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History of Brownlee Equipment

Established in 1973 by KEN & GAYLE BROWNLEE this Ma & Pa Business was formed with their return after 7 years working in Moosonee on the James Bay Coast. Ken had worked as a mechanic teacher to Natives at the Moosonee Education Center and Gayle had run the local Mooseonee Lodge for tourists.

They moved back to the Charlton Hwy. in Englehart upon Gayle's pregnancy with their first born son, Brian. Ken started a garage doing general repairs as a licensed mechanic and sold BELARUS TRACTORS as a sub-dealer through Morris Harrison - A John Deere Industrial Dealer in Timmins with whom he had developed a relationship through the school in Mooseonee.

KEN'S SALES & SERVICE WAS FORMED. That only lasted a couple of months and Belarus Equipment of Canada, a Russian build tractor, gave Ken & Gayle their own dealership.

In 1980, one of the sales rep's left Belarus to join the growing Cheslovakian tractor distributor, Zetor. This brand was added to Ken's Line as it as a smoother tractor to operate and appealed to a wider range of customers.

In 1985, Gehl Co., approached Ken to represent their Farm Implement Line and Ken's Sales & Service became a full line Farm Equipment dealer. By this time, Ken & Gayle had two more sons, Steven, and Glen. Throughout the years, all three boys would lend a helping hand at the dealership. The boys developed a Contracting Division that would work at different Farms throughout the summer cutting & baling hay.

In 1996, KEN BROWNLEE & SONS EQUIPMENT CORP. was formed as an Ontario Corporation to obtain proper liability and planning through the growing organization. In 1998, Brian graduated Nippising University in North Bay and moved home to devote himself full-time to the dealership.

Two division existed, KEN SALES & SERVICE & BROWNLEE CONTRACTING. In 1999, both subsidiaries were combined to form BROWNLEE EQUIPMENT. With Gehl's expansion into the construction business through the 90's, Brownlee Equipment had the opportunity to move into the rental market of ski loaders & mini excavators.

In 2000, the Valtra tractor line was added, giving Brownlee Equipment the leading edge in tractor technology in the agriculture sector.

Kioti Tractor also approached Brownlee Equipment in 2000 to be their distributor across Northern Ontario. As the Baby Boomers had begun retiring and moving out of the city, there was an increasing number of hobby farmers that needed a small tractor and attachments for their new homes.

In 2002, Valtra was bought out by Agco Corp., a world leading company in Agricultural Equipment. With their vast array of products, like Massey Ferguson, Fentd, Heaston, Sunflower, Cat Challenger and many others, Brownlee Equipment had their chance to be a leader in their field.

In 2005, Gehl halted production of their Agricultural products as a growing trend was being seen across the US that the small family farm had come to an end. Farming is becoming Big Business. Claas approached Brownlee Equipment that same year and worked to fill the void in the Agricultural Implement business that Gehl had left. Claas also gave Brownlee eQuipment the access to the equipment the big time farmers were demanding - the Jaquar Forage Harvesters and Cat Lexion Combines.

With the increasing use of fossil fuels, our world will only be able to sustain itself with new developments in the Agricultural sectors. With new record prices in just about all the commodity fields, farming, will once again be the foot stone to civilization. People have to eat and want to sustain the lifestyles they have become accustom to. Only those positioned to supply all the different aspects of the equipment market are going to be here in the future. Brownlee Equipment has made the Commitment to the Farmers and Construction Workers across Northern Ontario.

In 2007, they built a state of the art facility at their Hwy 11 Earlton location. This new store handles all their sales, rentals, service and contracting divisions out of one location. They have also made strategic alliances across the North setting up sub dealers to supply the wide array of products they represent.

Today and in the future, Brownlee Equipment will be the company to handle that new product and service that the people of the north can use to make jobs that much easier. Stop in today or give them a call!