Paris, Texas

==History==

Present-day Lamar County was part of [[Red River County, Texas|Red River County]] during the [[Republic of Texas]]. By 1840, population growth necessitated the organization of a new county. George Washington Wright, who had served in the Third [[Congress of the Republic of Texas]] as a representative from Red River County, was a major proponent of the new county. The Fifth Congress established the new county on December 17, 1840, and named it after [[Mirabeau B. Lamar]],<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7yBEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA281 | title=Revised Civil Statutes and Laws Passed by the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, & 20th Legislatures of the State of Texas | author1=John Sayles | author2=Henry Sales | publisher=Gilbert Book Company | year=1889 | volume=1 | page=281 | access-date=January 7, 2018}}</ref> who was the first Vice President and the second President of the Republic of Texas.

[[Image:Old map-Paris-1885.jpg|left|thumb|Map of the city in 1885]]

Lamar County was one of the 18 Texas counties that voted against secession on February 23, 1861.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://texasalmanac.com/topics/history/timeline/secession-and-civil-war | title=Texas Almanac: Secession and the Civil War | publisher=[[Texas State Historical Association]] | access-date=January 7, 2017 | archive-date=October 21, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161021182743/http://texasalmanac.com/topics/history/timeline/secession-and-civil-war | url-status=dead }}</ref>

{{anchor|1916 fire}}In 1877, 1896, and 1916, major fires in the city forced considerable rebuilding. The 1916 fire destroyed almost half the town and caused an estimated $11&nbsp;million in property damage. The fire ruined most of the central business district and swept through a residential area. The burned structures included the Federal Building and Post Office, the Lamar County Courthouse and Jail, City Hall, most commercial buildings, and several churches.<ref name=1916Fire/>

In 1893, black teenager [[Henry Smith (lynching victim)|Henry Smith]] was accused of murder, tortured, and then burned to death on a scaffold in front of thousands of spectators in Paris.<ref name="nyt.lynch">{{cite web| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/10/us/history-of-lynchings-in-the-south-documents-nearly-4000-names.html | title=History of Lynchings in the South Documents Nearly 4,000 Names | author=Campbell Roberts | newspaper=The New York Times | date=February 10, 2015 | access-date=August 19, 2016}}</ref> In 1920, [[Lynching of Irving and Herman Arthur|two black brothers from the Arthur family]] were tied to a flagpole and burned to death at the Paris fairgrounds. The city has prominent memorials to the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]].<ref name="nyt.lynch"/>

In 1943, the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] in ''[[Largent v. Texas]]'' struck down a Paris ordinance that prohibited a person from selling or distributing religious publications without first obtaining a city-issued permit. The Court ruled that the ordinance abridged freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press in violation of the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/318/418.html | title=Largent v. State of Tex. | publisher=U.S. Supreme Court | via=[[FindLaw]] | access-date=January 7, 2018}}</ref>

[[Image:Paristrains.jpg|thumb|Historic Paris train station]]

Paris is a former railroad center. The [[Texas and Pacific]] reached town in 1876; the [[Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway]] (later merged into the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway) and the Frisco in 1887; the Texas Midland Railroad (later [[Southern Pacific Railroad|Southern Pacific]]) in 1894; and the Paris and Mount Pleasant (Pa-Ma Line) in 1910. Paris Union Station, built 1912, served Frisco, Santa Fe, and Texas Midland passenger trains until 1956. Today, the station is used by the Lamar County Chamber of Commerce and serves as the research library for the Lamar County Genealogical Society.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM74JF_Union_Station_Paris_Texas|title=Union Station - Paris, Texas - Train Stations/Depots|website=Waymarking.com}}</ref>

Following a tradition of American cities named "Paris" (named after [[Paris, France|France's capital]]), the city commissioned a {{convert|65|ft|m|adj=mid|-tall}} [[Eiffel Tower (Paris, Texas)|replica]] of the [[Eiffel Tower]] in 1993 and installed it on site of the Love Civic Center, southeast of the town square. In 1998, presumably as a response to the 1993 construction of a {{convert|60|ft|m|adj=mid|-tall}} [[Eiffel Tower (Paris, Tennessee)|tower]] in [[Paris, Tennessee]], the city placed a giant red cowboy hat atop its tower. The current Eiffel Tower replica is at least the second one; an earlier replica constructed of wood was destroyed by a [[tornado]].

