Avondale Mills was founded in 1897 by a consortium of investors including the Trainer family of Chester, Pennsylvania, the future governor of Alabama, Braxton Bragg Comer, and a group of Birmingham civic leaders including Frederick Mitchell Jackson Sr.

The owners and operators of Avondale Mills were noted not only for progressive stances with regards to the overall well-being of their workers, but also for conditions of child labor that, while common at the time, are today considered abusive.

[1] The Birmingham region appealed to them chiefly due to its wide labor pool and proximity to the abundant cotton fields of Alabama, as well as the transportation infrastructure of Birmingham that allowed for easy transport of their refined materials throughout the American south and the United States as a whole.

Southern communities, since before the Civil War, had wanted to introduce new manufacturing facilities as a means of resisting economic domination by Northern industrialists.

The Commercial Club agreed to invest $150,000 (~$4.5 million adjusted for inflation[7]), and civic leader Braxton Bragg "B.B."

With high interest rates and scarce available capital, Comer and the Birmingham Commercial Club took out loans from noted Wall Street banker DuMont Clark, and secured funding from J.M.

Comer wrote his own letters in long-hand script and personally bought, weighed, classified and sold all of the cotton for the mills.

[9] By 1898, Avondale Mills employed nearly 400 people as spinners, weavers and mechanics and, additionally, realized a profit of $15,000[1] (~$450,000 adjusted for inflation[13]).

Following an earlier defeat decades before, the "Greater Birmingham" initiative came in 1911 before Governor Comer, who subsequently agreed to the majority of its provisions.

The improvements to many of the seven outlying suburbs that were incorporated into Birmingham included added transportation infrastructure, better access to social services, and increased sanitation.

As the price of cotton fell in the latter half of the 19th century, many Alabama farmers found themselves searching for new means of income.

Notable among Avondale Mills' achievements were the numerous, uncharacteristic amenities offered to employees and their families.

[18] The mill village, consisting of 129 houses in Birmingham,[19] Comer provided was also notable for the quality of its conditions.

During the summer, mill workers could enjoy paid vacations at the Panama City, Florida resort purchased by Comer for his employees.

[18] Comer closed the mills at different times throughout the summer in order to allow his workers to enjoy the vacation resort at their leisure.

[18] Known as Camp Helen, the resort included a large main building and several guest cottages strewn about the property.

Avondale Mills also provided Camp Brownie, a recreational facility on the Coosa River for workers to enjoy boating and fishing in their off-time.

Out of 8,500 employees in 1947, fully 12%, or about 1,020, were African American, all of whom received equal access to the amenities provided by Comer.

A product of his time, Comer utilized child labor relatively extensively at Avondale Mills.

[22][23] Hine's photographs and interviews in 1910 revealed that numerous children were employed at Avondale Mills with "mere weeks of education if any.

At first the children were not "officially" employed, but were recruited to assist their parents in completing strenuous twelve-hour shifts in the mill.

[22] Hine noted numerous examples of child labor and abuse of children at Avondale Mills, including that of the 14 and 15-year-old girls Mary and Miller Gilliam.

[24] Comer's views would evolve along with national attitudes, however, and he would subsequently support a nationwide ban on child labor in 1934.

Mirroring conditions throughout the United States, worker hours, production and pay rates all saw cuts during the Great Depression.

[20] Many labor activists considered the Comers, Donald in particular, to be "the one shining light"[27] amongst Birmingham area business owners.

As companies saw dramatically increased profits during the wartime manufacturing boom, workers throughout the United States began demanding higher wages, and, on occasion, walked off the job.

"[12] Donald Comer released management control of Avondale Mills to James Craig Smith Jr., who expanded the company's production facilities in Georgia and South Carolina.

On January 6, 2005, a serious train derailment at the Graniteville facility caused a massive chemical spill resulting in the deaths of six Avondale Inc. employees.

A Norfolk Southern train traveling at speed hit an improperly aligned switch and crashed into a parked locomotive.

The crash sent 16 train cars careening into a parking lot next to one of Avondale's data processing centers at the facility.