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Brewton Iron Works
was established in 1898 by the Loveless Lumber Company for the purpose of completely overhauling and maintaining steam locomotives utilized in their sawmill operation. In 1903, W.F. Wilson, a noted steam engineer who was originally from Denmark and then residing in Mobile, was hired by Loveless Lumber Company to manage its wholly owned subsidiary, Brewton Iron Works. In 1910, Mr. Wilson was offered 25% of the business and continued in his manager-partner capacity until 1922.

By 1922, Brewton Iron Works was complete with its foundry and machine shop working in support of its locomotive overhaul facility. W.F. Wilson purchased the balance of Brewton Iron Works stock from the Loveless Lumber Company during this year, thus becoming the sole owner of the business .

The company's business began expanding after the change in ownership and it commenced performing services not only for the Loveless Lumber Company, but also Alger Sullivan Lumber Company, T.R. Miller Mill Company, and other major saw mills throughout the south. In 1933, a new machine shop and office was constructed by the company. During the same period, the foundry was expanded and added municipal castings to its growing product line.

During World War II, Brewton Iron Works was declared a critical industry and supplied castings used in the construction of Air Bases and repair parts for Naval vessels. At the conclusion of World War II, the product line was further expanded to include cast tooth sprockets as the company entered into the field of power transmission. It also expanded its machining capability and commenced supplying paper machine components.

Brewton Iron Works continued its growth and in 1964 the Precision Manufacturing Division of Brewton Iron Works was organized and located in an existing building on Highway 31 South. This facility added tremendous growth to the company and became one of the largest numerically controlled machining facilities in the state. Precision components were manufactured for such leading industries as Monsanto Celanese International, DuPont, and U.S. Steel Corporation. Its machining capabilities were expanded further with additional machinery used to manufacture, in high volume, power take-off shafting, bearing housings, and gear boxes for Bush-Hog, a division of Allied Products Corporation.

By the end of 1973, the total employment for Brewton Iron Works had reached over 200. It was at this time the company was acquired by Allied Products Corporation and became a member of the support division of the corporation.

After the acquisition, the name Brewton Iron Works ceased to exist. It was not until December 1978 that the name resurfaced and once again became part of the Brewton economy. The original Brewton Iron Works, less Precision Manufacturing Division, was purchased from Allied Products Corporation and commenced operation as the new Brewton Iron Works, Inc. on December 15, 1978. Production in its foundry started in January 1979 and its machining facility was fully operational during the later part of the same month. In December of 1979 an adjacent two story building was acquired and immediately into a pattern manufacturing facility and storage area.

Facility improvements have been almost continuous following this initial expansion. In early 1980, a shipping, receiving, and order staging area was constructed and adjoined to the newly acquired pattern facility. During 1983 the first expansion of the foundry was completed. This was followed by additional expansions to the building in 1985 and 1995.

During the periods of building expansion, additional molding equipment was added along with mold handling conveyors. The electric melting facility was also enhanced by the addition of a new electric furnace and spectrometer for metallurgical determinations.

Conjointly with the foundry expansions, Brewton's product line expanded. Initially a manufacturer of cast tooth sprockets, over ten additional power transmission accessories are now manufactured to include bearings, couplings, timing belt pulleys and polyethylene plastic sprockets and support products. In addition to the products manufactured, further diversity was obtained with the inclusion of machined castings used in several industries utilizing a variety of gray iron and ductile iron.

In 1983, a three building complex, with property lines adjacent to Brewton Iron Works was acquired. This complex was converted into the company's general office and its machining facility. After this purchase, the company's original 35,000 sq. ft. had expanded to approximately 90,000 sq. ft.

With an increase in the number of products to be manufactured, diversity in machining capabilities became a requirement. From the purchase of the first piece of CNC equipment, the growth into a well defined CNC machining facility started. Today, equipment ranges from conventional machine tools to gear hobbing to a full range of CNC turning and milling equipment, all supported by computer assisted engineering.

Today, Brewton Iron Works is a complete metal working facility. From the receipt of a drawing, finished components can be produced utilizing the pattern shop, foundry, grinding and cleaning, or machine shop and shipping.

 
 
 
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