The History of Pittsburg, Texas

Settlers from Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama began arriving in the area in the late 1830s, after the Caddo and Cherokee who had lived there earlier in the century moved on. A community took shape in the 1850s, and when a post office was established in 1855 it was named Pittsburgh, in honor of the family of William Harrison Pitts, said to have arrived from Warren County, Georgia, the year before.

The town grew into the major market center for the surrounding country. In 1893 the post office spelling was simplified to Pittsburg, the form the town carries today. Anchored by farming and trade in the rich timber-and-cotton country of Northeast Texas, Pittsburg established itself early as the commercial hub of the area.

When Camp County was organized in 1874 — named for John Lafayette Camp, a soldier, lawyer, and state senator — Pittsburg was one of three towns proposed for the county seat. It won the honor and remains the seat of Camp County, the smallest county in Texas by area, to this day.

The railroad cemented Pittsburg's role as a trade center. The Cotton Belt (St. Louis Southwestern) line served the town, and the depot built in 1901 became the heart of shipping for area cotton, timber, and farm goods. That handsome brick depot survives today as part of the Northeast Texas Rural Heritage Center and Museum, a reminder of the era when the rails made Pittsburg a busy market town.

Pittsburg's history is flavored — literally — by the East Texas hot link. The stubby, spicy sausages were first sold in town in 1897, when Charlie Hasselback, of German descent, offered uncooked links from a downtown building for customers to cook at home. The Pittsburg hot link became a regional icon, still served at a beloved downtown restaurant.

The town's most famous enterprise began in 1946, when Lonnie 'Bo' Pilgrim and his brother Aubrey opened a feed store that grew into Pilgrim's Pride — at one time the largest chicken producer in the United States, headquartered in Pittsburg for decades. And then there's the Ezekiel Airship: in 1902, Baptist minister and inventor Burrell Cannon built a flying machine inspired by the Book of Ezekiel, which local lore says briefly left the ground near Pittsburg — possibly before the Wright brothers' 1903 flight, though the claim has never been confirmed.