Founded in 1895, Thorsby was the first planned community in Chilton County. Its original settlers were people of Scandinavian origin seeking a favorable climate for farming, fruit growing, and better health. The founders were three Swedes, Theodore T. Thorson, John F. Peterson, and John E. Hedberg, and a Norwegian, K. G. Faegre. Advertisements in northern newspapers promoted a southern utopia with good soil, plenty of fresh water, warm temperatures, and long growing seasons, and excursion trains soon brought new residents, most of them Swedes, Norwegians, Finns, and Danes. The name may have come from Torsby in Sweden, but more likely combined Thorson with the Swedish suffix “by,” meaning town. The founders organized the Concordia Land and Improvement Association and mapped out the community with parks and mostly ten-acre residential plots that included a small vineyard. Thorsby formally incorporated in 1901 and continued to grow as churches, homes, and businesses filled the little “Swede Town,” one of three Scandinavian colonies established around Alabama at the turn of the century.