In 1844 Edward Brownell built a mill in Moodus, CT, for cotton-twine production. The power system in the mill included a dam of granite blocks and an overshot wheel. Charles Brownell, Edward Brownell's son, installed a turbine in the wheelpit in the 1870s and built an addition, a two-story brick picker house. In the 1880s, the company bought another mill downstream. In the 1930s, Charles Brownell's son, Crary, converted production to synthetic twine used mostly for fishnets, allowing the company to continue operating when a number of local twine mills closed. The mills were sold to an English firm in the 1960s.
From the description of Business records. 1844-1924. (American Textile History Museum Library). WorldCat record id: 609406861
