Historic Paris and Lamar County

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HISTORIC
PARIS
AND LAMAR COUNTY TEXAS
An Illustrated History
Commissioned by the Lamar County Chamber of Commerce
Historical Publishing Network
A division of Lammert Publications, Inc.
San Antonio, Texas

PREFACE
John Presley Wright
Chamber of Commerce History Book Chairperson
When asked to collect and organize the information for this book in less than six months, our
committee realized that very little original research could be done. We decided that our first objective
would be to gather information about Lamar County that was fun and interesting. Secondly, this
information should be presented in an informal and unique manner. After all, the Chamber of
Commerce wanted an enjoyable “coffee table” book that could be cherished both by avid collectors
of Lamar County trivia as well as those who had roots in the area for generations. I hope we have
done both.
We want this book to be more than another bound volume sentenced to a shelf needing to be
dusted. We want it to be displayed by the couch or a favorite armchair. We want it visited and
revisited time and time again to celebrate the heritage of Lamar County, and remind you of a few
important persons and events still shaping our county today. Many facts were left out, because not
all could be covered in such a short time and number of pages.
Decades of hard work established Paris and the Lamar County Chamber of Commerce. Unselfish
dedication and sound judgment were needed to make both of them grow and change in order to
better serve the dreams and needs of businesses and individuals. Such unselfish dedication is also
evident in the members of our committee listed below. This book would not have been possible
without them. I give them my thanks.
Committee Members
John Presley Wright, Chairperson
Marvin Gorley, Photo & Style Editor
Ginger Cook, Research Editor
Dr. William Hayden, Inspiration & Proofing Editor
Louise Hagood, Proofing Editor
Daisy Harvill, Archives
Phyllis Byers
Brady Fisher
Marva Joe
Joan Mathis
Ann Rogers
Gary Vest
First Edition
Copyright © 2007 Historical Publishing Network
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including phootcopying, without permission in writing from the publisher.
All inquiries should be addressed to Historical Publishing Network, 11555 Galm Road, Suite 100
San Antonio, Texas, 78254. Phone (210) 688-9008.
ISBN: 9781893619715
Library of Congress Card Catalog Number: 2007930161
Historical Publishing Network
president: Ron Lammert
project manager: Curtis Courtney
administration: Donna Mata
Evelyn Hart
book sales: Dee Steidle
graphic production: Colin Hart
Craig Mitchell
Charles A. Newton III
PRINTED IN SINGAPORE.
2 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

FOREWORD
Dr. William deG Hayden
LAMAR COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Paris and Lamar County have a rich and bountiful history and are
never ending sources of generous and productive citizens. From the
very commencement of Anglo migration from the United States, it
was in this region that settlers first arrived in numbers in Texas.
The local history is replete with vitality and respect and sense of
cooperation. The once huge Caddo population was gone when U.S.
citizens arrived. Settlement was fairly peaceful along the Red River
with periodic clashes between Anglos and roaming Indian hunting
parties. The government development through a succession of county
seats and courthouses was orderly and managed by astute leaders
and organizers.
There was an agrarian life for most of the nineteenth century and
lamentable as it was, slavery in the county was not the harsh variety
that characterized that of the deep South. Secession was not approved by the county before the War
Between the States. Nevertheless Sam Maxey’s Ninth Texas Infantry, fought valiantly and returned
home as a thin gray line which rested and went back to work.
Savvy businessmen saw to it that the railroads came, five in number by 1912. The farming
community was prosperous, and the cotton and hay markets were extraordinary. More cotton was
brokered in Lamar County in 1928 than in any other county in the United States, and national hay
market values were based on production from the local meadows.
Multiple fires teased the city and finally exploded in 1916 in a massive conflagration destroying
70% of the town. With “Smile” as a motto, and without any outside financial help, the city restored
itself in less than a year.
The town made the best of WWII with the help of the army at Camp Maxey. The prosperity that
followed the war resulted in an economic movement to an industrial base built on an earlier furniture
making industry that found Lamar County as the furniture making capital of the state. However, the
agrarian presence remained strong for another two decades. School integration was a non-issue.
The city has always been particular about its appearance, but in recent years, and with millions of
dollars in citizen support, a cultural and preservation atmosphere has blossomed. Paris, centered
around its graceful plaza, is warm and viable and inviting. It is truly the North Star of Texas.
Foreword ✦ 3

History is the rear view mirror on the road of life.
The history of our ancestors speaks to us in many ways: through architecture and artwork,
through scrolls and tablets, and more recently through books and photographs.
This book is the effort of the Lamar County Chamber of Commerce and our committee’s
volunteers to speak to this generation and future generations by providing a record and
description of our community’s past.
We appreciate you, the reader, for your interest in this topic. We appreciate the sponsors
who have told the story of their business and organizations and have made this project
financially feasible. We appreciate the Historical Publishing Network who has coordinated
the financial and publishing responsibilities. And we appreciate the committee members
whose diligent efforts and hard work have made this book possible.
Brady Fisher
Lamar County Chamber of Commerce
Chair, 2005-2006
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
❖
The Red River forms the northern
boundary of Lamar County. Initially
it brought trade to the area. It does
not flow constantly, nor does its
channel remain steady; thus it is not
used today for commerce.
Aikin Regional Archives
AR Consultants, Inc.
City of Paris
Handbook of Texas Online
Harrison, Walker & Harper
Lamar County Genealogical Society
Lamar County Historical Museum
Paris Junior College
The Paris News
Dr. Richard Proctor
Skipper Steely
Billy Stewart
PHOTO BY MARVIN GORLEY
4 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

An Illustrated History ✦ 5

CONTENTS
1. BEFORE LAMAR COUNTY
The Pioneer Era: Past-1839 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 7
2. LAMAR COUNTY BEGINNINGS
Building an Urban and Agrarian Community: 1840-1859 . . . . Page 17
3. BEFORE AND AFTER THE CIVIL WAR
Churches, Secession and Reconstruction: 1860-1879 . . . . . . . . Page 29
4. COMING OF THE RAILROAD AND A NEW CENTURY
Prosperity and Industry: 1880-1909 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 43
5. THE GREAT FIRE OF 1916 AND WWI
Rebuilding in a Larger World: 1910-1929. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 59
6. THE DEPRESSION, WWII AND AVIATION
Expansion and Development: 1930-1949 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 71
7. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND PAT MAYSE LAKE
Farm to Factory: 1950-1979 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 83
8. RECLAIMING OUR HERITAGE
Building for the Future: 1980-2006 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 97
SHARING THE HERITAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 110
❖
The North Sulphur River forms the
southern boundary of Lamar County.
SPONSORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 162
ABOUT THE CHAMBER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 163
PHOTO BY MARVIN GORLEY.
6 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

❖
Participants in an archeological dig in
northeastern Lamar County uncover
evidence of the prehistoric Forche
Maline tribe.
PHOTO BY BILL RIDDER
Chapter One
BEFORE LAMAR COUNTY
The Pioneer Era: Past - 1839
Native American Settlements
Paleo-Indian Period
The earliest occupation in Lamar County
was during the Paleo-Indian period by Native
Americans who made very distinctive Clovis
points. No complete Clovis points are
reported to have come from the county,
although one was found near the mouth of
the Kiamichi River in Oklahoma, and the base
of a Clovis was found on a terrace above Big
Pine Creek. These point styles and other
early styles are probably present in artifact
collections from sites in the county, but
they have not been recorded officially and
only four are mentioned in proper archaeological
literature.
Historic Periods of Human Settlement in Lamar County
Paleo-Indian presence 12,000 B.C. to 6,000 B.C. (approx.)
Archaic settlements 6,000 B.C. to A.D. 200
Woodland peoples A.D. 200 to A.D. 900
Formative Caddoan A.D. 900 to A.D. 1100
Middle Caddoan A.D. 1100 to A.D. 1300
Late Caddoan A.D. 1300 to A.D. 1700
Historic Caddoan A.D. 1700 to A.D. 1730
Historic European A.D. 1700 to A.D. 1815
Anglo-American settlement A.D. 1815 to Today
Chapter One ✦ 7

Archaic Period
In the Early Archaic period, settlements in Lamar
County were characterized as being supported by
mobile bands of small groups whose territories were
poorly defined. Burned rock features and
concentrations occur more in the Middle Archaic
indicating cooking and the greater use of plant food.
In the Late Archaic, it appears that group mobility
was limited and territories more defined.
Woodland Period
In the Woodland period there is evidence that
prehistoric Native Americans had settled into
small hamlets and camps dispersed within
recognizable territories. These changes coincided
with a gradual increase in population size. The
Ray site in east central Lamar County contains a
deposit that spans this time period.
Formative Caddoan Period
Primitive horticulture was used by the
Formative Caddoan peoples, but hunting and
gathering was the main source of subsistence.
Settlements consisted of villages, hamlets and
single family dwellings. Some of the village
sites contain burial or trash mounds. The
Bentsen-Clark site on the south bank of the Red
River in Red River County contains two large
shaft tombs.
Middle Caddoan Period
In the Middle Caddoan period, intensive
maize agriculture and hunting predominated
in subsistence patterns, but foraging
supplemented the diet. Middle Caddoan
period sites along the Red River include
dispersed farmsteads and hamlets along
with a few large villages. Multiple mounds
are present, and burials with abundant
and exotic grave goods are also common,
indicating the presence of “status items.”
The best known site from this period is the
Sander site, located twenty miles northwest
of Paris on Bois d’Arc Creek, which consists
Native Americans in Lamar County
By Dr. Richard Proctor, M.D.
Paris, Texas lies in the western
fringes of what was, for more than a
thousand years (c. 800-1830s), the
homeland of the Caddoan peoples. The
Caddos constituted a complex of
related groups that forged a way of
life that we can describe as follows.
They lived in scattered villages of 10
or 12 houses, each having a leader
called the Caddi. Larger areas had a
spiritual leader called the Xinesi. The
people lived in beehive shaped houses
with wooden frames and thatched
walls. They hunted white-tailed deer,
black bear and small animals for
food and pelts. They planted maize,
squash, beans, pumpkins, and
sunflowers for food. They traded with,
but were culturally distinct from, the
Mississippian cultures to the East
and the nomadic tribes to the West.
They traded bear oil, salt, pelts,
and above all Bois d’arc wood, which
was prized for making strong bows.
When the French and Spanish moved
into their area (beginning in 1541
A.D.) the Caddo were friendly and
served as mediating diplomats
between the Europeans and Native
American tribes.
Prior to the Caddo confederacies
identifiable as early as 800 A.D., their
area of northeast Texas, eastern
Oklahoma, western Arkansas and
northwest Louisiana was home to
hunter-gatherer peoples we now call the
Fourche Maline. Although there is no
confirmed evidence that these people
built houses, the Valley of the Caddo
Archeological Society based in Paris,
Texas and led by Dr. Jim Bruseth and
other archeologists from the Texas
Historical Commission in 2004 believed
they found possible Fourche Maline
post molds at a Fourche Maline camp
site in Lamar County. When later joined
by the Texas Archeological Society under
the supervision of Dr. Alan Skinner of
Dallas, Texas in 2005 and 2006,
additional evidence was uncovered of
probable post molds that suggest houses
on the Fourche Maline site. Radiocarbon
and other dating methods will be
needed to determine if materials
confirm the findings of this first Fourche
Maline house.
Paris and the surrounding communities
are rich in the remains of
past Native American cultures. Its
archeological society is dedicated to the
scientific study and interpretation of
these remains and is committed to their
safety as the valued heritage of its first
and all Americans.
Editor’s Note: The prehistoric Fourche
Maline tribe is considered to be a
predecessor to the Caddo. Northern
Lamar County is the farthest west Fourche
Maline site has been confirmed in the U.S.
8 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

❖
Many Indian artifacts have been
found in Lamar County. The small
bowl at left and the spear point below
were found in the northeastern part of
the county.
COURTESY OF TOM AND LOUISE HAGOOD
of two mounds and twenty-one burials, many
multiple, with a wide variety and number of
grave goods.
Late Caddoan Period
In the Late Caddoan, a shift in site location
away from the major drainage, and into
the headwaters of smaller tributaries resulted
in the rearrangement of people into small,
but numerous hamlets scattered throughout
the region of northeast Texas. Major sites
located on the banks of the Red River in
Texas and Louisiana during this period
are recognized in the historic period as the
Hasinai Confederacy of the Caddo. Trade
contracts ranged from the Plains to the Texas
Gulf Coast.
Historic Periods
There is a general break in the archaeological
record for a period of several hundred years at
the end of the Late Caddoan period. No
significant Spanish or French occupation is
known to have occurred in Lamar County. In
addition, no evidence of historic Native
American occupation in the area has been
reported other than that documented from
the Womack site, which is located on a
bluff overlooking the Red River in northern
Lamar County.
The First Anglo Settlers
Early Settlements
In the 1750s, the French governor of
Louisiana authorized Francis Herve to establish a
post on the Upper Red River. The French had
established a successful settlement on the Cane
River at Natchitoches, Louisiana, about 1713
and had begun to push westward. Herve’s Post
was located on the north bank of the Red River
near Boggy Creek, which emptied into the Red
River north of Lamar County. It was primarily a
post for trading with the Indians and was
probably fortified for defense against unfriendly
Indians and outlaw bands.
After about two years, the post was
abandoned, and Herve moved forty miles down
river to the old Caddo Indian village on the
Texas side. With about a dozen soldiers, Herve
established Fort Saint Louis de Carlorette.
Several French families lived near the fort and
grew corn, tobacco and vegetables. After the
French turned the fort over to the Spanish in
1770, it was abandoned and the people moved
to Natchitoches.
Early Visitors
It was several years before people from the
United States began to come up the Red River
into Spanish Territory. The earliest visitors (from
Chapter One ✦ 9

❖
A 1936 Texas Historic Marker in the
extreme northeast corner of Lamar
County marks the county’s first
Anglo-American settlement:
“…the families of J.G.W. Pierson,
Luke and John Roberts and the Mason
brothers settled here in 1820. Within
a year…the women, children and
slaves were victims of an Indian raid.
Five of the men pursued, but
outnumbered, they too were killed.”
PHOTO BY MARVIN GORLEY
1799-1813) were trappers and hunters who
only stayed briefly. One of the first white men to
come to what became Red River County was
Adam Lawrence, a Tennessean who, about
1815, was in the section opposite the mouth of
the Kiamichi River, which became the site of the
Wright Plantation. Lawrence was a trapper and
hunter. Indications are he was killed by an
Indian on the north side of the Red River.
Another early visitor to the area was John
Emberson, Sr., who had taken part in the Battle of
New Orleans. After returning home to Tennessee,
he and some friends took a boat and reached, by
way of the Red River, an area that became the
northern part of Lamar County. They spent a season
hunting and trapping before returning home.
First Anglo-American Settlement
During the period 1816-1820, the families of
J. W. G. Pierson, Luke and John Roberts, and the
Mason Brothers settled in the northeast corner of
Lamar County. While the men were away
hunting, Indians killed the women, children, and
slaves. The men pursued and were also killed. In
1936, on a hill not far from the Red River, the
Centennial Commission of Texas erected a
granite marker identifying this site as the first
Anglo-American settlement in Lamar County.
Timeline: 1816-1839
1816 Claiborne Wright family traveled by keelboat on Red River to Pecan Point.
1816 ca John Emberson, Sr. hunted and trapped in northwest part of Lamar County area.
1819 Claiborne Wright built home at Jonesboro.
1820 ca First Anglo-American settlement in Lamar County area.
1824 John Emberson established the first permanent settlement in the Lamar County area.
1833 Sam Fulton settlement established near present site of Arthur City.
1835 Larkin Rattan came to Red River County. Part of his headright was land on which
Paris would be located.
1836 The Republic of Texas was established.
1836 Claiborne Chisum came from Tennessee and bought land from Asa Jarman.
1836 Approximate date for the settlement of Pattonville by the sons of Robert Patton.
1837 Roxton settlement begun with the establishment of Shelton’s Fort.
1839 George Wright moved to Paris, bought land from Larkin Rattan, and built his store
where the Paris Plaza is located today.
10 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

More Settlements
In 1823-24, eight other families, including
the John Emberson family, settled and built
homes along the Red River. The Embersons
settled near the place where he had hunted and
trapped with his companions eight years before.
His son (also John Emberson) was said to have
been the first white child born in what is now
Lamar County.
Miller County, Arkansas
A boundary dispute between the United States
and Mexico questioned which government
owned the area that would eventually become
Lamar County.
Arkansas Territory was created out of lands
acquired by the United States with the Louisiana
Purchase in 1819. Arkansas Territory only
included present day Arkansas and most of
present day Oklahoma, but a confused Arkansas
Territorial legislature created Miller County
partly inside Spanish Texas. As the confusion
persisted settlers were unsure where their allegiance
should lie. Some hedged their bets by
paying taxes to both.
In 1828 the Indian treaty boundary was
established at today’s Oklahoma-Arkansas
border. White settlers were forced to leave what
is now southeastern Oklahoma, and the
Oklahoma part of Miller County disappeared.
The only part of the county left was the disputed
area in Spanish Texas. When the Republic of
Texas created Red River County in 1836, Miller
County disappeared altogether. The Arkansas
Territory was admitted into the Union as the
twenty-fifth state in 1836, and a different Miller
County was re-established in 1874.
Founding Families
The Arrival of Claiborne Wright
The history of Lamar County really began
when Claiborne Wright, his family of seven, and a
couple of servants left Carthage, Tennessee, for
Texas on March 5, 1816. Believing the great
Southwest offered better financial opportunities,
he built a keelboat, christened it “Pioneer,” loaded
it with household goods, food supplies and
weapons, and pushed off for “the promised land.”
Floating down the Cumberland, Ohio and
Mississippi Rivers, and up the Red River, the
Claiborne Wright family tied up in September
1816 at Pecan Point on the north side of the Red
River, an area thought to be part of Arkansas
territory. The three months floating down river
was easy compared to the difficulties they
encountered poling/cordelling up the Red River,
circumventing the Great Red River Raft above
the present city of Shreveport, Louisiana, and
surviving a robbery at a Coushatta Indian
❖
In April 1820 uncertainty over
boundaries caused the Territory of
Arkansas to establish part of Miller
County inside Spanish claimed Texas.
Dispute over the ownership of many
Northeast Texas counties (shaded in
gray) continued until two years after
the Republic of Texas created Red
River County.
Chapter One ✦ 11

❖
The Red River was a convenient route
to Northeast Texas. Most early
settlers either traveled it or crossed it
to reach Lamar County.
PHOTO BY MARVIN GORLEY
village. It took the Wright family nearly three
months to get through the log jam and enter the
open river at the head of Willow Chute. Several
days after the Coushatta Indian incident, the
Wrights reached Long Prairie. Here they met the
first white men they had seen since leaving
Natchitoches, Louisiana. After staying there a
few days, they continued up the Red River.
When the Wright family arrived at Pecan
Point, they found William Mabbitt’s trading post
and two or three other families who had arrived
a year earlier. Whether Claiborne Wright would
have remained there, continued on, or turned
back is unknown since the decision was made
for him when shortly after arriving, the keelboat
sank with all the remaining cargo.
It was early fall, and the Wright family found
themselves in a serious predicament. The
sinking of their keelboat had left them without
shelter or food, except for wild game. In
addition, there was no salt to season their meat.
The crowning blow was the lack of money to
purchase any type of provisions. Consequently,
their weapons became their salvation for food
and protection. Fortunately, there were two
families and a trader nearby who, with their
hunting dogs, could almost immediately find
bear, deer and buffalo for meat. With the help of
newly made friends, the Wrights made it
through the first year.
The next year, Claiborne Wright and one of
his sons traveled over one hundred miles by
horseback to get supplies. They traded for five
bushels of corn, two for seed and the rest to be
pounded into meal for bread.
In 1818, corn was planted in small patches
and when it was gathered, it was worth five
dollars a bushel. During the fall, about fifty
families arrived in the Red River valley region.
Some brought cows and horses. The next year
corn was grown “up the river.” Unfortunately,
the Osage Indians raided the settlements and
stole most of the livestock. Corn then had to be
planted and harvested by hand. Just the same,
enough corn was gathered to supply their
needs. From that time on, there was no lack
of bread.
For several months after they arrived at
Pecan Point, the Claiborne Wright family
lived in a lean-to and a shack at Mabbitt’s
Trading Post. The next year, they built a
log cabin not far from the trading post on
Pecan Bayou. In 1818, the Wright family
moved farther up river and built a house on a
higher bank. The Pecan Bayou land was sold to
Nathaniel Robbins. Two years later a Wright
home was located north of the Red River at
Shawneetown where a better supply of drinking
water existed. His wife died in 1820 after the
birth of a son. In 1821, Wright constructed
the family’s fourth home to the west on Clear
Creek, and this quickly expanded into a small
village, the center of social and governmental
activity of what was becoming Miller County,
Territory of Arkansas. Wright became the
county’s first representative to Little Rock, and
later the sheriff. More settlers arrived with
potential brides. Wright remarried and had
two sons, but did not live to see them grown.
He died in 1829, four days after an altercation
in Jonesboro.
The Chisum Family
Claiborne Chisum moved from Tennessee in
1836, with his wife Lucinda and four children.
He bought a tract of land from Asa Jarman in
what became West Paris and built his home
there. He was already farming and ranching his
land when George Wright settled, built his
house and store, and brought his wife from the
Kiomatia plantation. George Wright was a guest
at the Chisum home while his house and store
were being built on a ridge almost equal
distance between the Red and Sulphur Rivers.
12 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

Northeast Texas Pioneers
From “The History of Lamar County”
By A.W. Neville
1816
John Wilson
Jason Wilson
1818
J.W.G. Pierson
1820
John Roberts
Luke Roberts
1823
Richard Ellis
John Hart
Frank Hopkins
Henry Stout
1824
Collin McKinney
James Clark
John Emberson
Adam Hampton
1825
William Ragsdale
1826
Squire Mays
James Osgood
1830
Bradford Fowler
1832
Mitchell Keller
1833
Henry Shockey
Asa Jarman
John R. Craddock
Sam M. Fulton
Robert Cravens
James Stoneham
M.Hart
Robert Wheat
William Stout
1834
Wiley Witherspoon
John Rowland
George Bason
Joseph Deck
E. Wideman
Caleb Wood
Matthias Click
Adam Hampton
A. McClennon
B.M. Ballard
Sherrod Rowland
John C. Bates
1835
John H. Williams
Lawrence W. Tinnin
Thomas King
Ralph Davis
Harrison Brummett
William M. Williams
John A. Rutherford
J.P. Majors
Reddin Russell
Larkin Rattan
Wesley Askins
Isaac Cruse
George W. Cox
John V. Cherry
Joseph Houndshell
Alex McAnier
John Pew
S.R. Cherry
John H. Fowler
William Blundell
Robert Patton
J.H. Mebane
Edward H. Tarrant
T.B. Chaffin
John Harris
James Graham
1836
Willard Stowell
John Wilson
Thomas Askins
James Bridges
Samuel Jeffries
Abner Hill
Ignacius Aud
Jacob Lyday
Benjamin Simmons
D.H. Jamison
Isaac Lyday
Abe Skidmore
Alex Graham
John W. Williams
Hamlin L. Williams
John Guffey
Leven Moore
Henry Trimble
James Jackson
Joshua Bowerman
1837
James Hart
John Dukes
George Stell
John Dennis
John T. Harmon
Henry G. McDonald
William B. Patton
Mrs. Jane Crowder
Dr. William Burrus
Richard G. Mills
William Scott
Thomas Dennis
James Dennis
John L. Lovejoy
John F. Griffin
James Bourland
Thomas Noble
William Yates
Jesse Shelton
John B. Denton
John Johnson
D.T. Alexander
Alexander Stephenson
1838
Samuel C. Price
1839
James M. Brackeen
Thomas Skidmore
David Nicholson
Granville Nicholson
B.B. Nicholson
James Wortham
William Brackeen
James Ray
Chapter One ✦ 13

❖
The original home of George W.
Wright still sits on a hill overlooking
the river in Red River County. Made
of hand hewn logs, the building is on
the Texas Historic Register. Wright’s
Landing was considered the furthest
point steamboats could safely navigate
the Red River.
PHOTO BY MARVIN GORLEY
George W. Wright
George Washington Wright was born east of
Carthage, Tennessee on December 11, 1809,
one of Claiborne and Elizabeth Travis Wright’s
five children. He also farmed, dealt with real
estate and had a mercantile career for most of
his life.
In March of 1816 his father, mother and three
servants packed up belongings onto a keelboat
and began a six months trip to the far frontier of
property thought to be owned by the United
States. Wright’s young adulthood was spent
learning how to survive in the wilds, whether it
was hunting buffalo on the prairies west of what
is now Paris, Texas or hiding from the feared
Osage Indians who came through the Red River
Valley now and then to hunt. His father was a
member of the Territory of Arkansas Legislative
Council and sheriff of what was Miller County,
now Northeast Texas and Southeast Oklahoma.
The first Wright home was at Pecan Point, on the
south side of the Red River. Later the Wright
home would be the county court.
On February 13, 1834, George Wright
married Matilda Holman of Hempstead County,
Territory of Arkansas. The Wrights moved to
land he had purchased in 1831 at the far
western edge of settlements in Miller County,
Territory of Arkansas. The farm or small
plantation banked upon the Red River, across
from the mouth of the Kiamichi River. The place
was called the Kiomatia Plantation or Wright
Farm. For the next five years, Wright farmed the
acreage as part of Miller County, but soon it
became apparent that the United States would
never allow the settlers land claims to their
properties. Neither could an agreement be
struck with Mexico. Thus, Red River Valley
inhabitants turned their interest south toward
the efforts of Anglo-Texans.
14 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

Continuous Indian threats from the west kept
the Red River settlements from contributing
many men to help when war with Mexico seemed
inevitable. Finally, the Red River settlements
made their choice by sending delegates to the
Independence Convention in March 1836.
In the early spring of 1836, the Red River
settlements received a message from David
Burnet to assist the Texian cause. Wright
eventually responded, first taking his wife
Matilda and their two daughters, Nancy Jane
and Elinor, to the Holman farm in Hempstead
County. He then rode south to assist the Texas
cause against the Mexicans. While there he was
elected to serve as one of the three Red River
District representatives in the first Republic of
Texas Congress to be held at Columbia.
The upbeat weeks that were spent in an
active role creating a new country soon changed
to personal sadness for Wright. When he
returned to the Columbus, Arkansas area to
celebrate a late Christmas with his family he
found out his two young daughters had
sickened and died. He and Matilda returned to
Kiomatia childless.
Shortly after Texas Independence, the Red
River District land commissioners met in
Wright’s home on a mound facing a bend in the
Red River. It became one of eleven such offices
established in Texas to register land claims. For
the first time Red River Valley residents would
be able to officially claim their land.
Before he was elected as representative to the
Third Texas Congress in the fall of 1838, Wright
had two more children: William “Joggles” Travis
and Emily Brown Wright. At the Houston
Congressional gathering Wright was joined also
by his first cousin John Hopkins Fowler and
Isaac Newton Jones. Richard Ellis of the Red
River District was again elected the area’s senator.
The meeting lasted until January 24, 1839.
Because he kept having recurring bouts with
malaria, Wright left his farm of 3,432 acres
across from the Indian Territory in 1839, selling
it to his brother Travis Wright and including
another tract of 100 acres in Lamar County with
a tenant house on it and six slaves. Having been
successful at farming, thanks to corn contracts
originally with the governmental move of the
Choctaw Indians, George Wright then purchased
1,000 acres for $2,500 from Illinoian
Larkin Rattan. The land was in western Red
River County in the middle of what would
become Lamar County in late 1840. It was
located just a half-mile from the Claiborne
Chisum/Johnny Johnson settlement, which was
on a sharp turn in the road called Pinhook.
The land Wright purchased was on a crest
that separated the watershed between the Red
River about fifteen miles to the north and the
Sulphur River the same distance to the south.
He constructed a rather large home at what is
now 304 Southwest Third in Paris, and he
opened up a business about one-quarter mile to
the northeast at what is now the northwest
corner of the Plaza.
Red River County
Lamar County history must include that of
Red River County because it was part of it for
four years (1836-1840).
The new Republic of Texas created Red River
County in 1836. George Wright was still in Sam
Houston’s army when its first election was held.
George Wright, M. W. Matthews, and William
Becknell were elected representatives, and
Richard Ellis was elected senator to the First
Republic of Texas Congress. Ellis was chosen
President pro-tem of the Senate.
Lamar County was created out of Red River
County on December 17, 1840.
❖
George W. Wright arrived in the Red
River County area in 1816 at the age
of seven. He moved to Paris
in 1839.
COURTESY OF THE SKIPPER STEELY COLLECTION
Chapter One ✦ 15

Timeline: 1840-1859
1840 First Congress of Republic of Texas created Lamar County from Red River County
on December 17, 1840.
1841 First county seat established at Lafayette, June 1841.
1841 John A. Rutherford elected first chief justice of county.
1842 Sixth District Court (originally Eighth) formed.
1843 James Graham organized the first Methodist church in Paris.
1843 County seat moved to Mount Vernon.
1843 The Paris post office was created by the Republic of Texas on July 24, 1843.
George W. Wright was named the first postmaster.
1844 County seat established in Paris on fifty acres donated by George W. Wright.
1844 Central National Road of Republic of Texas bisects county.
1844 First newspaper in Lamar County, the Western Star, begun by James Wellington
Latimer.
1844 Cumberland Presbyterian Church established in Paris.
1844 ca First court house erected in center of public square.
1845 Paris incorporated with 160 acres on February 3, 1845.
1845 Texas annexed by the United States on December 29.
1846 Sons of John Biard settle in Biardstown area.
1846 The United States Post Office assumes control of the Paris post office on May 22,
1846, the year after Texas became a state.
❖
From the days of the early settlers,
horse drawn plows, Red River
keelboats, and plantation workers,
Lamar County fortunes have been
tied closely to the hard work and
ingenuity of the individual. They may
have worked in families and been free
men, slaves or share croppers, but all
worked to change a wilderness into a
more civilized land that promised a
better future.
1846 First school in county, the Lamar Academy, established in northwest Paris.
1846 Foundation laid for first permanent court house (in the square) for Lamar County.
1847 Cemetery and Church of Christ established at Antioch by members of Biard family.
1850 Paris Milling Company begun as a grist mill by Francis Bassano.
1850 First U.S. census taken in county (Paris: 1,003; county: 3,978; and slaves: 1,085).
1853 Graham School, first known as Paris Female Institute, established.
1854 Baptist church organized in Paris
1857 Sam Bell Maxey, his father, and their families arrive in Paris.
1858 Johnson-McCuistion home built at 730 Clarksville (Fry-Gibbs Funeral Home).
1859 Paris Press began.
1859 Rodgers-Wade Company established as Rodgers Table Company.
16 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

Chapter Two
LAMAR COUNTY BEGINNINGS
Building an Urban and Agrarian Community: 1840 - 1859
Lamar County
Lamar County Was Almost Named Calhoun
In the early part of 1840, George W. Wright
and his friends A.H. Latimer, C.R. Johns and
W.N. Porter (then serving in the Fifth Congress of
the Republic of Texas) decided that it was time
for the creation of a new county to accommodate
the increasing number of settlers coming into the
Red River area.
On December 3, 1840, Representative Porter
presented the petition of “sundry citizens of Red
River County praying for a division of said
county.” It was referred to the Committee on
County Boundaries, consisting of L.S. Haigler of
San Patricio, G.H. Harrison of Houston, Thomas
Thatcher of Refugio, Latimer of Red River and
James Shaw of Milam.
On December 7, the Committee offered a bill
in compliance with the petition and on December
11, debate was taken up. The bill was again
referred to a committee and their report was filed
December 14. On December 15, 1840, the House
passed the bill with the two counties named
Bowie and Calhoun.
The following day, the Senate passed the bill,
with two amendments, and the name Calhoun
was changed to Lamar, in honor of General
Mirabeau B. Lamar. Vice President David G.
Burnett signed the Act the same day it was laid
before him. Lamar County was created Thursday,
December 17, 1840, just two weeks after the
original petition was filled.
of Paris, called Lafayette, had been selected on
June 3, 1841. Court was held there from June
28, 1841, to June 26, 1843.
Why Lafayette was abandoned is not known.
Some citizens said it was because the well water
was not good. Others said it was because the site
was too far north. Lamar County at that time
extended through Delta County. The law required
county seats to be not more than five miles from
the geographical center of a county, and Lafayette
was outside that allowance.
A bill enacted by the Seventh Texas Congress
in December 1842, called for an election to
select a new county seat for Lamar County. The
election was held, and a place called Mount
Vernon, located about five and one-half miles
south of Paris, was selected as the second Lamar
County seat.
❖
Lamar County has had three county
seats. In 1936, as part of the Texas
Centennial celebration, markers were
placed at the locations of the first two.
The Lafayette and Mount Vernon
markers can be found by consulting
the map below.
County Seats
For one reason or another, Lamar County
residents could not agree on a location for their
county seat.
On June 22, 1841, John Watson donated
forty acres for the location of the first Lamar
County seat of government. The site northeast
Chapter Two ✦ 17

❖
Opposite, top: During the early years
of the Republic of Texas, the area
encompassing present-day Lamar
County was originally part of Red
River County.
Opposite, middle: Lamar County was
created out of Red River County on
February 1, 1841.
Opposite, bottom: On July 29,
1870, Delta County was formed
from parts of Lamar County and
Hopkins County.
18 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

On July 24, 1843, the record shows court met
at Mount Vernon and no business was transacted.
The court convened again in October 1843 with
the same results. The last recorded meeting was
held on January 22, 1844.
An election was held in 1844 to move the county
seat once again. Finally it was moved to Paris where
fifty acres had been donated by George W. Wright.
The boundaries were spelled out in a $10,000 bond
executed by Wright on August 24, 1844.
Courthouses
The Lamar County Commissioners Court
originally met in the home of George W. Wright.
During the fall term of 1841, they set forth plans
for the Lamar County’s first courthouse (located in
Lafayette). The plans copied Wright’s house. The
simple structure consisted of twenty-four square
feet with a common bar and bench, two doors
(one in the end and one in the side), three
windows (one each side of the bench and one in
the side) and ten-foot-high eaves. Late in 1841 the
commissioners were presented a bill for
construction of the courthouse by John L. Lovejoy
for $300. The record shows, “adjournment was
taken for thirty-five minutes and when court
reassembled it considered and allowed the claim
of $250 for building the courthouse. The claim of
$50 for extra work was deferred to the next day,”
at which time it was rejected.
No courthouse was built at Mount Vernon,
the second county seat of Lamar County, during
the year in which court was held there.
Major George W. Stell was contracted to build
the first Paris courthouse, probably in 1844. The
loss of county records makes it impossible to
know what sort of building he built or its costs.
In 1846 the foundation was laid for the first
permanent courthouse. It was built in the center
of the Paris public square. By that time, the
square was fairly well surrounded with frame
stores, shops, saloons, and a respectable number
of houses. The courthouse was made of brick,
with two stories, and was informally dedicated on
July 4, 1847. Claiborne Chisum, et al, built it
under contract. It was considered to be the finest
in Northeast Texas.
First Leaders of Lamar County Government
Although the title of county judge in Lamar
County dates back only as far as 1876, a
corresponding office with the title of chief
justice headed the county’s judicial affairs from
its earliest beginnings in 1840.
At the time, chief justices were elected by
the Texas Congress for a term of four
years. When the bill was signed giving Lamar
County its birth, the Senate notified the House
it was ready to receive nominations for
chief justice and John A. Rutherford was elected
in 1841.
Before Rutherford finished his four-year
term, Congress made the office elective by the
people. Rutherford was succeeded by William
Crisp, who later resigned. John H. Crook was
then elected. H.R. Latimer was elected probate
judge in 1846, while Crook continued as chief
justice until 1848, when Latimer was elected to
that position and the office of probate judge was
discontinued. Crook was re-elected as chief
justice in 1851 and served until 1857, when he
resigned and Jason Wilson was chosen to
complete the term.
First County Sheriffs
The Lamar County Sheriff’s office dates
back to February 1841, when an election
chose William R. Brown as the first sheriff.
Elbert Early was elected in 1844; Reddin Russell
elected 1845; Cyrus K. Holman, April 1848;
and John D. Thomas in February 1851.
❖
The bronze bust of Paris founder
George W. Wright was sculpted by
Eddie Dixon from a Jenkins Marble
Yard plaster created around 1920.
Located at the entrance of Heritage
Hall, the bust depicts Wright as he
looked in the latter days of his life
when he was painted by William
Henry Huddle. The Huddle
painting is now hanging in the Texas
capital building.
PHOTO BY MARVIN GORLEY.
Chapter Two ✦ 19

❖
On September 16, 2006, the Joseph
Ligon Chapter of the Daughters of the
American Revolution dedicated the
relocation of an historic marker
commemorating the National Road of
Texas. In attendance was Bobbie
Stell Henry, a descendent of the road’s
surveyor, George W. Stell. She was
accompanied by her husband,
Eddie Henry.
PHOTO BY MARVIN GORLEY.
First District Court Formed in 1842
The Sixth District Court serving Lamar County
(originally the Eighth), dates back to 1842. The
sixty-second District Court was organized in
1903. When Lamar County was organized,
Harrison, Red River and Fannin Counties formed
the Seventh district, stretching from Marshall to
Wichita Falls. John M. Hansford was the first
district judge and held the first court.
Early Lamar County Marriages
During the first ten years of Lamar County
history, the county clerks issued 412 marriage
licenses. The first was issued to John C. Bates
and Nancy O’Neal on February 23, 1841, the
day after the first meeting of county officers and
the official beginning of the government.
Dr. H. G. McDonald and Sarah Turner were
married February 8, 1844, by Jacob Lyday.
Young Burgher and Mary Bell were married
August 29, 1844. In 1864, Burgher became a
member of Colonel James Bourland’s frontier
regiment, doing scout duty on the western
frontier and along the Red River to protect Texas
settlers from Indian raids. George W. Lovejoy
married Miss P. C. Highfield on October 29,
1846 with the Reverend James Graham
officiating. Lovejoy was the son of the contractor
who built the courthouse in Lafayette, first
county seat of Lamar County. Henry R. Latimer
and Miss L. A. Shelton were married by the
Reverend Sam Corley on December 26, 1843.
Latimer was a brother of Albert Latimer, a signer
of the Texas Declaration. He was elected probate
judge in Paris in 1846 and chief justice for Lamar
County two years later. His wife was a member
of the Fort Shelton family of pioneers.
Population
In 1844, Lamar County probably had a
population between 2,500 and 3,000, not
counting the Negro slaves. No census was taken
until 1850 after Texas had become a state.
The National Road of Texas
On February 5, 1844, President Sam Houston
approved an Act “To Open and Establish a
National Road.”
The Central National Road’s 129-mile length
extended from present day Dallas County to the
junction of the Red and Kiamichi Rivers. It
entered Paris from the southwest, followed
present-day Bonham Street, and continued along
the north side of the square, then not too far east
of the square, the road took off in a northeasterly
direction for its final destination in the extreme
northwest corner of Red River County opposite
the mouth of the Kiamichi River.
Major George W. Stell of Paris was appointed
surveyor to handle measurements of the road
and to act under the direction of five appointed
commissioners. He and his crew were to mark
the right of way with posts at each mile, prepare
a map and clear the route of obstructions. The
surveying took exactly one month from April 26
to May 26, 1844. In July, bids were taken for the
construction of the road which was to be thirty
feet wide with stumps no taller than a foot and
with substantial bridges over the water courses.
The road was finally completed April 1, 1845.
20 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

❖
The Central National Road of the
Republic of Texas diagonally bisected
what eventually became Lamar
County. Its route was surveyed by
Paris resident George W. Stell.
Records of the General Land office show that
twenty-seven thousand acres of land was given as
reimbursement for work done in surveying and
constructing the National Road. Major Stell’s field
notes in his handwriting are preserved in the
General Land Office.
Paris, Texas
How Did Paris Get Its Name?
Paris was born on August 24, 1844, when
George W. Wright gave fifty acres to be used as the
county seat of Lamar County. However, the name
Paris was being used as early as 1841. An invoice
from Wright’s store to Major Jonathan Bird is
dated September 1841, and a bill of purchase
from Bird to Wright is dated September 22, 1841.
The naming of Paris has been wrapped in
mystery for 150-plus years. Some believe Wright
employed a Frenchman who named the town,
but no proof has been found of this. The name
Pinhook had many advocates, but this has been
rather soundly squashed. The moniker was kept
legendary editor of the Clarksville Standard,
Colonel Charles DeMorse, who took pleasure in
needling Paris with this name.
A very prominent Paris citizen, Captain J. M.
Daniels was quoted in a published article by his
daughter, Mrs. Charles Ragland: “George Wright
donated donated acres which were accepted by
the following commissioners: George Wilson,
Jessie Shelton, Joel Wafer, Joseph Bowerman,
and Dr. John David. The honor of naming Paris
also fell to the lot of George Wright. At that time
Paris France was the largest and most important
city in the world. In a spirit of fun, he called the
little settlement in Lamar County-Paris.”
Paris Post Office
On September 10, 1842, Paris was listed in
the Clarksville Northern Standard as a stop on a
Republic of Texas postal route. The route ran
from Warren in Fannin County to Clarksville in
Red River County. George W. Wright was named
Paris’ first postmaster on April 1, 1843 by the
Republic of Texas. On July 8, 1844, Jacob Long
was named the second Paris postmaster. Texas
became the twenty-eighth state of the United
States on December 29, 1845, and on February
19, 1846, its governmental functions including
post office operations were formally transferred.
The first United States postmaster for Paris,
Francis B. Gilliam, was appointed May 22, 1846.
The first Paris post office was probably located
in George Wright’s store. It was customary in that
day for the post office to be located in a business
Chapter Two ✦ 21

❖
Right: An early marker of the First
Call Survey of Paris was painted on a
building located at the site. It was
replaced with a stone monument when
the First National Bank erected a
drive thru banking facility on the
corner in 1966.
COURTESY OF THE AIKIN ARCHIVES.
Below: The first survey of Paris
prepared by George W. Stell in 1844.
COURTESY OF THE LAMAR COUNTY
CLERK’S OFFICE.
owned by the postmaster. That continued in 1852
when S. E. Clement was postmaster. His store, and
the post office, was on the east end of the north
side of the square. In 1855 the post office was
probably in postmaster R. B. Francis’ Paris Hotel
on the east end of the south side of the square.
The Stell Plat Survey
Paris was first surveyed by Major George W.
Stell in 1844 when George W. Wright donated
fifty acres of land for a county seat. The plat
shows lots, blocks, and streets. In his bond,
Wright reserved three lots. One where his store
was built on the north end of the west side of the
square, and the other two on the east side of the
square. One east side lot was located at the north
end of the block and the other south of it with
one lot between. Paris’ main streets (now Main,
Clarksville, and Lamar Avenue) were sixty feet
wide, and the other streets were forty feet wide.
First Paris City Government
Paris was incorporated as a town by the
Congress of the Republic of Texas on February
3, 1845, and the bill signed by President Anson
Jones. That first incorporation was half a mile
square with a public square in its center.
The legislature directed that eight aldermen and
a mayor be elected by the people and
that a secretary and a treasurer to be selected from
the aldermen. A tax collector and a constable also
were to be elected by the people and the mayor exofficial
was a justice of the peace. No record exists
of who was elected under this early system of
government in Paris.
22 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

In 1848 the state legislature granted the city a
new charter. It provided the same boundaries,
but reduced the number of aldermen to four and
provided for the election of a treasurer in
addition to the mayor and aldermen, who were
to be householders or owners of real estate. The
mayor was to hold court as a justice of the peace.
On February 10, 1852, the legislature enacted
yet another charter for the city. It came in response
to a petition signed by twenty-eight citizens. That
request said the new charter was requested “in
order that we may avoid the evils under which we
are now placed,” but did not outline those “evils.”
The 1852 charter made the city’s area a mile
square, four times its former size, but made no
mention of officers or powers different from the
earlier charters, except that the council might
provide for schools within the town limits.
Four years later on August 25, 1856, the
legislature once again enacted a charter for Paris.
The 1856 charter covered the same territory as
that of 1852, but also listed Turner B.
Edmondson, mayor; John D. Thomas, William
Richey, Robert Mebane, W. H. Milrose and
Francis Miles, aldermen; Goodman Tucker,
treasurer; and Thomas B. Hearn, constable.
These city officers were charged to “organize the
town and adopt by laws.”
The First Newspapers
The earliest newspaper in the Paris area was
Charles DeMorse’s Northern Standard which began
publication in Clarksville on August 20, 1842.
The first paper published in Paris was the
Western Star, established in 1844 by James
Wellington Latimer, and published and edited by
him until 1848 when W. F. Morgan took charge
of it. Latimer went to Dallas where he established
the Dallas Herald in 1849. Morgan continued the
Western Star four years longer, at the end of
which time it passed into the hands of J. E.
Foster who continued it in Paris until 1858
when he moved the plant to Sherman, Texas.
The Lamar Examiner was established in 1856
by Terrell & Peterson, and edited by John T.
Mills. The publication was discontinued in 1859
and the plant was bought by B. Ober and L.S.
Gooding who began the publication of the
Family Visitor. It lasted only six months and was
then purchased by F. W. Miner and it’s name
changed to the Paris Press in January 1860.
First Religious Services Started in the
Homes of Early Settlers
Seldom were the crowds big at the earliest
religious services in Lamar County, and some
travelers despaired, in letters of which we have
record today, that they ever would find
sophisticated church services. Most were
probably not looking for sophistication. They
sought, rather, whatever religious services they
could whip together immediately after settling
down in the Red River Valley.
In 1839, the Reverend J. W. P. McKenzie
preached in Lamar County for the first time at
the home of Leven Moore, about four miles east
of Paris. McKenzie came as a missionary to the
Choctaw Indians in 1836 then transferred to
mission work in Texas. However, his health
failed, and he settled about four miles west of
Clarksville to found a well known school called
the Itinerant Retreat.
In the early 1840s, the Reverend James
Graham conducted service in the southern
county, near Fort Shelton. He later taught
many years at the Paris Female Institution. He
helped organize the Methodist workshop in
Paris in 1843.
The first church structure within the city
limits of Paris (erected in 1847) was probably
the Cumberland Presbyterian Church (later to
become the Central Presbyterian).
❖
The first newspaper published in
Northeast Texas was the Clarksville
Northern Standard by Charles
DeMorse. It began publication on
August 20, 1842.
COURTESY OF THE AIKIN ARCHIVES.
Chapter Two ✦ 23

Weaver; and 1846, H. K. Armitage, P. W. Hobbs,
William Langston, M. W. Matthews, and James
M. Smith.
The Reverend Mr. McKenzie was perhaps the
best-known preacher in the area. Historian A.W.
Neville wrote that he “was fearless and fought
the devil any and every place and at any time.”
He came to the Indian Territory in 1836 as a
missionary to the Choctaw Indians, and then
transferred to mission work in Texas.
Reverend Graham organized a Methodist
Church in the homes of early settlers before 1843,
and served even earlier in a religious group called
the Paradise Society as possibly one of the first
circuit riding missionaries throughout what is now
Red River, Titus, and Lamar Counties. He also was
important in the founding of schools in Clarksville
and Dangerfield before moving permanently
to Paris.
Early Transportation Systems,
Business & Agricultural
❖
Shady Grove is one of the oldest
cemeteries in Lamar County. George
W. Stell, Sr. (1793-1870), builder of
the first Paris courthouse and
surveyor of the Central National
Road, is buried there.
PHOTO BY MARVIN GORLEY.
No reliable records tell what the first church
to be built in Lamar County was. One of the first
(and probably the first) was Shady Grove
Church in southern Lamar County near Clardy,
built sometime after the first settlers arrived. In
1844 an early Lamar County settler named
Young became one of the first to be buried in the
nearby Shady Grove Cemetery. Mary W. Finger,
born July 25, 1808, and died August 13, 1852,
was another earlier burial.
Some of the early preachers in the county
and the dates at which they officiated at
marriages as shown by records are: 1842, Alex
Avery and Samuel Corley; 1843, Joseph Bishop,
William Brackeen and Ramsey Potts; 1844, W.
G. Duke, J. McKee and Jefferson Shook; 1845,
Jesse Button, Benjamin White and Green
From the days of the early settlers, horse
drawn plows, Red River keelboats and plantation
workers, Lamar County fortunes have been tied
closely to the hard work and ingenuity of the
individual. From the first days that feet trod the
prairies or travelers journeyed by horseback,
there were those who carved out farms and built
businesses with hand tools and hours of labor.
They may have worked in families, been free
men, slaves or share croppers, but all worked to
change a wilderness into a more civilized land
that could promise a better tomorrow. The first
crops were corn, and cotton, and were loaded on
wagons and boats to travel long miles to such
places as New Orleans. Then tools, dry goods
and supplies were brought back to the Lamar
County area to continue the process of building
better farms, homes and businesses.
Red River Trade
Travis and George Wright, sons of Claiborne
Wright, were two of the first commercial
navigators on the Red River, starting with flat
and keel boats and later using steamboats. Travis
made his first financial success trading with New
Orleans. He would load his boat with hides, furs,
beeswax, and other products and float down the
river to New Orleans. There he swapped his
24 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

cargo for cash or merchandise to be returned to
Jonesboro store. The trip took several months to
complete, but was very profitable. Years later, he
moved his headquarters to his Kiomatia
plantation. In the early 1840s, Wright’s Landing
was regarded as the head of navigation on the
Red River. Keel and flat boats were the only
vessels on the upper river until the late 1830s,
and on the river above Shreveport they were able
to make fairly regular trips.
In 1837-38, Harrison Brummett was a keel
boatman on the Red River, and between times
worked as a farmhand. He operated a ferry
south of Fort Towson in 1838. Other men
keelboating on the Red River in the early 1830s
were Captain Dick Finn, Captain Jim Gamble,
Abram Block, and George Sloan.
Sam M. Fulton owned one of the first
steamboat operations in the area. Fulton came
to Texas in 1833 and established a trading house
about half a mile west of Arthur City. He died of
yellow fever in New Orleans while on a business
trip, February 27, 1851.
In October 1842 the Clarksville Standard
estimated that at least two thousand bales of cotton
had been shipped down the Red River to that date.
About 1873 the federal government removed
from the Red River below Jefferson a “raft” of
accumulated driftwood which backed up the
waters. Subsequent low water levels, and the
completion of railroads in the area, put an end
to steamboating on the river about 1900.
Cotton in Lamar County
Though settlers came into this area of
Texas in the 1820s and 1830s, it wasn’t until
the 1850s that cotton became a real cash crop
in Lamar County. Up to that time, farmers
were planting merely to feed their family. The
first U.S. census in Texas in 1850 showed for
Lamar County 1,085 slaves and 1,055 bales of
cotton grown. The total population was 3,978
not including the slaves. A state counting for
1855 showed 1,296 slaves and 1,300 bales of
cotton grown.
By the beginning of the Civil War, the
population of Lamar County was 10,136 with the
number of slaves being 28 percent. The demand
for cotton increased as the market with England
grew. Cotton gins dotted the countryside, and
Paris became a point of shipping to the port of
New Orleans by way of the Red River or overland
to the port of Jefferson.
At one time, there were well over one hundred
thousand acres of cotton farmed in Lamar County.
Supporting that agricultural crop there were more
❖
The Annie P., a Denison, Texas,
steamboat, is docked at Fulton’s
Landing, a prominent stopping point
for steamboats in Lamar County. It
was located about a half mile west of
present-day Arthur City.
COURTESY OF THE AIKIN ARCHIVES.
Chapter Two ✦ 25

❖
Cotton buyers were a fixture on the
Paris square. Notice the mud caked
on the wagon wheels. The square
was unpaved.
COURTESY OF THE AIKIN ARCHIVES.
than twenty cotton gins, numerous cotton buyers,
banks and literally thousands of farm laborers.
For several years the Paris firm of Martin, Wise &
Fitzhugh was the largest cotton-buying firm in
Texas with memberships in New York, New
Orleans, and Liverpool cotton exchanges.
The most profound influence in Lamar
County was cotton, and its importance in
making Paris the city that it is today cannot be
overemphasized. It brought wealth into the
county and created a class of citizens who were
capable of making cultural and artistic decisions
for the community that are still visible today.
Cultural History of Paris, Texas
Few American cities have been able to preserve
their built environment and at the same time
expand as modern communities. Paris, Texas, is
among those fortunate few, not only surviving but
preserving its civic character through fires,
tornadoes, the Depression’s ’30s and the urban
movement of the ’40s and ’50s- any of which could
have closed the books on its municipal vitality.
Paris is where it is because of the Red River.
Although boating the Red, was uncertain and risky,
it was done with regularity. Travis Wright, brother
of George Wright, the founder of Paris, scheduled
steamers to Wright’s Landing, in the front yard of
Kiomatia Plantation. Paris shipped and received
goods in quantity via the river for over forty years,
and the Ames Tool Co., which made wooden
handles, boxes and crates, kept a steam packet on
the river until the twentieth century.
Paris did not go through an uncertain period
of frontier isolation. By the time it was formally
established and made county seat in 1844,
adjoining territory was settling up and
marauding Indians had been pushed westward.
Paris was founded, and mostly settled by people
familiar with the region. Unlike Dallas and Fort
Worth, for instance, the men who conceived
and planned the original town had lived in the
vicinity for years. Early leaders such as the
Wrights, the Chisums, and Epps Gibson, knew
about the soils, the surroundings, even the
weather. They knew what to expect, as well as
what not to expect.
Unlike most Texas towns, Paris looked north
rather than south and west for expansion and
trade. The Red River was the border between the
Republic of Texas and the United States, and it
also formed the boundary between the Anglo
26 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

colony in Texas and the Choctaw and Chickasaw
Nations. It is easy to forget today, that these
Indians were not wild plains nomads. They were
part of the “civilized tribes” and were
independent nations, recognized as such by the
United States. Many tribal members were, by
white standards, well educated and some were
quite wealthy. From its outset Paris benefited
from the commerce which flowed across the river
and the services the Nations required. This huge
market at its front door made the early progress
of Paris easier. It didn’t have to struggle to
survive. Within a decade of its founding Paris had
outstripped the older, more firmly entrenched
Clarksville, to the east; and for a ten year period
after 1889, Paris was also the legal headquarters
with the U.S. District Court for the Choctaw and
Chickasaw Nations and westward in non-Indian
Oklahoma. The U.S. courthouse in Paris was not
only one of the most imposing structures in
North Texas, it was among the busiest in the
Southwest, handling all Indian trials and lawsuits
which were not based on tribal law, Nine men
were hanged in its courtyard during that decade.
Paris almost from its beginning was a
separate sphere, unlike the surrounding region;
more southern than western, and thanks to its
merchants, more urban than rural, even though
King Cotton ruled. Despite being the original
Texas home and burial place of John Chisum,
one of the great ranching names of Texas history,
Paris was never a cattle town. It was, after all,
begun by a merchant and a politician, merchant
Wright having been elected to the Texas
Congress several times.
The new city quickly experienced an influx of
merchants from Doaksville and Fort Towson,
across the river. This helped Paris not only to
survive but-despite the importance of cottonnever
to become dependent on any single crop,
industry, or commercial undertaking. What all
this meant, prior to the Civil War, was that the
town filled a commercial and industrial role
unlike its agrarian neighbors. By 1860 a state
business census showed that the Lamar County
millers and furniture makers made the county a
“high wage” industrialized region (by the
standards of the day), which meant it had lots of
skilled craftsmen and trades people. In the late
1850s, other cultural and social elements were
added. Jewish families began arriving, and several
wealthy, well-educated Kentucky families
migrated to Paris during the period and
immediately became civic leaders. These
included Rice Maxey and his son Sam Bell, and
Eben LaFayette Dohoney.
❖
A. W. Neville used this map on the
dust jacket of his book, The Red
River Valley Then and Now. It
illustrates how Northeast Texas
settlements were centered around the
Red River.
Chapter Two ✦ 27

Timeline: 1860-1879
1860 U.S. Census (Paris: 1,500; county: 10,136; slaves: 2,833).
1861 Lamar County was only Texas county to vote unanimously against secession.
1861 First Presbyterian Church organized.
1861 Ninth Texas Infantry organized by Sam Bell Maxey.
1862 Ninth Texas Infantry in Battle of Shiloh.
1863 First Catholic mass said to have been held in home of Dr. Birmingham.
1865 General Maxey returned to Paris to practice law.
1865 Paris incorporated as a city.
1866 Evergreen Cemetery established.
1867 St. Paul Baptist Church established.
1867 Sam Bell Maxey home constructed.
1868 Lamar Avenue Church of Christ organized.
1869 Paris News begun as a weekly, going to daily publication in 1885.
1870 U.S. Census (Paris: 1,800; Lamar County: 15,793).
1870 Holy Cross Episcopal Church organized.
❖
The legacy of Lamar County was
never more clearly drawn than in the
years before and after the War
Between the States. The unique
quality of the people that inhabited
the land and the land itself made the
area important to both Texas and the
South. The civilization that developed
in the Red River Valley became known
not only for its crops, but also for the
building of churches and the way in
which the citizens of Lamar County
reacted to secession, the War Between
the States, and the period of
reconstruction that followed.
1870 Part of Delta County created from Lamar County on July 29.
1871 First private bank in Lamar County (Smith & Company).
1872 Southern Transcontinental became the first railroad to enter Lamar County.
1872 Paris Exchange Bank opened.
1872 Volunteer fire company organized.
1873 Red River Raft removed by federal government.
1873 J. W. Hardison established store at present site of Blossom.
1873 Courthouse built at North Main and Houston on site donated by John W. Broad.
1874 First telegraph lines enter Paris, built by Texas & Pacific Railroad.
1876 Texas & Pacific entered Paris from Brookston.
1877 Fire destroyed large portion of Paris.
1878 Aikin High School began to operate under leadership of Captain J. B. Lyle.
1878 Paris Transit System began as first street car line (mule drawn).
1878 First poor farm established south of Paris.
28 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

Chapter Three
BEFORE AND AFTER THE CIVIL WAR
Churches, Secession and Reconstruction: 1860 -1879
Churches
Despite Lamar County’s sparse population,
there was never an absence of religious services.
There are no records of when and where the first
church buildings were erected, however, it is
known that religious services were held in
homes, under arbors, and in schoolhouses. One
of the earliest, perhaps, was in the southern part
of the county near Fort Shelton. In a certificate
filed with the county clerk on October 1947 by
Reverend James Graham was a list of men who
were trustees for the Paradise Society in Lamar
County. About the same time Reverend Graham
certified a group of men as trustees for the
Methodist Church.
The first church built in Paris was probably
the Cumberland Presbyterian. This should come
as no surprise because many of the early settlers
were from Tennessee and Kentucky where that
denomination began. In December 1847, lots
were sold to a group headed by Claiborne
Chisum on which the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church built a brick church building.
Although the 1850s were followed by the
turbulent times of the Civil War and
Reconstruction, many churches were established
during this period that still operate in the Lamar
County area. Within thirty years, the landscape
changed to showcase many magnificent structures
dedicated to organized religions. More permanent
churches were built during this period of time
than ever before or since.
There are probably many more churches and
individuals in the county that could be
mentioned. These are only a few of the oldest.
Graham organized the first Methodist church out
of a group of settlers who met in private homes
and were often referred to as The Paradise Society.
A reorganization of several Methodist churches
after the fire of 1916 led to the home of the present
congregation. The Lamar Avenue Methodist
Episcopal Church, South, and the Centenary
Methodist Church merged in 1918 to form the
First Methodist Church. The First Methodists’
landmark building is located between Clarksville
Street and Lamar Avenue and faces Third Street
Northeast. It was completed in 1924. In 1968 the
Methodist Church and The Evangelical United
Brethren Church united to form the First
Methodist Church. The First Methodist Church
was renamed the First United Methodist Church
the same year.
❖
The third church building erected by
the Cumberland Presbyterian Church
was destroyed in the Fire of 1916.
COURTESY OF THE AIKIN ARCHIVES.
1843 - First United Methodist Church
The history of the First United Methodist
Church is almost as old as Lamar County itself,
beginning in May 1843 when the Reverend James
Chapter Three ✦ 29

❖
The Reverend R. C. Buckner was the
first full-time pastor of the First
Baptist Church in Paris. In 1877,
Buckner and Rice Maxey established
the Buckner Baptist Benevolences that
later built the Buckners’ Orphans
Home east of Dallas.
COURTESY OF THE BUCKNER ORPHANS HOME.
1844 - Lamar Avenue Church of Christ
Lamar Avenue Church of Christ may have been
established as early as 1844, according to letters
and publications of the time. A letter dated
November 5, 1859, from Thomas Barrett claims
that he had traveled to Lamar County and had
immersed in baptism 156 people to mark the
beginning of the Church of Christ in Paris. The
current church has been housed in several
locations with its first Lamar Street location being
built after the Civil War. It was built before 1870,
and around 1890 the new tower, classrooms, and
round entrance were added. The second building
was built in 1892. It was destroyed in the Paris
Fire of 1916, and was rebuilt the same year. The
fourth building was built at 637 Lamar Avenue in
1942. The present building at 3535 Lamar
Avenue was built in 1966.
1844 - Central Presbyterian Church
The Central Presbyterian Church of Paris is
located on South Church Street. The church began
in the fall of 1844 by the Reverend Samuel Corley,
a circuit rider in the foreign mission field. It was
originally named the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church. It is traditionally thought to be one of the
first, if not the first, church within Paris city limits.
The elders, serving as trustees for the first church
were Claiborne Chisum, John Emberson, and John
A. Rutherford, all early settlers of Lamar County.
They bought a lot from the county commissioners
for $10 on December 4, 1847, then built a brick
church. In 1857, they built a small frame church
which they occupied for just over thirty years
before selling the property to the U.S. government.
A new building of stone and brick was built in
1891 on Houston and twenty-first Street. The
Federal Building, which had been erected on their
earlier property and their 1891 church both
burned in the Fire of 1916. On October 9, 1916,
a new Gothic-Style brick church was built on
Church Street and occupied in August 1917. It has
a Texas Historical Marker and is listed in the
National Register of Historic Places.
1850 - First Christian Church
The First Christian Church of Paris (Disciples
of Christ) was organized in Lamar County in the
late 1860s, but records open air meetings as early
as 1850 when pioneer evangelist Wade Barrett
held services in Russell’s Grove located where
North Main and Provine Streets are today. The
congregation bought a lot on Lamar Avenue in
1869 for $500 in gold. The next year (1870), a
one room building was erected and served as the
church home until 1891 when a new auditorium
was constructed. That same year about fifty
members withdrew and organized a congregation
called the Church of Christ. Both churches
remain separate organization to this day.
The Lamar Avenue location remained the
church home of the First Christian Church until
the fire of 1916. The day before the fire, the
congregation purchased the property on the
corner of Third Street Northeast and East Houston
Street. After the fire, the congregation met
in the First Ward School building and a theater.
In August 1916 a temporary structure was
constructed on the ruins of the old one until a new
church building was dedicated on May 19, 1918.
The First Christian Church stayed at that location
until 1973, when the congregation moved to its
present location on Twentieth Street Northeast. On
April 2, 1982, a tornado almost totally destroyed
the church building, but on December 5, 1982,
the congregation rededicated its rebuilt church.
1854 - First Baptist Church
On April 23, 1854, the First Baptist Church of
Paris organized with six charter members as the
30 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

