| History: | (17-mile Kirby tram road in 1928),
The Kirby Lumber Company mill at Browndell began its operations in January 1904 as one of the original three sawmills built by the Kirby company. The dry kilns were four wood buildings operated by porcupine steam. Before the fire , the appraisal was $172,800 in February 1904. A Kirby management report noted the inadequate fire protection of the plant in February 1904, and, as could be expected, the plant was destroyed by fire on August 25, the same year. Pending the decision of a proposed mill at what later became known as Aldridge, construction of the new Browndell mill was delayed. Operations of the new Browndell mill did not begin until August 1906, two years after the fire. The new mill operated until about 1925, when it was again destroyed by fire and not rebuilt.
The Kirby town of Borwndell was located near the area known as “Weed” in Jasper County, about eighteen miles north of Jasper. The name Browndell was derived from combining the last name of John Wilcox Brown, a Baltimore banker, and the first name of his wife Dell. The mill employed 418 workers in 1918. In 1906, plans included building about thirty tenant homes, and a large hall, the lower floor for church and school purposes, and the upper for fraternal lodges. Browndell had an ice cream parlor and a movie theatre, as did most large early sawmill towns.
The first logging tramroads snaked for twelves miles southeast to Newton County. Logging on the tracks was handled by geared locomotives, probably Shay engines. At one time, the length of the tracks was seventeen miles.
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