A. H. Steely, according to research by W. T. Block, operated a sawmill at Phelps from about 1900 until his death in 1929. Hutch Steely's circular sawmill at Phelps in 1928, according to the Southern Lumberman's Directory of American Saw Mills and Planing Mills, was cutting 15,000 feet daily. After A. H. Steely's death, his son, W. A. Steely, operated the sawmill during the trying times of the Great Depression. An injury in 1941 resulted in Steely nearly losing the use of one arm. He closed the mill, moved to Houston, and supported the war effort as a longshoreman on the docks and a port official.
In 1945, Steely returned to Huntsville and started up the mill. He ran it until 1960, when he sold it to his son, Andrew Arnold Steely. Two years later, the mill was moved to Southwood Drive in Huntsville.