United Baptist Church. The name was later
changed to the Paris Baptist Church. Some time
later the name was changed again to First Baptist
Church, and in 1861, the first formal church
building was opened. Its first full-time pastor was
Reverend R. C. Buckner who joined the church
from Kentucky in 1859. He was called the first fulltime
preacher in North Texas and is credited with
opening the first high schools in Paris and another
in Ladonia. In July 1877 Reverend Buckner and
Deacon Rice Maxey established the Buckner Baptist
Benevolences that later built the Buckners’ Orphans
Home east of Dallas. In 1895, a new building was
constructed, but it was destroyed in the Paris Fire
of 1916. Another new building was completed in
the spring of 1918. In 1968 the congregation
moved into a new auditorium and the older
buildings were remodeled to make room for more
educational space.
1861 - First Presbyterian Church
The First Presbyterian Church of Paris was
established in 1861 as the Old School Presbyterian
Church. After the Civil War, the church was
reorganized in 1871 as the First Presbyterian
Church. Members met in a small room over a shop
near Clarksville Street. In 1874 the first church
building was completed at Second Northeast and
Price Streets. The cornerstone was laid in 1891 for
the present building at the corner of Fourth Street
Southwest and Kaufman Street. According to
records, Captain James M. Daniel and his daughter
Mary visited a church in Indianapolis, Indiana,
during a train stop. It seems that he was so
impressed with the church’s design and
construction that he visited the pastor and obtained
a copy of the building plans. Land was secured
across the street from the Daniel’s home, and the
building of the present church began. The first
sermon was preached in the new building on
October 23, 1892. It was one of the few downtown
churches to survive the Paris Fire of 1916.
1863 - Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church
The first Catholic Church in Paris was built in
1880 on Pine Bluff Street. Records show the first
mass was said in 1863 at the home of a Dr.
Birmingham who lived on the street that bore his
name. The name of the street was later changed to
Twenty-fifth Southeast. The celebrant of the first
mass was Father Hennessay. The first Catholic
Church was Our Lady of Victory. It was on a lot
donated by a Mr. Huddle near the present-day
Third Street Northeast. It was a small frame
building. The property was later sold and the little
church was moved by wagon to the Clarksville
Street property. Mission priests served the church
beginning in 1892. Later the church was
remodeled and a new rectory was built. The
cornerstone of the new church was laid on August
15, 1908. Around 1923 the rectory was destroyed
by fire and a new one was built. The church also
had a parochial school, Notre Dame Academy. It
was taught by the Sisters of Charity of the
Incarnate Word. In 1964 the building program for
a new church began. It was located on the corner
of East Austin and Eighth Street Southeast. The
present church building is located at 3300
Clarksville and was dedicated in October 1986.
1866 - Mt. Zion Methodist Church
The Mt. Zion Methodist Church was formed
in 1866, just over a year after President Lincoln
sent troops to Texas to enforce the Emancipation
Proclamation. Land for the church was
purchased from Fred W. Miner and his wife,
Annabelle. Reverend Mallory of Jefferson,
❖
Above: The cornerstone of the First
Presbyterian Church building was laid
in 1891, thirty years after the church
was established. It was one of the few
downtown churches to survive the fire
of 1916.
COURTESY OF THE AIKIN ARCHIVES.
Chapter Three ✦ 31

❖
St. Paul Baptist Church was
established in 1867 by the Reverend
Elisha Barnes and a handful of freed
slaves. It was the first black Baptist
church in Paris.
PHOTO BY MARVIN GORLEY.
Reverend Daniel Bathe, C. C. Granger, and Tabe
Butler signed a deed of trust which read, “For Six
Hundred Dollars.” A small building was built on
this lot and this became Mt. Zion Church.
Reverend Daniel Battle was the first pastor for
the small congregation. Although he was not
formally educated and had just emerged from
slavery, Reverend Battle could read. The
congregation worshiped in this building for several
years with its membership growing steadily.
Unfortunately, the building was destroyed by fire.
The members rebuilt on the church’s present site,
the corner of Second and Provine Streets.
The congregation worshiped in their second
building until 1901. In 1902 they occupied
their third building which included a basement
and a bell tower that tolled for church services,
deaths, births and celebrations. This church
stood for sixty-three years. Decay took its toll.
In 1963, under the pastorate of Reverend W. M.
Gibson, the church’s present structure was built.
1867 - St. Paul Baptist Church
St. Paul Baptist Church was established in Paris
just after the days of slavery (1867) by the
Reverend Elisha Barnes and a handful of freed
slaves, according to the church records. Today the
church is located at 454 Second Street Northeast
and is over 120 years old. It was the first black
Baptist church to be established in Paris and
among the first in the state. In 1876, trustees of
the church purchased property from the Larkin
Rattan Survey for $90. It was located on what was
then known as an extension of Church Street, the
site of the first church building which stood until
it was partially destroyed by the 1916 Paris Fire.
1868 - Providence Baptist Church
Nestled among towering oak trees on FM
195 within the Paris city limits sits a picturesque
rural church building where Providence Baptist
Church meets. Organized in 1868, with thirtyone
members meeting temporarily in a nearby
schoolhouse, its first structure was built in 1870
on the present site and served the congregation
until 1956 when their current church was
constructed. In 1985 an official Texas Historic
Marker was dedicated in front of the church.
1870 - Holy Cross Episcopal Church
The Episcopal Church in Paris is located on
South Church Street. It may rightfully be said to
have been started on February 7, 1870, because
this is the first reported record of an Episcopal
Church service being performed in Paris area.
Although it was performed by Reverend Francis
R. Starr, there is evidence that George W.
Freeman, Missionary Bishop of Arkansas, had
visited the area and baptized and confirmed
several individuals some 18 to 20 years earlier.
Other information suggests that Holy Cross dates
from the beginning of the Episcopal Church in
32 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

Texas, because Bishop Leonidas Polk first crossed
the Red River into the Republic of Texas on St.
Patrick’s Day in 1839 on a missionary visit that
may have included what is now Lamar County.
Paris’ first Episcopal Church was built of logs, a
second was built of clapboards, and another, built
on South Main Street and consecrated St. Mark’s
Day in 1893, burned during the Paris Fire of
1916. The present English Gothic styled building
on South Church Street was completed in 1917.
Its construction and style was influenced greatly
by several English cotton merchants who were
parishioners, such as Francis W. Bassano and J. J.
Culbertson. Culbertson gave the church its
carillon of bells that operate even to this day.
1870 - Chicota Baptist Church
The history of Chicota, Texas, a community
fourteen miles northwest of Paris lies in the name
of the town itself. As early as 1805 there was
some trading here by the French, and by 1849
there were a few settlers living in the area.
Chicota proved to be a stopping place for those
pioneers traveling through this part of the
country because of the abundance of water in the
moving springs located nearby and the boat
landings along the Red River. Because the springs
were the center of all activities, the community
first assumed the name of Center Springs.
Many of the people who settled in Center
Springs came near or at the end of the Civil War
looking for a new start or waiting for lands to
open up in the Indian Territory of Oklahoma.
Captain Robert W. Draper was among the early
settlers and instrumental in the establishment of
the Center Springs Baptist Church in a log cabin
in October 1870. Captain Draper had become
friends with Samuel Checote, who had served in
the Confederate Army and been elected
principal chief of the Creek Nation. In 1879,
Captain Draper wrote to the United States Post
Office and asked them to change the name of
the community to Chicota, Texas, in honor of
his friend. In 1885 a new church was built on
the same pine logs and bois d’arc slabs as the
original church, and supports the present day
building renamed the Chicota Baptist Church.
1873 - First Baptist Church of Blossom
The First Baptist Church of Blossom was
organized in 1873 by the Reverend Sam
Anderson, who also taught at the first school in
the newly established township of Blossom
Prairie. The word “Prairie” was later dropped in
1886. The first pastor was Reverend W. M. Burke
who moved to Sylvan area from Georgia at
Christmas time and was appointed to the church
when he moved to Blossom a year later in 1876.
Civil War
Lamar County Attitudes toward Secession
The seeds of conflict that gave birth to the Civil
War were beginning to appear in 1860 in Lamar
❖
Only eight delegates voted against the
secession of Texas from the U.S. Three
were from Lamar County.
Top row (from left to right): A. P.
Shuford, James W. Throckmorton,
Lemuel H. Williams (Lamar), and
Joshua Johnson. Bottom row (from left
to right): William H. Johnson
(Lamar), George W. Wright (Lamar),
and Thomas P. Hughes. Not shown:
John D. Rains.
COURTESY OF THE AIKIN ARCHIVES.
Chapter Three ✦ 33

❖
Sam Bell Maxey was one of Paris,
Texas’ most distinguished citizens. He
was a lawyer, a Civil War general,
and a U.S. Senator.
COURTESY OF THE AIKIN ARCHIVES.
County. Slavery, obviously one of the causes of the
war, was much different in Texas and Lamar
County as compared with the other Southern
states. Proportionally, there was a large percentage
of slaves in the county but the overall number was
not that great. The small farmer more often than
not worked right along with the slave. It was
against the law to import slaves to Texas from
anywhere except the United States, and in Lamar
county abuse of slaves was considered a crime
with rather stiff penalties. The county politicians
were more in line with the feelings of Governor
Sam Houston who opposed secession. The early
settlers had developed some relations with the
governor as far back as the Texas Revolution.
Ultimately at the secession Convention in
Austin, the Lamar County Committee was the
only county committee to unanimously vote
against secession. After the State seceded, those
in the county who were in opposition joined in
the Southern cause and were very instrumental
in the early military arrangements.
They Voted for the Union
Lamar County was the only county in the
Secession Convention of 1861 to have all its
delegates voting against the secession of Texas
from the Union. Eight men alone voted against
167 who took the state to the Confederacy. Those
eight men voting against succession were: James
W. Throckmorton (Collin County), George W.
Wright (Lamar County), A. P. Shuford (Wood
County), T. P. Hughes (Williamson County),
William H. Johnson (Lamar County), Lemuel W.
Williams (Lamar County), Joshua F. Johnson (Titus
County), and John D. Rains (Wood County).
Southern President Jefferson Davis declared
after Texas seceded that those Union sympathizers
not willing to transfer allegiance to the
Confederate States government had forty days to
leave Texas. He knew that Sam Houston, also no
stranger to the Red River Valley, had opposed
secession. Sam Houston and George Wright,
although they had opposed secession, made no
other attempts to resist the southern cause. Both
contributed a son to the Confederate forces, Sam
Houston, Jr. and James Holman Wright.
The Ninth Texas Infantry
A Kentuckian, Sam Bell Maxey had settled in
Paris and established a law firm. He was a
substantial citizen and attracted important
personages to Paris including Robert Cooke
Buckner who performed Maxey’s marriage
ceremony to his Matilda in Kentucky. (Buckner
was to create the Buckner’s Orphanage in 1877
in Paris, which later moved to Dallas). A
graduate of West Point, a former roommate of
Stonewall Jackson at the U.S. Military Academy,
and a hero of the Mexican War, Maxey petitioned
Jefferson Davis to form a company in the area to
join the Confederacy. The Ninth Texas Infantry
came into being and consisted of recruits from
Lamar County and other counties in the area.
With the war now progressing, Maxey trained
his troops at area camps in Rusk and Benjamin.
After suffering from disease and with poor
equipment, the Ninth marched to Memphis and
within a very short time found themselves in the
midst of Bloody Shiloh. From that date on, the
Ninth Texas was in many major battles
including Corinth, Inks, Perryville, Murfreesboro,
Vicksburg, Jackson, Chickamauga, Atlanta, and
Altoona before finally surrendering in 1865 at
Spanish Fort near Mobile. Other units from the
Paris area that participated in the war were Daniel’s
Battery, and the Ninth Texas Cavalry as well as
some militias, which were integrated into the
Ninth. Maxey’s law partner and son-in-law, Henry
Lightfoot, rode with Nathan Bedford Forrest.
34 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

The surviving Ninth Texas straggled home,
passing through wasted countryside until they
found comfort in their homes in Lamar County.
No battles had been fought in the area, but there
were signs of sacrifice made at home.
Maxey was later elected to the United States
Senate where he served with distinction for two
terms and was particularly effective in Indian
matters with which he had been quite proficient
during the last year of the war.
General Samuel Bell Maxey
No one symbolizes the Civil War period in
Lamar County more than Sam Bell Maxey. When it
was his time to serve his community, he did. When
he was thrust into serving his state in the War
Between the States, he did with distinction. Later,
when it was time to serve his nation, he also served.
Maxey spent his early years in Tompkinsville,
Monroe County, Kentucky. His family lived in
nearby Clinton County when Maxey was
appointed to the U.S. Military Academy at West
Point. Upon graduation in 1846, he was
breveted a second lieutenant in the regular army
and served in the Mexican War until its close in
1848. In 1849, he resigned from the United
States Army and returned to his home in
Clinton County, Kentucky, where he studied law
under his father, Rice Maxey. In 1850, he
entered law practice with his father and in 1857,
they moved their families and business to
Paris, Texas.
In 1862, Maxey was made a major general in
the Confederate Army and served briefly in the
Trans-Mississippi Department. In December
1863, he was made commanding general of
the Indian Territory where he served until
February 1865.
Maxey was elected to the United States
Senate in 1875. Among his contributions during
his Congressional career were his support of
the establishment of new mail routes in the
frontier West in his capacity as chairman of
the Senatorial Committee on Post Office and
Post Roads, the introduction of bills for
river and harbor improvements across the
nation, and his speeches for the improvement of
Indian relations.
Maxey was defeated for re-election in 1887.
In 1888, he returned to his law practice in Paris,
Texas, and spent his last years there. He had five
law partners during his lifetime. They were Rice
Maxey, William H. H. Long, Henry William
Lightfoot, Ben H. Denton, and W. F. Gill.
Maxey’s residence, built in 1867, still stands
and is maintained by the Texas Parks and
Wildlife Department. Maxey is buried in
Evergreen Cemetery, which he helped to found.
It is notably one of the important historic
cemeteries in the State of Texas.
John Simpson Chisum
John Simpson Chisum was the oldest son of
Claiborne Chisum. He was twelve years old when
the family came to Texas from Tennessee in 1836
and built a house on fifty acres of land that is now
a part of Paris, Texas. His father was a wealthy man
for those days, but John worked because everyone
worked then. To not be employed in those days
was considered a disgrace. He and his cousins,
John and Ed Gibbons, carried bricks when their
fathers had the contract for building the first brick
courthouse on the square in Paris in 1846.
John Chisum ran for the position of
county clerk of Lamar County in 1850. He was
defeated by John R. Craddock, who had been in
the office since the organization of the county,
nine years before. However, in 1852, he ran
again, was elected, and worked in the building
he had help build six years earlier. While serv-
❖
John Simpson Chisum was elected
Lamar County Clerk in 1852, but he
is better known as a successful cattle
rancher. As a boy, he carried bricks
used in the construction of the first
brick courthouse erected on the
Paris square.
COURTESY OF THE AIKIN ARCHIVES.
Chapter Three ✦ 35

