcrest in Simpsonville, which I cover on my Simpsonville page.

The Mauldin Fire Department's four stations cover the city and the Mauldin Fire Service Area, about 23.5 square miles in all, including unincorporated Greenville County land outside the city limits. A new headquarters at 955 W. Butler Road, planned at $7.5 million, opened in April 2024, and the City's announcement says it was built with the city's growth in mind.

A Greenville or Simpsonville address can still be in Mauldin

ZIP 29662 is the Mauldin ZIP code, and it covers about five and a half square miles of land by zip-codes.com's figures. A good part of the city has other addresses. The City's own Sunset Park, City Park and Pineforest Park, and the library on W. Butler Road, all have Greenville 29607 addresses. Mauldin Middle and Mauldin Elementary have Simpsonville 29681 addresses. It runs the other way too, because a home with a Mauldin 29662 address can be outside the City of Mauldin's limits.

So on any address you are considering, please pull the parcel on Greenville County's property search and read the tax district. That tells you whether the home is inside the City of Mauldin, in the Mauldin Fire Service Area outside it, or in another district. City taxes, the fire levy and city services all follow that answer, and the mailing address does not settle any of it.

City taxes, and the penny sales tax on the November 3 ballot

Mauldin raised its property tax in the 2025 budget for the first time in more than a decade and a half, by 6 mills for homes and businesses inside the city, according to the City's budget announcement. A mill is one dollar of tax for every $1,000 of assessed value. Homes in the Mauldin Fire Service Area saw a 3-mill increase in the fire levy, which the City estimated at about $12 a year per $100,000 of home value. The 2026 and 2027 budgets held the millage steady, and FOX Carolina reported the $50 million 2027 budget passing on June 15, 2026 with no property tax increase.

The City's current mill rate is on the Greenville County Auditor's millage sheet, so please look it up there for the year you buy. The City's levy is added on top of the county, school and other district levies on the same bill. To get South Carolina's 4% assessment on the home you live in, you apply to Greenville County by January 15, and my Greenville area page walks through that application.

On November 3, 2026, Mauldin voters have a 1% city sales tax on the ballot. If it passes, it runs for up to eight years starting May 1, 2027, and FOX Carolina's report projects more than $24 million from it. About $15.6 million would go to repaving neighborhood and major roads, $4 million to Fire Station 5, and nearly $5 million back to homeowners as property tax credits. Groceries and medicine are excluded, and it is separate from Greenville County's own measure on the same ballot. The result will be known after November 3, 2026, so please check it then.

Water, sewer and the City's stormwater study

Tapwaterdata.com lists Greenville Water as the system for the Mauldin area, which fits the 1953 line, and I would still confirm it on the parcel. Sewer collection across much of Greenville County is MetroConnects, which sends sewage to ReWa for treatment, and its FAQ explains why its charge can show up on your water bill. Please ask which sewer provider serves the home you are considering, because it can differ from parcel to parcel. MetroConnects opened its new 23-acre headquarters campus at 1151 W. Butler Road in the spring of 2026.

The City hired a consultant in 2022 to model stormwater across Mauldin, and in 2024 it asked residents for input on a stormwater master plan meant to map the trouble spots and lay out the fixes. The consultant also proposed a stormwater fee, so please ask the City whether one applies to the home. The state climate office's report on Tropical Storm Cindy says Gilder Creek went over Holland Road in 2005. Holland Road runs past the Mauldin Middle and Elementary campus. None of that says a particular street floods today. On a lot near Gilder Creek or a low spot, please pull the FEMA flood map for the parcel, and Greenville County's floodplain office can confirm the zone.

Pricing a loan on a Mauldin home

The 2026 conforming and FHA loan limits for Greenville County are in the box below this article. Once you have a Mauldin address in mind, please send it to me. I'll look up whether the parcel pays the City's millage or the Mauldin Fire Service Area levy. Then I'll put its actual tax bill, your homeowners policy, flood insurance if the map calls for it, and any association dues into the payment we look at together. No official source publishes association dues for Mauldin neighborhoods, so please ask for the association's budget and its dues schedule before you make an offer.

My pre-approval page for South Carolina lays out the documents I'll ask you for and what you get back once you are approved. If you already own a home in Mauldin, refinancing in South Carolina covers changing your rate or your term, and cash-out refinancing covers borrowing against the equity you have built. My South Carolina page covers how closings and the rest of the state's rules work.

You can run your numbers for a home near BridgeWay, out on Holland Road or anywhere else in Mauldin whenever you are ready, with no credit pull and no account. You'll see pricing for your scenario and choose a rate option. That selection can change later if your plans change, so choose the option that works best for you today.

Estimates and educational information are not a loan approval or commitment to lend. None of this is tax advice, and the City of Mauldin and the Greenville County Assessor are the ones to confirm the city limits, the levies and the 4% rate on a given parcel.

Common questions

Can a home with a Greenville or Simpsonville address be inside Mauldin?

Yes. The City of Mauldin's own parks and library carry Greenville 29607 addresses, and its namesake middle and elementary schools carry Simpsonville 29681 addresses. A Mauldin 29662 address can also be outside the city limits. The tax district on the parcel record at Greenville County's property search tells you whether the home is inside the City of Mauldin.

Is GE Vernova Park in Mauldin?

Yes. It opened in June 2026 at BridgeWay Station, east of I-385 off Butler Road, as the home of the Greenville Triumph and the Greenville Liberty. GE Vernova holds the naming rights. From the City Center side, the Mauldin Gateway Bridge crosses I-385 on foot near the Bridges Road exit.

What is the Mauldin penny sales tax vote?

It is a 1% City of Mauldin sales tax on the November 3, 2026 ballot. If voters pass it, it starts May 1, 2027 and runs up to eight years, paying for road repaving, Fire Station 5 and property tax credits for homeowners. Groceries and medicine are excluded. The result was not known when I checked this page on October 17, 2026.

Does the Mauldin Fire Department cover homes outside the city limits?

Yes, through the Mauldin Fire Service Area, about 23.5 square miles in all that include unincorporated Greenville County land. Homes in that area outside the city pay the Fire Service Area levy rather than the City's millage. The parcel's tax district shows which one applies to the home you are considering.

Does the Mauldin trail connect to the Swamp Rabbit Trail?

Not yet. The City says its trail will eventually connect. The City of Greenville is building a pedestrian bridge on Verdae Boulevard that is expected to finish in late 2026, and SC Biz News reports it lets the Swamp Rabbit extension continue toward Mauldin. I did not find a schedule for the Mauldin segment. Today the quarter-mile Mauldin City Trail on East Butler Road leads to the Gateway Bridge over I-385.