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Jan
6, 1831 an act was passed by the General Assembly to
create a new county and the boundaries were made. The
new county was Monroe.
Josephus
Fox, son of Ezra Fox, deeded to the county a part of
the land upon which the town of Paris was to be built.
In 1831 the site now occupied by Paris was selected as
the county seat. Mrs. J.C. Fox named the new town
Paris, for her home town, Paris, Kentucky. Marshall
Kellet built a log hotel on the same site of the Glenn
house or the Jefferson Hotel, now the Paris Savings
Bank. The first cabins were built by J.C. Fox behind
where Clay Mallory lives on west Monroe Street.
The
old Flanders house which stood on what is now the
Senior Citizen Housing project was one of the first
houses built soon after 1831.
The
first session of the County Court was held on February
10, 1831.
On
November 19 the court appropriated $3,100.00 for a new
Courthouse and $100.00 for a jail. It was completed in
1835 but was destroyed by fire in 1861. During the
year 1867 a new Courthouse was built at the cost of
$45,000.00.
Our
present Courthouse was built in 1912 at a cost of
$100,000.00 and by 1913 it was ready to use.
In
1832 there was a ferry at the Palmyra Ford. The ferry
licenses were $2.00. The fees were – single person
10 cents, horse, mule or jack 5 cents, horse and gig
50 cents, yoke of oxen 25 cents, yoke of oxen and cart
50 cents, yoke of oxen and wagon, 62 ½ cents, 4
horses and wagon 75 cents, neat cattle 5 cents per
head, hogs and sheep 2 cents per head.
A
bridge was built shortly after 1891 across Middle
Fork.
The
first paper published was the Missouri Sentinel in
1840 by Lucian J. Eastin. In 1843 the name was changed
to the Paris Mercury and continued until late 1941
when absorbed by the Monroe County Appeal.
The
Monroe county Appeal was in Monroe City in 1865. The
building burned in 1872 and B. F. Blanton bought a
half interest and in 1873 moved the paper to Paris.
The
first church was a log building near where the covered
bridge stood.
On
August 25, 1888 a Bean Bag Party was held at the home
of R.C. Osborn’s, now known as the Grimes house, on
West Monroe.
John
McGee was one of the earliest settlers and is the
great grandfather of Mrs. Leo Smithey and Miss Oma
McGee.
The
first store was built on the site of the new National
Bank.
In
1888 and 1889 the opera house was built.
The
most unusual tree is a California Redwood in the yard
of Mr. and Mrs. Caskie Painter. It is estimated to be
140 to 150 feet high. It was brought from California
in 1832 by J.C. Fox.
As
early as 1870 the city council purchased several
hundred feet of garden hose for fire protection for
the business district. In 1880 a fire company was
organized and an engine and hose cart purchased. The
well was in front of the Odd Fellows Building.
The
first street lights in Paris were 12 in number and
were lighted each evening and turned out every
morning. Mike and Joe Allen operated the system.
The
Female Seminary was built in the 1850’s on the
location now occupied by Helen McKamey and Mrs. Howard
Harris.
The
Male Academy also was built in the 1850’s where the
Russell Herron’s live.
The
first school district was organized on August 12,
1867.
There
was a smallpox epidemic in the 1850’s, one in 1870
and another in 1899.
Paris
had the third high school to be established in
Missouri about 1870.
In
about 1888 Paris had a population of about 2500. There
were two banks, courthouse, public school, four
churches, four hotels, a flour mill, woolen mill, nine
grocery stores, five dry goods stores, four millinery
stores, five drug stores, two jewelry stores, one
clothing store, three harness shops, three shoe
stores, the saddlery store and the racket store. There
were two tobacco (cigar) factories, one where the
colored schools stands and the other across the
railroad tracks.
We
also had a hoop pole factory.
In
1896 the July 4th celebration had the
largest crowd ever seen in Paris with 8,000 to 10,000
people attending.
In
a September 4, 1891 newspaper story there were three
pearl hunters who camped near Middle Fork and found
two beautiful pearls, valued at $50.00 each.
The
Paris Christian Church was among the earliest
establishments in the early 1830’s.
The
Paris Baptist Church was organized on May 7th,
1831.
The
Paris Methodist church was organized in 1832.
The
Paris Presbyterian Church was organized in 1842.
The
Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church was organized in
1825 and was probably the oldest in the county.
About
1818 an Englishman named Litteby built a cabin on the
land now occupied by the Pleasant View Rest Home. It
is believed to be the first cabin built in the area.
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