Paris is proud to have one of the largest collections of architecture of 1916/17 buildings found in the United States of America.
Our Downtown Walking History Tour will take you on a journey through history to preview some of those buildings and read more about their story.
Paris Main Street program is recognized as a 2021 National Main Street City by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Texas Main Street Program.
Take the Tour
This theater had its grand opening on July 30, 1926 when the unique flashing PLAZA sign with its 400 chaser lights lit up the square for the first time. The theater with its rounded arches, tiled roof, wrought iron railing, ornate foyer, and elaborate grill concealing the pipes of the organ in the orchestra pit reflected the influence of Spanish-Moorish architecture so popular in the 1920s.
30 N Plaza
119 N Main
The courthouse was rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1916 with the pink granite blocks salvaged and cleaned from the destroyed building. The County Clerk’s office did not burn because County Judge Charles Neather had insisted upon a fireproof building 27 years earlier. The courthouse has two cornerstones, one on the south side from the burned 1896 structure and the 1917 one on the east side.
*Historical Marker
2 N Plaza
On the northeast corner of the Plaza is a Gothic-style brick building embellished with cut stone and gargoyles. Rufus Scott designed the building in 1917 as a Dry Goods Store, and later, it became Sears.
21 Lamar Ave
Constructed in 1937, the Grand was the largest theater in Paris for over fifty years, and its fly-loft was the tallest, west of the Mississippi. The Grand Theater closed in 1997, and a new Non-Profit was formed to bring it back to its original glory. The project is still underway.
This building was completed in 1914 to house the Paris Post Office. Badly damaged by the Great Fire of 1916, it was repaired, and the post office continued to be used until the new one was built in 1925. Paris Junior College began in the basement of Paris High School, and then moved to this building a year later in 1925 where it was known as the “concrete campus”. Paris Junior College relocated to 2400 Clarksville Street in 1940.
26 NE 2nd
26 NE 2nd
The World War I Cenotaph, on the west lawn of the 1925 post office, is dedicated to the Lamar County heroes who died in the First World War from 1917 to 1918.
Donated by J.J. Culbertson, designed by German born J.L. Wees, a St. Louis architect who subsequently designed many of Paris’ civic and commercial buildings.
231 Lamar Ave
After the original post office was damaged in the Great Fire of 1916, Congress appropriated funds to build a new facility.
Nearly a decade later, the new Post Office opened in 1925. Several additions were built over the years until the post office outgrew the facility. On Feb. 20, 2001, the Paris Post Office moved to Clarksville Street, ending the 106-year span on Lamar Avenue.
322 Lamar Ave
This building was completed in 1922 to house the merged congregations of Lamar Avenue Methodist Church & Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The striking building of Indiana limestone is topped by a tiled dome with a case copper crown. Suspended 35 feet beneath the outer dome is an inner dome of plaster on a steel frame that covers a beautiful 12-section stained glass dome. The church building is included on the National Register of Historic Places.
Historical Marker*
This classical revival style building was designed by the architectural firm of Curtis and Lightfoot. The first city hall was built at the location in 1889 as a combination cit hall/fire station. The two-story brick structure burned in the Great Fire of 1916 and was replaced by the current building.
Historical Marker*
135 SE 1st Street
207 S Church St.
This replaced the building burned in the Great Fire of 1916. First Baptist was established on this site in 1854 as Paris Baptist Church. It was one of the first” churches anywhere to institute a Sunday School.
Historical Marker*
309 S. Church St.
This is the oldest congregation in Paris, which was organized in 1844 as the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The name of the church changed to Central Presbyterian in 1912. The present structure replaced the building burned in the Great Fire of 1916. It was designed by Thomas Broad of Curtis Broad, & Lightfoot.
Historical Marker*
This church copies the Gothic style architecture of the Typical Yorkshire parish church of the 15th century. It is noted for its stained-glass windows and quarter-sawn oak woodwork, pews, and furniture. The church, proper was built in 1917. The educational and church office facility was added in 1984 and connected to the structure by an arcade.
Historical Marker*
322 S Church St.
300 S Main St.
This park is on land owned by J.K. Bywaters.
The Peristyle, modeled after a Grecian Temple, was designed by J.L. Wees. It was donated by the J.K. Bywaters Estate in 1931. A monument of those who lost their lives in the 1982 tornado is at the central entrance. On the south side is a marker dedicated to Welma Morphew Aiken, wife of former Senator A.M. Aiken, Jr.
326 S Main St.
The Paris Public Library was built by J.J. Culbertson in 1931 and dedicated in honor of his wife Emily. It occupies where the Culbertsons had their garden before the Great Fire of 1916.
The Gibraltar is on the east side of the 200 Block of South Main Street, constructed in 1915 and one of the few buildings in the downtown area which survived the Great Fire of 1916. The scene of many social events, the Gibraltar was billed as the finest hotel between Dallas and St Louis.
265 S. Main St
400 SW 1st St.
Market Square has been the site for farmers to do their trading and selling since 1915. In 1914 the City of Paris, the Board of Trade, and the Progressive Club commissioned W.H. Dunn, a landscape architect from Kansas City, Missouri. to assess the existing conditions in the city and produce a plan to guide its growth over the ensuing 25 years.
1 S. Plaza
The fountain in the center of the Plaza was a gift from J.J. Culbertson. Designed by J.L. Wees and completed in 1927 at a cost of $50,000, the fountain incorporates the styles of fountains in Europe. Restored as a bicentennial project, the fountain remains a focal point of the “prettiest plaza in the state of Texas.” (Texas Monthly)
Historical Marker*