❖
After the Civil War, the United
Daughters of the Confederacy
commissioned Pompeo Coppini, a
leading Texas sculptor, to design and
build a Confederate Monument for
the Lamar County Courthouse lawn.
PHOTO BY MARVIN GORLEY.
ing as county clerk, he entered into a partnership
with S. K Fowler of New York to raise cattle.
Fowler was to supply the money to buy cattle
to stock a ranch. Chisum was to manage it,
and they would share the profits. He left the
county clerk’s job after serving only one year of
his two year term.
Chisum located his ranch in Denton County
in 1854, and had been actively engaged in the
cattle business six years when the Civil War
began. When the Confederates needed beef for
their soldiers, Chisum drove two herds of
cattle to Little Rock from Denton County.
The two herds were about one thousand steers
each. He took the herds across the Red River,
went up the north side of the river through
the Indian Territory, and through Arkansas to
Little Rock.
Chisum also organized his cowboys into a
ranger like organization that extended from
Caddo Peak in Johnson County to Gains Mill in
Cook County. These cowboy rangers were well
mounted, well armed, good shots, and served
Chisum and the Confederacy well. The Indians
soon learned that if an attack was made on a
Chisum cowboy it meant a fight to the finish.
They would collect a small force over night and
with their well trained and hardy horses would be
in pursuit at very short notice.
Chisum left Denton County for the Concho
River country in 1864. He drove his first herd in
the fall from the Concho River by way of
Horsehead Crossing on the Pecos River to the
ranch north of the present town of Roswell,
New Mexico. There he and Charlie Goodnight
spent the winter of 1866-1867 on ranches only
six miles apart.
Chisum moved west through the years as the
country settled and at the time of his death on
December 22, 1884, his ranch was in Lincoln
County, New Mexico. He was buried in the family
burial ground on the old Chisum farm in
southwest Paris. Chisum was a member of the
Wildey Lodge, IOOF, organized in Paris in 1851
and the graves are marked by a granite monument
with three pillars and the insignia of the order.
Reconstruction
Reconstruction was bitter for Lamar County
and was directed primarily at the Union’s
Freedman’s Bureau that had been established
shortly after the Civil War. By 1869, little had
been changed for the blacks. They were freed
physically but destined to be enslaved economically.
Reconstruction blacks never had the chance
to bridge the gap between freedman and free man.
The South, urged on by the United Daughters of
the Confederacy, reinvented itself with monuments
and remembrances and Paris was no different. The
UDC commissioned Pompeo Coppini, who was to
become the pre-eminent sculptor in Texas, to
design and build the Confederate Monument on
the Courthouse lawn, arguably one of the finest
such monuments in the country.
1860 - Newspapers Established
The Family Visitor, which existed only six
months, was purchased by F. W. Miner and
its name changed to the Paris Press in
January 1860. In 1862, Miner suspended the
publication to join the Confederacy, resuming it
in July 1865, and in 1876 he sold it to W. H.
Lewis and J. H. Hilliard. Hilliard died in 1869,
and in 1871, his widow and sister of Lewis,
married W. J. Hamner who, in conjunction with
Lewis, continued the publication of the paper
36 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

until April 1877, when Lewis died. Hamner
became the sole owner. Hamner moved from
Paris in 1882, selling the paper to Luke
Johnson, who continued the publication until
his death in 1884, at which time, the paper
ceased to exist. During a part of the time he
owned the paper, Johnson issued a small daily
edition, but it did not last long.
The Paris Advocate was started in 1860 by T. J.
Crooks in opposition to the Press, but it was discontinued
in the spring of 1862. The Cosmopolitan
was published from 1860 to 1873 by G. W.
Dewitt. The Texas Vindicator was established by
Richard Pete in March 1867, and was ably conducted
by him until March 31, 1871, after which
it was edited a short time by James Walker and
then discontinued. The North Texan was started in
1869 by E. L. Dohoney, editor, and A. H. Boyd,
publisher. In 1874 the paper discontinued its
publication. In 1874, Richard Peterson established
Common Sense, devoted to free thought,
which was subsequently removed to St. Louis and
continued as The Agnostic. The Texas Banner was
also established in 1874 by J. J. Wheeler, who was
later killed as the result of a quarrel with a policeman
about an article appearing in the paper. The
Chartist, established in 1875, by F. W. Miner lived
only one year. The Religious Messenger, conducted
by Robert. C. Buckner in the interest of the Baptist
church was established in 1878. It was moved to
Dallas and merged into the Texas Baptist.
1865 - Paris Incorporated as a City
In October 1865, Justice Bramlette granted the
petition of citizens to order an election for
incorporation of Paris as a city. Bramlette was
appointed head of the county government by the
military commander in Texas during
Reconstruction. He set the election for October
14, and appointed J. D. Wortham to take a census.
The law at the time provided that settlements of
300 or more could incorporate as a town and, of
1,500 or more, as a city with larger area. Towns
had five aldermen and cities had nine.
On November 4, 1865, Justice Bramlette
decided that the Wortham census gave Paris more
than the required fifteen hundred inhabitants, so
he approved adoption of a city charter and
extension of city limits to one and one-half miles
square. No record was made of who was elected
mayor and aldermen.
1866 - Evergreen Cemetery Established
In 1866 the Evergreen Cemetery Association
was formed with the incorporators being Alfred
S. Johnson, Willet Babcock, William Bramlette,
❖
The Paris Advocate newspaper was
started in 1860 by T. J. Crooks in
opposition to the Paris Press, but
lasted only until 1862.
COURTESY OF THE AIKIN ARCHIVES.
Chapter Three ✦ 37

❖
In 1875 construction of the first
courthouse located at North Main and
Houston was completed. The site was
donated by John W. Broad to keep the
Paris square open.
COURTESY OF THE AIKIN ARCHIVES.
Albert J. Redding, Van W. Hale, Sam Bell Maxey,
Edward Gibbons, Robert C. Buckner, David
Grant, James D. Wortham, and George W.
Wright. This corporation, with no capital stock,
was formed when it was seen that the cemetery
in the northwest part of Paris, which had been
donated by Wright and in which he is buried,
was too small for the growing town.
The first burial in Evergreen Cemetery was
that of Mrs. Rice Maxey, mother of General Sam
Bell Maxey, in 1866. A number of people had the
remains of relatives moved from the old cemetery
and reburied in Evergreen in family plots.
1867 - Harry Cuington, Alderman
Harry Cuington, a negro, served as an
alderman in Paris in 1867 during
Reconstruction by appointment of the military
bureau. He lived in a house he owned, with
several acres of land, where the Coca-Cola
bottling plant on Bonham Street is now located.
He had a large family and had credit at stores
and at the bank. He owned some farm land in
addition to his home. In 1864 he bought the
home property from Captain U. Mathiessen.
Cuington also was a good trader in livestock
and had bred some quarter horses which he
raced with more or less success.
One of Harry’s trades was with W. M. Colson.
He had the deal put on record. It said that for a
gray horse worth about $125 Colson traded to
Harry two pony mares, one pony horse, two colts
of the mares now a year old past, all running on
the range. Harry was to get the animals “on the
range” and if he failed to do so he was to have no
recourse on Colson. Harry evidently put it into
the record so that he could show his ownership
of the animals if it might be questioned.
1871 - First Elected Negro Representative
The first Negro aldermen were elected to the
City Council in 1871 during Reconstruction. They
were representatives Aaron Woods and Harry
Cuington, from the Fourth Ward, an area where
most Negro homes were located. Cuington had
previously served as alderman by appointment of
the military bureau. The men were elected by
majority vote and helped in bettering communications
between the city, newly freed minority
groups and union troops stationed here during
reconstruction, some of whom were northern
black soldiers.
1873 - Granger Town
C. C. Granger, his wife Elizabeth and their son
and daughter came from the North in the year
following the war to help the negroes get an
education and social equality. It was about 1873,
when Granger bought some acreage northeast of
the square where several negro families had
settled, built a school house, and were dwelling
on the property. The man was not well received
and the school accomplished little good if any.
Granger died and the family members moved
away. For years afterward that section of town was
inhabited by negroes and “disloved” women, and
was known as Granger Town.
1874 - A New Courthouse
The brick courthouse (built in 1846-47) in the
middle of the square was old, in bad condition,
and too small for the needs of Lamar County. The
county’s population had greatly increased, so more
court and jail space was needed.
At the November 1873 term of the court, a
resolution was set forth that a new courthouse
be built. Initially it was to be built on the square
where the old courthouse stood. John W. Broad,
an astute merchant who owned several
38 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

uildings on the north side of the square,
realized that the building of a large courthouse
there would not leave enough space for farm
wagons, and consequently, trade would be
driven to other parts of the town. He enticed the
county away by offering to donate the east half
of the first block north of the square. The
county accepted his offer.
Apparently, a plan furnished by architect P. M.
Comegys was not satisfactory to the committee.
They reported to the court that they favored a
plan submitted by Charles Wheelock of Sherman,
Texas. The court accepted the bid of John
McDonald on April 2, 1874, to build the
courthouse to Wheelock’s plans. His plans called
for a two-story brick structure with four rooms
and a jail north of the courthouse.
The courthouse progressed rapidly and on
March 1, 1875, the court inspected and
accepted the building. County officials moved
in and for a long time the new courthouse was a
point of interest for visitors because of its two
fifty-foot towers. In May 1875 the court gave
permission for use of the big courtroom for a
series of concerts. It was the first of many
entertainments given, including dances and
political speeches.
1875 - Bass Reeves becomes U.S. Marshal
Bass Reeves was born in slavery in Lamar
County, probably in July 1838. He was one of
seven slaves owned by George Reeves, whose
last name he took. Bass worked alongside his
parents as a youngster, first as a water boy and
later as a field hand gaining physical maturity.
His mother was concerned because he spent so
much time in the fields singing about guns,
rifles, butcher knives, robberies and killings.
George selected Bass to become his body servant
because he was big, strong, handy with firearms,
ambitious and well respected. During the Civil
War he accompanied then Colonel Reeves at the
battles of Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge
and perfected his complete mastery of firearms.
He spoke several Indian dialects and could
converse well with the members of the Five
Civilized Tribes.
In 1875, Bass was appointed Marshal in the
Oklahoma Territory, probably the first African-
American to be commissioned U.S. marshal
west of the Mississippi. (Frederick Douglas was
the first African American to become a U.S.
marshal.) He was a big man and could cup a
Colt revolver in his palm. He brought his
prisoners either to Fort Smith, Arkansas
(“Hanging Judge” Parker) or to the only other
Federal Court, which was in Paris. He killed
fourteen men in the line of duty. Bass had ten
children. He died in Muskogee, Oklahoma,
where he is buried.
1876 - State Government
In 1876 a new constitution was adopted by
the state and a county judge and four
commissioners were elected to replace the court
of five justices. Sam C. Bryson was elected
county judge in April 1876, Walter S. Moore,
November 1878, M. J. Hathaway, November
1884; and C. S. Neathery, in November 1888.
The variation in the dates of these men taking
office was due to changes in time of holding
elections. During Reconstruction following the
Civil War, some were appointments by the
military overlord.
1877 - Arson-Caused Fire
On Friday, August 31, 1877, the first of Paris’
two great fires destroyed more than threefourths
of the business section and a number of
residences. The losses on buildings,
merchandise and household furniture was
❖
The first large fire that swept Paris
was in August 1877. The black areas
indicate the burned portions of the
business district and some of the
adjoining residential areas.
Chapter Three ✦ 39

estimated to be between $350,000 and
$500,000. Less than $100,000 of that value was
insured. Most of the buildings were wood, and
the insurance rates were prohibitive.
The fire was started by Taylor Pounds in
a saloon on the south side of the square.
Pounds’ stepfather, Andy Myers, owned the
saloon, and they had a disagreement. Pounds,
who was drunk, went into a back room, poured
coal oil on the floor, threw a lighted
match on the oil and left the building. Within
minutes the wooden saloon was in flames,
and spreading quickly to other structures.
Three of the four blocks cornering the
square were destroyed, including the
abandoned courthouse in the center of the
square, which was being used as storage for
farm wagons and implements.
Pounds was arrested and taken to the Fannin
County jail in Bonham. Pounds waived
examining trial and was put in jail to await the
action of a grand jury. He was indicted and
given a change of venue to Delta County. The
Cooper jury convicted him and fixed his
punishment at four years in the penitentiary. He
managed to escape before his transfer to the
penitentiary and disappeared. Years afterward,
Pounds was seen in Ardmore, Oklahoma, by a
Paris man, but no legal action was ever taken.
1878 - First Street Car Line
Paris’ first street car line, the Paris Transit
System, made its first run on August 31, 1878.
It served to bring passengers from the Texas and
Pacific station to the public square. There was
one passenger car and two flat cars for hauling
freight, each drawn by two mules. The rails
went from the railroad station, down around the
square and joined the line at the southeast
corner of the square.
By 1887, the freight cars had been discarded
and several passenger cars had been added. R. F.
Grimes, a former driver, was made superintendent.
F. N. Stormont was made president
when a group of St. Louis capitalists bought the
street car system and the electric light and
power plant in 1900. W. F. Little was treasurer
and John A. Porter, who had been with the light
company, was retained as secretary.
In 1901-02 the line was electrified, receiving
power from the South Wall Street plant. The
new owners bought a tract of land from P. M.
Warlick and established Warlick Park (now
Wade Park). Years later, it ceased to be profitable
to the Transit Company, so the park was sold to
J. W. Wade, who gave it to the city.
Grimes was retained as superintendent. Two of
the first drivers were John and James Grimes, his
brother and cousin. J. P. Brittain was one of the
❖
The first large fire that swept Paris
was in August 1877. The black areas
indicate the burned portions of the
business district and some of the
adjoining residential areas.
40 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

first conductors. Some of the early motormen
included W. A. (Bud) Walters, Jim Grimes, Jim
Lusby, Tobe Ingram “Tinch” Ingram, Mitch
Downing, Marion Reynolds, John Swaim, John
Highberger, John Abbott, and Jack Brittain.
When the automobile made its appearance,
the Transit Company business slowly but
surely declined. Ownership of the power plant
and the Paris Transit Company changed. E.
Wurdack of St. Louis became president and
Porter remained as secretary, largely managing
the two companies.
About 1912 the stock of both companies was
sold to Texas Power and Light, which continued
the streetcar operations until the deficit was so
great that two buses were added in May 1926.
Even this did not bring in enough revenue, so
the city council agreed to allow the Paris Transit
Company to cease service. Streetcars made their
last run in Paris on Saturday, April 23, 1927.
1878 - First Poor Farm
In October 1878, Lamar County established
its first poor farm on a tract of land one mile
south of Paris. It was purchased from Ed Long.
J. S. Ownby & Son built two sets of houses (for
males and females, white and colored) for $785.
In January 1879, W. J. Wilson’s bid of $30 a
month to supervise the farm was accepted.
In 1887 the commissioners decided the farm
was not large enough, so sixty-six acres east of
Paris were purchased from Travis Henderson for
$50 an acre. In 1906, architect W. G. Barry
made plans for a two-story main building and
three one-story dormitories. All were built by
Campbell & Owens for $6,900. Despite raising
of crops and chickens to offset expenses, the residents
were for a number of years, the greatest
single expense of Lamar County.
1879 - Red Light District
Paris had its Red Light District in 1879
and for some years afterwards. Like most Texas
cities it had a distinct area. It was called Board
Town, and was located on North Jefferson Street
(now Third Northeast), north of Pine Bluff
Street. Most of the houses were flimsy weather
worn buildings.
The district was delineated by city ordinance.
Women who worked there and attempted to
live outside the area were led to understand
by the police that they would be subjected
to more frequent arrests and heavier fines.
Those living in the district were unofficially
licensed by being hauled to the Mayor or Justice
of the Peace’s court at intervals where they
would plead guilty to vagrancy charges and pay
a small fine.
❖
The first street car in Paris was
drawn by two mules. The Paris
Transit System made its first run on
August 31, 1878, bringing passengers
from the Texas & Pacific depot to the
public square.
COURTESY OF THE AIKIN ARCHIVES.
Chapter Three ✦ 41

