This street was laid out in 1923 on a little tract owned by Emil Gsell (1866-1944). It was in fact originally spelled “Gsell Street” but both roadway and landowner would soon Americanize their names to “Gesell”. Emil Gsell and his wife Celina (1867-1940) were natives of Alsace-Lorraine; reflecting that region’s turbulent history, Emil was born when it was part of France (as it is today) and his little brother Martin (1872-1936) when it was part of Germany. Emil, Celina, and their four children immigrated to Rockville, CT in 1906, where Emil found work as a weaver at one of the town’s many textile mills. (The Gsells would also have their youngest son Marcel there.) Martin and another brother, Jean Baptiste, also made their way to Rockville; Jean Baptiste would remain there whereas Martin and his family relocated to Long Beach around 1919 and Emil brought his to Glendale shortly thereafter. They lived on Pacific Avenue just around the corner from Gesell Street. Emil was listed as a real estate salesman in the 1930 census, suggesting that he was lured to SoCal by the building boom of the Roaring ’20s, but his obituary identified him as a post office employee. After Celina’s death, he spent his final years with Marcel in Pomona.
Find it on the map:
