Paul J. Sorg Mansion

204. S. Main Street

Middletown, Ohio

Circa 1887

This home stands as a testament to timeless craftsmanship.

The Paul John Sorg castle cost $1 million (over $24 million today) to build. The Sorg Romanesque limestone castle includes a $100,000 addition added which was comprised of a north wing with ballroom, a front porch and turrets, a large carriage house and an imposing stone and iron fence around the 5 acre property.  

The main house was comprised of over 13,000 sq. ft. with 35 rooms with 12' ceilings and each bedroom having its own fireplace. The mansion also features beveled glass bookcases. The Italian tiles and marble vestibule opened to a large grand hall with the main staircase.  

Dining Room Ceiling 

Paul John Sorg

(1840-1902)

Paul John Sorg was a businessman and a member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio.  He was born in Wheeling, West Virginia and attended public school.  He was the youngest son of Henry and Elizabeth Sorg, immigrants from Germany.  Paul Sorg moved with his parents and siblings to Cincinnati, Ohio in 1852 where he was an iron molder apprentice.  He attended night school in Cincinnati.  He also served in the Union Army during the Civil War.

In 1864, Paul J. Sorg met Jon Auer, a German-born tobacco roller in Cincinnati. Auer could make tobacco, but he couldn't keep books.  Sorg knew nothing about making tobacco, but he was a good bookkeeper.  These two men organized a firm for the manufacturing of tobacco, starting a plant in Cincinnati.  In 1869, they partnered with another tobacco firm in Cincinnati.  One of the new partners lived in Middletown, Ohio and urged the newly formed company Wilson, Sorg and Company to relocate there and a new plant was constructed.  

Sorg and Auer soon sold their share of the business and immediately formed another company, P. J. Sorg Tobacco Co., to manufacture cut filler and plug tobacco.  One of their brand names was "Biggest and Best".  This new firm became one of the largest of its type in the world and Sorg became Middletown's first multi-millionaire.