Sumter Cogswell purchased the 400 acres (160 ha) of land in 1890 after stopping to change trains in the town.

The following year, the Pell City Manufacturing Company began operational with 21,000 spindles and 640 looms.

The mill village was incorporated into Pell City in 1956, and the company gradually sold the houses to private owners.

In the aftermath of a deadly train crash at one of its facilities in South Carolina, Avondale closed its plants in Pell City and Sylacauga and sold several others in July 2006.

[5][6] The main mill building was a two-story structure built of brick and measuring approximately 225 by 640 feet (70 by 200 meters).

The walls are punctuated by protruding buttresses at the bases of the sawtooths and small vents that open into the clerestory area.