Brown Mill—originally known as the Brown Manufacturing Company—is a landmark of Cabarrus County’s early 20th-century textile industry and a symbol of its transition from industrial powerhouse to community renewal. Founded around 1905, the mill specialized in flannel production and soon became an integral part of Cannon Mills, one of the South’s largest textile manufacturers, where it operated as Plant No. 10.

Brown Mill’s story is closely linked to that of the nearby Coleman-Franklin-Cannon Mill, built in 1897 by Warren C. Coleman, a formerly enslaved entrepreneur who established the first Black-owned and operated textile mill in the United States. Together, these sites represent two essential chapters in North Carolina’s industrial history—one highlighting innovation and labor, the other illuminating the story of Black entrepreneurship and economic resilience in the post-Reconstruction South.

Today, the historic property is entering a new chapter of revitalization and community purpose. The mill site is being redeveloped into affordable housing, continuing Coleman’s original vision of empowerment through opportunity. Adjacent to the redevelopment, the Brown Mill Mountain Bike Trail now offers residents and visitors a scenic recreation area with winding paths, berms, and jumps for biking, hiking, and running.

More than a relic of the past, Brown Mill now symbolizes Concord’s evolving legacy—a place where the spirit of innovation, industry, and community continues to thrive through the Cooperative Christian Ministries’ Rebuilders Campus and Brown Mill Commons development.