The town of Lyman originally grew around a general store owned by Augustus Belton Groce, which opened in the mid-1870s. This led to the community become known as Groce's Stop. In 1923, the Groce family sold over to Pacific Mills; by the following year the Lyman Printing and Finishing Mill had been constructed, and by 1927, Pacific Mills had built 375 homes as housing for their employees. The town was then renamed in memory of Arthur T. Lyman, a former president of the mill. Lyman prospered for years as a textile town, but by 2005 the last mill was closed. McMakin's Tavern was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,659 people, 1,137 households, and 770 families residing in the town. The population density was 654.0 people per square mile. There were 1,224 housing units at an average density of 301.1 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 91.69% White, 6.09% African American, 0.26% Asian, 0.11% Native American, 0.90% from other races, and 0.94% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.47% of the population. There were 1,137 households, out of which 27.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.2% were married couplesliving together, 10.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.2% were non-families. 28.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.84. In the town, the population was spread out, with 21.4% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 29.8% from 25 to 44, 23.4% from 45 to 64, and 17.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.9 males. The median income for a household in the town was $38,750, and the median income for a family was $47,900. Males had a median income of $31,500 versus $22,950 for females. The per capita income for the town was $19,431. About 4.7% of families and 7.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.9% of those under age 18 and 11.8% of those age 65 or over.
