The area was a part of the Waldo Patent purchased by Moses Brown and Major Josiah Hill of Newburyport, Massachusetts, who initiated its settlement.

Farms produced hay, oats, potatoes, wheat and garden vegetables.

Quarries were established to extract the region's abundant slate, the quality of which won first prize at the 1876 Centennial Exposition.

The Merrill Quarry opened in 1846 with approximately 80 employees, producing 30,000 squares of roofing slate annually.

The Highland Quarry opened with Welsh employees, recruited because they were accustomed to working in slate.

The Katahdin Iron Works was established in 1843, when roads were cut out and a blast furnace erected.

The company and land were sold in 1845, and the new owners operated it until 1856, the year it produced 2350 tons of iron.

In 1889 the International Railway of Maine was constructed by its owner Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), extending the CPR's transcontinental mainline east from Montreal, Quebec to Saint John, New Brunswick.

In 1891, the B&KIW merged into the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad (BAR) after the Katahdin Iron Works closed the previous year.

Local historian Bill Sawtell[6] has documented many facets of the history of Brownville as well as the surrounding area.

He has published numerous books with subjects such as Katahdin Iron Works, the Highland Quarry, the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad, and Penquis Valley High School basketball.

[1] Situated between Sebec and Schoodic lakes, Brownville is drained by the Pleasant River.