Timeline: 1880-1909
1880 U.S. Census (Paris: 3,980; Lamar County: 27,193).
1880 City Council of Paris first ordered free schools.
1881 W. B. Aikin Institute opened on site of old Paris High School.
1881 Willet Babcock died. Monument in Evergreen Cemetery has Jesus in cowboy boots.
1882 Erie Telephone Company arrived in Paris.
1882-83 First cotton seed oil mill built with first electric lights in Paris.
1884 Paris Public Schools opened with three schools.
1885 Paris Daily News established.
1886 Blossom incorporated as second town in county.
1887 Arthur City established at site of new Frisco Railroad bridge across Red River.
1887 First two railroads reach Paris: the St. Louis & San Francisco and the Santa Fe.
1887 First water system established in Paris.
1888 Paris & Great Northern reaches Paris.
1889 Wise-Fielding home built by W. B. Wise.
1889 Federal Court, Eastern District of Texas, held first session on April 29.
1889 Free mail delivery established with three carriers.
1890 U.S. Census (Paris: 8,264; Lamar County: 37,302).
1890 Liberty National Bank established in Paris.
1892-93 Federal Court House and Post Office built on NE corner of Lamar and 22nd St.
1894 Sanitary sewer system begun in Paris.
1896 Salvation Army opens office in Paris.
1897 Texas Midland reaches Paris.
1897 Pleasant Grove renamed Howland with approximate arrival of Texas &
New Orleans.
1901-02 Street car line electrified.
1903 62nd District Court organized.
1903 Confederate monument by Pompeo Coppini erected at Court House.
1905 New Paris City Charter adopted.
1907 St Joseph’s is remodeled from St. Patrick’s Academy by Sisters of Charity of the
Incarnate Word.
1909 First municipal abattoir in world established in Paris.
42 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

Chapter Four
COMING OF THE RAILROAD
AND A NEW CENTURY
Prosperity and Industry: 1880 -1909
❖
The Texas & Pacific Railroad depot in
1900. Shown are (from left to right):
C. A. Lowrey, operator; Sam Kelly,
freight and float; O. Emmett Ward,
porter; J. I. Logan, yard clerk;
unidentified, porter; Mr. Howell, bill
clerk; and unidentified, unknown.
COURTESY OF THE AIKIN ARCHIVES.
Importance of the Railroads
Railroads came into Lamar County in the
1870s and 1880s, spurring a boom in
residential and industrial growth. Real estate
was doubling in price almost every year. Brick
makers and lumber dealers were using every
possible man to turn out their products in order
to build homes for the flood of new people.
A compress was built adjacent to the Texas &
Pacific Railroad with adjoining warehouses in
the southwestern part of Paris. It compressed
cotton bales into much smaller bundles so that
more of them could be placed into railroad cars
and on board ships. By 1885 there were about
40,000 bales shipped out of Lamar County, a
marked increase of 32 percent in 30 years. In
1887, the compress reportedly compressed
sixty-five thousand bales.
By 1912, Paris had five railroads: the Texas &
Pacific, the Gulf Colorado & Santa Fe, the St.
Louis & San Francisco, the Texas Midland, and
the Paris & Mount Pleasant.
1876 - Texas & Pacific
The Memphis, El Paso & Pacific Railroad was
granted a charter by the Texas Legislature on
February 7, 1853. It was the first effort to build
a railroad in the Paris, Texas area.
The Texas Pacific Railroad Company was first
granted a federal charter on March 3, 1871,
which was recognized by the Texas Legislature
the following month. The railroad’s name
changed to the Texas & Pacific Railway Company
Chapter Four ✦ 43

in 1872, and in 1873 it put into service fifty-six
miles of track between Sherman and Brookston,
becoming the first railroad to enter Lamar
County. It later became the first railroad into Paris
on July 4, 1876, and was Paris’ only railroad for
eleven years. In 1879 the T&P ran two passenger
and mail trains daily between Texarkana and Fort
Worth, with Paris a stop on that route. The Union
Pacific Railroad purchased the T&P in 1976 and
merged it with the Missouri Pacific Railroad,
which ceased operations around 1989.
1887 - Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe (ATSF)
In 1884 a group of Paris businessmen offered
a $20,000 bonus to persuade the Gulf, Colorado
& Santa Fe to build a rail line in to Paris, Texas.
For a time it was thought the road might not
make it to Paris because the people were rather
slow providing the bonus demanded. Honey
Grove was spoken of as the destination and then
on to Arthur City and connections with the
Frisco. The railroad did construct a spur from
Ladonia to Honey Grove in 1886, and sent
right-of-way agent, Colonel Wylie, to warn the
Paris businessmen that no line from Ladonia to
Paris would be built if the bonus money was not
paid soon. They paid, and on May 24, 1887, the
GC&SF drove the last spike into the Paris line.
On June 7 the city held a Jubilee Celebration to
commemorate the arrival of the GC&SF (and
the St. Louis & San Francisco).
The GC&SF was purchased by the Atchison,
Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad in March 1886 but
operated as a separate company. On August 1,
1965, the GC&SF was merged into the AT&SF.
1887 - St. Louis & San Francisco
The Paris and Great Northern Railroad
Company was chartered on July 28, 1881, by
O. C. O’Connor, J. N. Adams, and S. E.
Clements, all of Lamar County. The company was
incorporated to construct a railroad from Paris to
connect with the St. Louis & San Francisco
Railroad (Frisco) at the Red River. A $35,000
bonus was paid to the Frisco to make the
connection. The P&GN began construction in
February 1886. When the river was reached, a
bridge was built and the Frisco line coming from
the north was met about fifty miles from Paris.
The last spike was driven on May 14, 1887. On
June 7, Paris celebrated the arrival of the Frisco
(and the GC&SF) with a Jubilee. The Frisco acted
as contractor and operated the P&GN until
September 1, 1902. It was the Frisco’s initial
❖
By 1912, Paris had five railroads: the
Texas & Pacific, the Gulf Colorado &
Santa Fe, the St. Louis & San
Francisco, the Texas Midland, and the
Paris & Mount Pleasant.
44 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

❖
Union Station on Bonham Street was
the depot used by the Frisco & Santa
Fe Railroads.
COURTESY OF THE MARVIN GORLEY COLLECTION.
entry into Texas and served as the gateway for
traffic moving between Texas and points on the
Frisco system.
On June 1, 1928, the P&GN was merged into
the St. Louis, San Francisco and Texas Railway
Company. The former Paris and Great Northern
line was operated by the Kiamichi Railroad in
the 1990s.
1897 - Texas Midland
The Texas Midland Railroad Company was
chartered on December 1, 1892, to run from
Garrett to Greenville in Hunt County. It had its
origins in 1882, when the Houston and Texas
Central Railroad began a northeastern extension
to run from Garrett to Paris, to connect with the
Frisco. Only fifty-one miles were built before
the company was thrown into receivership in
1885. The northeastern extension was sold to
Hetty Green and became the Texas Midland.
Green’s son, E. H. R. Green became president. In
1895 nineteen miles of track was built
extending the line to Greenville, and in 1897
thirty-eight miles of track was built from
Commerce to Paris.
The Texas Midland soon built a roundhouse
and freight station, and shared passenger
facilities with the Frisco Railroad. In 1910 a new
brick depot was built to serve the AT&SF, the
P&GN, the Frisco and the Texas Midland.
The Texas Midland was the first railroad in
Texas to use electric lights on its engines and one
of the first to use steel boxcars and high speed
gas-electric rail cars. In 1928, Green sold the
road to the Southern Pacific. It was then leased
to the Texas & New Orleans and in 1934 merged
into one company. All of the former Texas
Midland track has been abandoned, including
the Commerce to Paris section in 1975.
1911 - Paris & Mount Pleasant
The Paris & Mount Pleasant Railroad Company
was chartered on January 29, 1909, by citizens of
Paris, Texas to build a line to connect with the St.
Louis Southwestern Railway of Texas in Mount
Pleasant. The initial capital was $71,400. Area
residents donated $160,000 in land and cash and
purchased stock in the company. The first board of
directors included R. F. Scott, J. J. Culbertson, H. P.
Mayer, S. W. Williams, T. J. Record, and A. N.
Rogers, all of Paris, and H. A. Wilson and E. S.
Lilienstern of Mount Pleasant. The railroad was
later acquired by Percy Jones of Abilene. The Paris
& Mount Pleasant was constructed in two
sections. The line from Paris to Bogata (about
twenty-four miles) opened in October 1910 and
the line from Bogata to Mount Pleasant (twentyseven
miles) opened in June 1913.
The road was in receivership from February 26,
1920, to January 1, 1931. It was sold to the Texas
Chapter Four ✦ 45

❖
The interior of a Paris, Texas bank
located on the square.
COURTESY OF THE AIKIN ARCHIVES.
Power and Light Company in 1952, and the Paris
and Mount Pleasant was abandoned in 1956.
GROWTH OF
BUSINESS & BANKING
The early economics of Lamar County and the
Red River Valley area was mostly centered in
goods, crops and barter. Money, when it was
tendered, was a mix of federal and foreign coins
and script issued privately or backed by the
short lived Republic of Texas, the United States,
the Confederate States or foreign governments. It
was not until the 1980s that more reliable
financing and banking flourished.
Although the first chartered bank in Paris,
Texas was the Paris Exchange Bank in 1872,
there were other banking and loan institutions
in the Lamar County area for several years.
Notably, several private individuals, stores,
railroads, and cotton exchanges loaned and
changed money in earlier years. There were
offices opened around the market square, but
they did not last or were funded by money from
outside the county.
1872 - Paris Exchange Bank
S. E. Clement was the first cashier in the
Exchange Bank that was established on North
Main Street in 1871 and reorganized the next year
as the Paris Exchange Bank. W. B. Aikin, president,
Clements, Travis Wright, J. W. Broad, and Lem H.
Williams were listed as the officers.
The bank was first housed in a small building
north of the Corner Drug on North Main and later
moved to the north side of the square where C. P.
Johnson later had a cigar store. After the 1877 fire,
it was quartered on the southeast corner of the
square in a Clement owned building.
1874 - Farmers & Merchants Bank
I. M. Smith and Company, the first private
bank in Paris, was officially opened in 1872.
Owners I. M. Smith and C. W. Mertz promoted
the acquisition of a banking charter, which was
permitted under newly passed legislation. On
May 16, 1874, the Farmers & Merchants Bank
was organized and secured a ninety-nine year
charter. Smith & Company was merged into the
new bank. The Farmers & Merchants bank
operated successfully on the southern corner of
the west side of the square before falling victim
to the economic slowdowns of 1897.
1897 - Paris National Bank
After S. E. Clement died, the Paris Exchange
Bank merged with the Paris National Bank that
Rufus F. Scott began in 1897. Clement’s son H. A.
Clement was listed as cashier, Scott as president,
and A. H. Bywaters, J. N. House, and S. N.
Hancock as partners. They did business first at
the old location on the southeast corner of the
square and then in the Scott Building on the
square’s northeast corner.
1887 - First National Bank
The Paris Exchange Bank merged with the First
National Bank in 1887. The FNB was established
by George F. Hicks and W. J. McDonald. Its offices
were on the northwest corner of the square, and it
was the largest banking institution in Lamar
County after another merger in 1907. A new
building was built in 1914 at the same location,
and rebuilt it again after the 1916 fire. During the
years it absorbed Lamar State Bank & Trust in
1928, which had taken over Guaranty State Bank
& Trust in 1913, who had merged in the same
year with Lamar Savings Bank started in 1904 and
located in the City National Bank for its nine year
history. The First National Bank operated at its
plaza location until it became Hibernia National
Bank and then Capital One in 2005.
46 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

1890 - City National Bank
The City National Bank began in 1890 on the
middle of the north side of the square which was
once Paris Exchange Bank. The first president was
Frank Fitzhugh and T. J. Record was listed as
cashier. After it burned in 1916, it was rebuilt on
the west end of the south part of the square and
reorganized in 1931 as the current Liberty
National Bank that is now located in its newest
building on the corner of Lamar and Third. The
Cecil family played a prominent part in the Paris
community before the 1931 merger, since J. M.
Cecil served as cashier at that time with Ed
McCuistion as president. Cecil later became
president of the bank before his son Gilbert Cecil,
grandson Philip Cecil, and grandson Carl Cecil.
McDonald was born in 1844. His parents
met in Lamar County. In 1847 they had Henry
Dearborn and, in 1850, James Thomas. All three
would be active in the economic and legislative
future of the region.
After a short stint in the Civil War, McDonald
tried a variety of occupations, including time as
an apprentice in a Mount Vernon law firm. He
opened a firm in Clarksville, and eventually
began to buy up Red River County warrants. He
loaned money made from his law firm and
founded Citizens Bank of Clarksville in 1885,
The First National Bank in Paris in 1887, and
The First National Bank in Cooper in 1889.
❖
Above: A $10 bill issued by the City
National Bank of Paris, Texas
in 1910.
COURTESY OF THE SIMS NORMENT COLLECTION.
Below: W. J. McDonald’s estate
provided seed money for the
University of Texas to create an
astronomy program and build an
observatory. He founded the First
National Bank in Paris in 1887.
COURTESY OF THE MCDONALD OBSERVATORY.
1901 & 1907
Several others such as Paris Loan and Trust
(1901-1902) and American National Bank
(1907-1932) were located on or around the
square for periods of time.
William Johnson McDonald
It is apparent that Paris, Texas has had
many well-known, efficient bankers, but
none with the personality nor the philanthropy
of William Johnson McDonald. He was the son
of an old Paris pioneer family, remained a
bachelor all of his life, and shocked his relatives
when he died in 1926 by leaving the University
of Texas over $1.2 million. It was earmarked by
him to help create an astronomy program and
build an observatory. He earned his money by
loaning funds to the businesses and people of
the Red River Valley through his First National
Bank in Paris.
Chapter Four ✦ 47

❖
The large telescope domes of
the University of Texas
McDonald Observatory.
PHOTO BY MARTY HARRIS.
McDonald moved to Paris in 1887. By then he
was interested in astronomy, stirred by
books given to him by his sister-in-law,
Irene. He traveled to Europe three times, and once
to Mexico. In 1895 and 1896, he went to summer
school at Harvard while few in Paris noticed.
McDonald studied botany, played his flute and
increased his knowledge of astronomy. After the
Paris Fire of 1916 destroyed all his belongings, he
moved to a small house east of Paris. McDonald’s
portrait, done by Parisian Percy Moore, hangs
both in the University of Texas School of
Astronomy and at the McDonald Observatory,
which was opened in 1939, far from Paris in
western Texas.
Education
Prosperity accompanied the influx of
population into Lamar County. With it came
dreams of better education for its citizens. The
decision to officially organize a public school
system in September of 1884 may have been the
most important task of the 1800s. There were
earlier schools and earlier educational leaders,
but in 1884 a concentrated effort was made to
provide quality education for all children in
Lamar County, both black and white.
1845 - 1867
The first recognized school established in Lamar
County was established by permission contained in
an Act of the Congress of the Republic of Texas in
1845. The Act granted a charter for the Lamar
(Male) Academy Incorporated which was located in
what is now the northwest part of Paris. George W.
Wright was one of its trustees.
The first U.S. census was taken in Lamar
County in 1850. It listed 6 common schools, 7
teachers, and 180 pupils in the county. The Paris
Female Seminary was established by a stock
company on the northeast corner of Lamar Avenue
and present-day Northeast Third Street. In 1851 it
listed Mary Gilliam as the principal. The county’s
population was increasing, so in 1854 the Lamar
County Commissioners Court made an effort to
establish school districts. The 1860 U.S. Federal
Census Report lists a total of 28 common schools,
28 teachers, and 756 pupils for Lamar County. The
Paris Female Institute was established in 1853
with the Reverend James Graham and J. K. Street
as teachers. It was taken over by the Methodist
Church in 1869. Other schools established during
this period were: the Shiloh Union School (1860s),
the Buckner Female School (1866), the Lamar
Female Seminary (1866), and the Sylvan
Male/Female Academy (late 1860s).
48 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

