Normandale was named for Norman W. Dodge, one of seven sons of William E. Dodge, for whom Dodge County was named in 1870. Home to more than 500 people, it served as headquarters of the Dodge Land & Lumber Company, established after the Civil War using questionable deeds. The company claimed more than 300 square miles of longleaf yellow pine across Telfair, Dodge, Laurens, Montgomery, and Pulaski counties, although settlers had earlier claimed most of the property. After years of controversy, the company appealed to federal court and was awarded lands it had seized after the Civil War. As settlers were evicted, a bitter land war followed. The company superintendent, John C. Forsyth, was shot and killed on October 7, 1890, either in the executive house, now restored, or in a nearby twin structure that later burned. Forsyth and his daughter Nellie are buried in the front yard of Christ Church on St. Simons Island. On September 9, 1892, the company's big mill and dry house burned to the ground, and with the region's forests depleted, one of the largest sawmills in the South was not rebuilt.