===Race relations===
[[File:Henry-smith-2-1-1893-paris-tx-2.jpg|thumb|215x215px|Lynching of Henry Smith, Paris Fairgrounds, 1893]]
Race relations in Paris were described by ''Newsweek'' as "turbulent" and sometimes "explosive".<ref name=Kovach>{{cite web |url=http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/27/the-turbulent-racial-history-of-paris-texas/ |title=The turbulent racial history of Paris, Texas |author1=Gretel C. Kovach |author2=Ariel Campo–Flores |date=July 27, 2009 |work=Newsweek, via Anderson Cooper 360° |publisher=CNN |access-date=May 1, 2015 |archive-date=October 2, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151002050841/http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/27/the-turbulent-racial-history-of-paris-texas/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the late-19th and early-20th centuries, several [[Lynching in the United States|lynchings]] of African-Americans were staged at the Paris Fairgrounds.<ref name="Witt">{{cite web |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703120170mar12-story.html#page=1 |title=To some in Paris, sinister past is back |author=Howard Witt |date=March 12, 2007 |work=Chicago Tribune |access-date=May 1, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Witt2" /> A black teenager, [[Henry Smith (lynching victim)|Henry Smith]], lynched in 1893, was the first in US history captured in photographs.<ref name="Minutaglio">{{cite book |last=Minutaglio |first=Bill |author-link= |date=2021 |title=A Single Star and Bloody Knuckles: A History of Politics and Race in Texas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lYcHEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA48 |location= |publisher=University of Texas Press |pages=48–51 |isbn=9781477310366}}</ref> Other lynchings included [[Lynching of Irving and Herman Arthur|Irving and Herman Arthur]] in 1920.<ref>{{cite news |ref={{SfnRef|''Fort Worth Star-Telegram'', January 14,|1922}}|date= January 14, 1922|title= Man Acquitted of Murder|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/634458137|newspaper=[[Fort Worth Star-Telegram]] |issn=0889-0013|oclc=60616134 |access-date= July 23, 2020 |url-access=subscription |page=7}}{{cite news |ref={{SfnRef|''New Britain Herald'', July 7, 1920, front page}}|date= July 7, 1920|title= Texas Mob Burns Negroes At Stake|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014519/1920-07-07/ed-1/seq-1/#|newspaper=New Britain Herald|publisher=Herald Pub. Co.|location=[[New Britain, Connecticut]] |issn=2643-4954|oclc=8783515|pages=1–12|access-date= July 7, 2020 |via=[[Chronicling America]] }}{{cite news |ref={{SfnRef|''Bisbee Daily Review'', July 7,|1920}}|date= July 7, 1920|title= Mob of Texans Burns Negroes|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024827/1920-07-07/ed-1/seq-1/#|newspaper=[[Sierra Vista Herald|Bisbee Daily Review]]|publisher=W.B. Kelly|location= [[Bisbee, Arizona]] |issn=2157-3255|oclc=11363144|pages=1–8|access-date= July 7, 2020 |via=[[Chronicling America]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |ref={{SfnRef|''New York Age'', September 4, 1920, front page}}|date=September 4, 1920|title= Officer of the Law Assaults Innocent Girls|url=https://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2011/New%20York%20NY%20Age/New%20York%20NY%20Age%201919-1921%20%20Grayscale/New%20York%20NY%20Age%201919-1921%20%20Grayscale%20-%200703.pdf|newspaper= [[New York Age]]|location= [[Manhattan|New York City]] |oclc=9274417 |access-date= July 15, 2020 }}</ref>

[[File:1cherryandblackwell.jpg|thumb|Local resident and activist [[Brenda Cherry]] speaking at the rally for Brandon McClelland, 2009]]

In 2008, an African-American man, [[Death of Brandon McClelland|Brandon McClelland]], was run over and dragged to death by two white men, who were not prosecuted due to lack of evidence. A rally over the death in 2009 had groups shouting "white power" and "black power".<ref name="Carlton">{{cite web |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/21/riot-police-storm-texas-t_n_242372.html |title=Riot Police Storm Texas Town After Black, White Protesters Clash Over Dragging Death |author=Jeff Carlton |date=August 21, 2009 |work=Huffington Post |access-date=May 3, 2015}}</ref>

Other incidents included sentencing disparities between black and white juveniles, racist flags and graffiti, school discipline disparities,<ref name="Witt3">{{cite web |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-paris_webfeb25-story.html |title=Racism bedevils Texas town |author=Howard Witt |date=February 25, 2009 |work=Chicago Tribune |access-date=May 5, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Witt4">{{cite web |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703310265mar31-story.html |title=Girl in prison for shove gets released early |author=Howard Witt |date=March 31, 2007 |work=Chicago Tribune |access-date=May 5, 2015}}</ref> and racist labor practices.<ref name="Cancino">{{cite web |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/ct-eeoc-sarah-lee-0211-biz-20150210-story.html |title=Sara Lee discriminated against black employees, attorneys say |author=Alejandra Cancino |date=February 10, 2015 |work=Chicago Tribune |access-date=May 3, 2015}}</ref><ref name="NBC5">{{cite web |url=http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Workers-Targets-of-Racist-Behavior-at-Sara-Lee-Plant-EEOC-291445561.html |title=Workers Targets of Racist Behavior at Sara Lee Plant: EEOC |date=February 10, 2015 |publisher=NBC Channel 5 Dallas–Fort Worth |access-date=May 3, 2015}}</ref>