P.W. Thorsell House

Original Owner: P.W. Thorsell

315 Rusk Street

Built: 1910

Paul Wilford Thorsell was born April 7, 1871 in Torstuna, Vastmainland, Sweden. He came to the United States as a small boy, and settled on a farm in Joplin, Missouri. In 1890 he moved to Texarkana, Texas and three years later came to Pittsburg, Texas. He worked as a machinist and acquired the Pittsburg Foundry and Machine Shop in 1893. Rev. Burrell Cannon, a local Baptist minister and engineer, asked for Paul’s assistance in building an airplane based on scriptures from the book of Ezekiel. In 1902 it was built in Mr. Thorsell’s foundry. A replica of the Ezekiel Airship may be seen in the Northeast Texas Rural Heritage Museum here in Pittsburg.

In 1910 Paul built his home on Rusk Street, now occupied by the Erman Smith Funeral Home. Paul had three children, Marguerite, William Morris and Robert Lee, with his first wife, Laura R. Laster, who died in 1932. He later married Lucy Mabell Warrick Darby, and had a son, Paul Wilford Thorsell, Jr.

Mr. Thorsell served the community in many capacities. As a member of the First Baptist Church, he was a deacon, trustee, superintendent, and Sunday school teacher. He was a Mason, a Shriner and at one time a director of Buckner’s Orphan’s Home. He served on the public school board and was on the board of directors of the Pittsburg National Bank.