Do you know of Brownell ???

This page is an orphan - a placeholder until we can discover more about Brownell. When we encounter a name that is new to us, we add it to our Gazetteer with the hope that we'll discover more information in the future. Such is the case with Brownell.

We found mention of Brownell as a community (see Mentions and References below), but haven't been able to determine its location - other than being located somewhere in Kalamazoo County, Michigan.

This entry could have originated in error. It might be that a source had a misprint, was simply wrong or we made a transcription error while referencing it. Many of the documents we reference are from the 1800s and the early 1900s, with some easier to read than others.

Communities Also Named Brownell ...

We found five communities that share the name Brownell.

Within Michigan, the name Brownell is unique.

Beyond Michigan, we know of another five communities that are located throughout in the United States.

Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arizona
  - Pima County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Arizona community of Brownell [Pima County].
- Indiana
  - Miami County
  - We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Indiana community of Brownell [Miami County].
- Kansas
  - Ness County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Brownell [Ness County].
- Louisiana
  - Franklin Parish
  - Please visit our profile page for the Louisiana community of Brownell [Franklin Parish].
- Minnesota
  - Carlton County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Minnesota community of Brownell [Carlton County].

Miscellaneous References and Mentions for Brownell ...

We've created the following list to keep track of the sources that proved useful in adding to our knowledge about Brownell:

Along The Tracks, A Directory of Named Places on Michigan Railroads
Written by: Meints, Graydon M.
Published by Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University - 1987
(Available from Amazon.com)

Business Atlas and Shippers' Guide (1895)
Published by Rand McNally & Co.

A note taken from the Shipper's Guide for Brownell - Services available: had a Railroad Station, no Post Office mentioned

Rand McNally Map of Michigan (1911)
Published by Rand McNally & Co.

The FIPS database contains an entry for Brownell.

Referenced FIPS Records ...

FIPS Code: 26/11190 (Place Name: Brownell)

County: Kalamazoo (FIPS State/County: 26/077)

Class: U8

Identifies a populated place (in this case, Brownell) located wholly or substantially outside the boundaries of an incorporated place or CDP (Census Designated Place) but whose name has not been verified as authoritative by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

More Orphans in Kalamazoo County ...

Can you help?

As we explained above, when we encounter a name that might be a community or a post office we add it to our Gazetteer. If we have little information to go with the name, we call them Orphans. Below are Orphans that we believe to be located in Kalamazoo County.

Footnotes ...

<1>

If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Brownell could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.