During the years of the Civil War, it is
reasonable to assume that school operation was
definitely hampered by the war.
1867 - 1884
Following the war there was reconstruction for
the schools as well as the government. At its
meeting on January 7, 1867, the Lamar County
Commissioners Court established eleven school
districts coinciding with its election precincts and
numbered accordingly. It further delegated to
Lamar County citizens the duty of subdividing
each of those districts into suitable common
school districts. As of July 1, 1867, there were
forty-eight common school districts established in
Lamar County. At least six schoolhouses existed
then because they were listed as designated voting
locations. In 1872, Reverend Graham and his wife
gave the Paris Female Institute to their son, who
sold it in 1875 to J. J. Richardson who later
became the first Lamar County superintendent of
schools. The property was later given to the City
of Paris and became the site of Graham
Elementary School.
Early public schools amounted to short terms
being held at private schools with the state paying
for only a few months of the free school. The Paris
City Council issued an order on December 8, 1879
that free schools would begin the first Monday in
January 1880 and it would last for a term of three
months. More orders followed for 1881 and 1882.
Classes were held at the Aikin Institute, the Vessey
School, and at the Freedman’s School for colored
students all established in 1882.
1884 - 1909
After struggling to provide free public
education for years, Paris public schools became
a reality in 1884. A board composed of a member
of the city council and five citizens was named by
the mayor. The board employed J. C. Brooks as
superintendent, and the schools opened formally
on September 15, 1884. Many citizens attributed
the opening of the Paris public school system to
the combined efforts of W. B. Aikin, E. L.
Dohoney, Travis Henderson, John C. Gibbons,
and others who worked behind the scene.
The original three Paris schools were the Aikin
Institute on the northeast corner of Lamar and
Northeast Third, the Graham School (Paris
Female Institute) in the Third Ward, and the
Negro School on North Jefferson. The Aikin
Institute was the forerunner of Paris High School.
In 1894 the first building for Second Ward
School (J. G. Wooten School) was built at the
northeast corner of West Sherman and
Southwest Fifth.
On May 11, 1887, J. J. Richardson became the
first Lamar County Superintendent. The following
month the Commissioners Court reviewed his
❖
The Paris Book Store was located
on the north side of the square in
1902-03.
COURTESY OF THE AIKIN ARCHIVES.
Chapter Four ✦ 49

work on school districting. The court approved
eighty-two common school districts for Lamar
County. Due to an increase in the population
during this period, many changes in district lines
were authorized by the Court until the districts
were reorganized into 108.
In August 1894, West Paris Independent
School District was incorporated. It had been
established as Lamar County School District 31,
but known as Wright’s Academy. It was annexed
by the Paris Public School System in 1910 and
became West Paris School and later Rosa
Pearson School.
The second public school to open for Negroes
in Paris was probably also opened in 1894, but
the earliest reference is in the 1902-03 school
year records. It was located in Third Ward,
northeast of the Frisco Railroad tracks. At that
location was a two-story frame building named
Baldwin Grammar School and later renamed
Baldwin Elementary School.
Healthcare
Early Day Doctors
The earliest record of medical care in Lamar
County, Texas is noted in A. W. Neville’s The
History of Lamar County by the names of specific
physicians who arrived in the area in the 1860s.
The first doctor in the county is not known, but
among them was Dr. W. E. Maddox, who
practiced at Peedee, a community fourteen miles
northeast of Paris. He was said to have “a
complete supply of drugs…convenient to the
Indian Nation.” Other early day doctors were P. W.
Birmingham, Cuthbert Bullitt, Alfred S. Johnson,
F. G. Snow, W. M. Clements, D. H. Gibson, W. W.
Stell, Lafayette Yates, and T. L. Hale.
With cabins scattered throughout Lamar
County, early day doctors spent much of their
time traveling the dirt roads on horseback with
their black doctor’s bag strapped across the
saddle horn. Since window screens were unheard
of at the time, malaria was a common disease.
The doctor administered its treatment, quinine,
through homemade pills of molasses or biscuits.
Mrs. Truman E. Johnson, granddaughter of
Mr. and Mrs. John Faulkner, remembered a
story about her grandparents. Dr. A. S. Johnson
had unsuccessfully exhausted all his skill and
medicine treating her grandfather John’s fever.
He told the wife that he had been reading how
ice was sometimes used in treating such cases. It
was early summer, and there was no
manufactured ice in Paris. Dr. Johnson and Mrs.
Faulkner knelt beside the bed and prayed that
John’s life might be saved. That afternoon there
was a big hail storm. They spread sheets on the
❖
The Aikin Institute in 1880. It
was one of Paris’ three original
schools and the forerunner of Paris
High School.
COURTESY OF THE AIKIN ARCHIVES..
50 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

ground, caught the hail, and stored it in the
Faulkner’s cellar. Dr. Johnson used the ice
treatment and Faulkner’s life was spared.
1892 - The Aikin Hospital
The first hospital in Lamar County was
constructed in 1892. It consisted of a frame
structure located on West Washington Street. Mrs.
Mary Hooks and Mrs. A. P. Boyd began the
privately owned charity hospital, The Good
Samaritan Hospital, at what was then North
sixteenth Street, but at the insistence of
given to her by her brother. The sisters, who were
teachers, opened Our Lady of Mercy Convent.
The school was dedicated in 1900 and operated
until 1907, when the sisters, without funds and
with no motherhouse, decided to convert the
school into a hospital. Lack of funds forced the
closing of the hospital in 1910, but Bishop John
P. Lynch of Dallas purchased the property and
later sold it to the Sisters of Charity of the
Incarnate Word. Six sisters arrived from San
Antonio around August 1, 1910, and carried
their bags several miles from the railroad station
❖
St. Joseph’s Infirmary as pictured on a
Crook-Record Company post card.
The card was postmarked on
November 30, 1908.
neighboring residents, moved it to a house rented
from T. M. Broad on West Sherman Street. Colonel
W. B. Aikin, a prominent landowner, donated land
on West Washington Street for a new hospital. The
Aikin Hospital remained in operation until the
early 1920s when the building became unsafe, and
the new, better-equipped Lamar County Hospital
was built at the same location.
1907 - St. Joseph’s Hospital
St. Joseph’s Hospital dates its beginnings back
to 1896, when four Sisters of Mercy arrived in the
city during Holy Week under the leadership of
Sister Teresa Mouldoon. There was no Catholic
school or hospital in the community at that time,
so the four settled in one of the houses located on
three lots purchased by Sister Teresa with money
to the empty, dirty building. After several months
of hard work, with much of the water being
shipped from Dallas because of a drought, the
Sisters finally opened St. Joseph’s Infirmary. By
October 1, 1910, they reportedly were able to
receive their first patient, Reverend W. Conley of
Bogata. Around this time, Dr. L. P. McCuistion
became medical director of the new hospital, and
Sister Teresa died. In the same year, this hospital
and the Aikin Hospital were designated as
training centers for nurses.
Milestones
1880 - First Ice Factory
Construction of the first ice factory in Paris
began in 1880 by an Englishman named Dr.
Chapter Four ✦ 51

Hansen. It was located on the east side of South
Nineteenth Street (Southwest Second Street), a
half block south of Kaufman Street. S. B. Tainter
was the engineer in charge of construction and
operated the factory for a time under the
management of Captain J. W. (Bucky) Moore. The
factory was later bought by Anheuser-Busch
brewery, dismantled, and a new plant built near
the old Lamar Hospital.
1882 - First Telephone
The Erie Telephone Company came to Paris in
1882. Its exchange was in the Charles G. Capell
building at the northwest corner of the square
where the First National Bank was later located.
Captain J. F. McMurray, assistant cashier of the
Farmers & Merchants Bank, promoted the first
exchange. The phone company sent Olin A. Perry
to supervise construction. He remained in Paris
the rest of his life, first as technical maintenance
man and later as a division manager. The first
operators were Maude Lewis during the day and
Eddie Bob Baker in the night. There was no long
distance service. The cost for basic service was
about $100 a year and, as a result, less than 130
telephones were in operation in 1883.
1883 - First Cab Driver
Aaron Greiner became the first cab driver in
Paris around 1883. He was said to have known
just about everyone in Lamar County. His horse
drawn “hack” could be seen day and night carrying
people to all parts of the county. Often he could be
seen parked near the Corner Drug waiting for a
fare to phone or wave. He retired in 1918 after
thirty-five years as a cabby and active Paris citizen.
By then almost everyone had ridden with him.
His death brought mystery. Greiner kept
journals of all his fares and experiences. They
were valuable to the gossips and the nervous,
and even sparked a court battle among his
relatives. Accusations were made, but none of
the cabby’s journals were ever found. This could
have been good news for many because a lot of
Greiner’s fares visited Paris’ red light district. He
meticulously recorded those trips and others less
incriminating, but never discussed when, where,
why or who his riders were. Greiner knew how
to drive a cab, and he knew how to keep a secret
better than anyone else in town.
1884 - First Death of a Local Lawman
Sheriff Jim Black was shot shortly after his
1884 election defeat of G. Mack Crook, who
had been seeking a second term. Black’s family
reported that the night before he was to take the
oath of office, a man rode up on a horse, called
to Black, and when the sheriff opened the door
to his house, he was shot and killed. Captain
William T. Gunn was appointed Sheriff and was
elected three additional terms.
1887 - First Water System
The fire of 1877 illustrated the need for
better fire protection, so Captain J. M. Daniel
applied to the city council for a franchise to use
❖
Aaron Greiner, the first and last
horse drawn cab driver in Paris.
COURTESY OF THE AIKIN ARCHIVES.
52 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

❖
Free mail delivery began in Paris on
November 1, 1889.
COURTESY OF THE PHYLLIS BYERS COLLECTION.
the streets and public square for laying water
pipes and installing a storage tank. Nothing
came of his request, so he reapplied in 1881. No
action was taken on this application either.
In December 1886 the council received a
proposition from M. P. Kelley of Gainesville to
install a system. He would receive the income from
sale of all water except that used for public
buildings and fire protection. The council accepted.
The completed system was successfully tested in
November 1877, except it didn’t produce the
agreed upon three hundred thousand gallons daily.
After a few years the city obtained possession of the
system and it has since been operated municipally.
1887 - The First Coca-Cola
August 6, 1929
Mr. A. W. Neville
Paris, Texas
Dear Sir:
Under your column, “Backward Glances”, I
note that you say Frank Ledger served the very
first Coca Cola ever brought to the City of Paris.
That is a fact and not only so but also the very
first ever to enter the State of Texas.
It was myself who shipped the sample package,
1 gal of the Coca Cola syrup to Paris from
Atlanta, Georgia. That was in 1887, at which time
I was in Atlanta engaged in what was then P.
Chemical Company, manufacturers of some proprietary
remedies including the Coca Cola syrup.
I at once realized that Coca Cola had merits as a
fountain drink, and began immediately to place it
on the market. At that time it was in its incipiency,
being prepared in a very small way, only a few
gallons at a time, and had no sale outside the City
of Atlanta. Under my supervision the very
first five and ten then twenty gallon buckets
was shipped as far away as Nashville,
Chattanooga, and Memphis, Tenn. outside of the
state of Georgia.
Now as to why I did not stay at the company,
would make quite a long story, which I will not
attempt here.
Yours sincerely,
M. P. Alexander
1889 - Free Mail Delivery
Prior to free mail delivery, Paris citizens had
to pick up their mail at the post office. In order
to qualify for the federal service, a city had to
have a population of 10,000 and have a house
numbering system. The 1880 federal census fell
short of the required population and Paris had
no house numbers.
The city council employed J. C. Hunt, a
school teacher, to take a census in April and
May 1887. He reported 10,089 persons in
the corporate city limits. The council then
passed a resolution requiring that all buildings
have house numbers by June 10, 1887. A. W.
McComas was hired to manufacture street
signs and designate house numbers using
Chapter Four ✦ 53

the Philadelphia System of 100 numbers to
the block.
With requirements satisfied, the free delivery
of mail was established in Paris on November 1,
1889. Charles B. Pegues was postmaster, and the
first mail carriers were Charles C. Beck, J. O.
Morrison, and John Elliot with Arthur Keel
as substitute.
The federal census of 1890 gave Paris a little
more than 8,000 population, substantially
below the required 10,000 for free mail delivery,
but the service was not discontinued.
1890 - Artesian Well on the Square
On September 8, 1890, the city council
passed a resolution providing funds for drilling
an artesian well in the middle of the public
square. The well was needed to supplement the
rapidly failing water supply from the wells at
Mud Springs, a few miles east of the square. A
frame derrick was built to drill the well. It stood
on the square about three years as several
different drillers tried to make a success of it.
The well never produced, so was finally
abandoned in June 1893.
1890 - Baseball, the First Paris Sport
Baseball was probably the first organized
sport ever played in Paris and Lamar County. It
began around 1890 in Lamar County with the
old Paris Quicksteps. An intense rivalry was
established in those days with the Bonham
Sliders and amateur baseball was on its way.
Professional ball began in 1895 when Paris
took over the Sherman club of the Texas League.
The club finished that season in Paris, but it
could have been its last. Two Louisiana cities,
attempting to get the club’s spot in the Texas
circuit, threatened the Paris club’s future. Paris’
representatives, A. W. Neville and James S.
Patrick, were sent to a league meeting and
secured a berth for the city. It was worth the
trouble because a new manager, Eisenfelder, led
Paris to a pennant that year.
But the good times did not last long. In
1898 well known Ted Sullivan took over
managing the club and had a winner. He soon
moved the franchise to another city, and
professional baseball in Paris languished for
several years. Paris again got into the pro ranks
around 1900 as the Midland League was
formed. However, that did not last, and in 1904
the North Texas League was organized with
Clarksville, Texarkana, Greenville and Paris as
members. This league existed a bit longer until
the Central League came into being in 1912.
Records of that league were destroyed in the fire
of 1916.
Six men from the Paris area played
professional baseball in the old days: Rick
Adams, Dode Criss, Jack Russell, Bob Prichard,
Eddie Robinson, and Dave Philley. Adams played
❖
In 1890 a frame derrick was erected
in the middle of the Paris square to
drill an artesian well. It remained
there for three years while drillers
tried unsuccessfully to find water.
COURTESY OF THE AIKIN ARCHIVES.
54 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

in 1905 for the Washington Senators. Criss, a star
in the North Texas League, was sold to the St.
Louis Browns in August of 1907.
1894 - Shelby Williams Appointed Marshal
John Shelby Williams was born in Lamar
County in 1850, the son of Lemuel Williams
(one of the Immortal Seven voting against
Secession). Educated in Paris schools, he
worked as a salesman until 1894 when he
was appointed a U.S. marshal by President
Cleveland. The Federal Court in Paris was
considered the busiest in the country. Under
Williams, a small army of deputies were
required to execute and maintain order. Its
jurisdiction stretched from the country of the
Five Civilized Tribes to the Gulf of Mexico.
During Williams’ term, forty-eight violent law
breakers met death at the hands of his deputies,
including the notorious Bill Dalton.
After his term expired, Williams became
interested in the Alaskan Klondike. Taking his
family with him, he established an incredible
record in the gold mining business. He brought
the first steamboats to the Yukon by having
them constructed in the U.S. and then
reassembled in Alaska. He operated the first
steam engine for gold mining there, and on a
single trip of his boat delivered a cargo of thirtytwo
tons of gold.
Williams returned to his original Texas ranch
in 1908, and was chosen Chairman of the State
Democratic Committee in 1912. He became a
national figure in agriculture, and was so well
thought of that the U.S. Department of
Agriculture set up office on his ranch. His
experiments demonstrated the value of
commercial fertilizer, and under his direction
the cotton raised in Lamar County had the
largest boll, the largest yield per acre, and was
more markedly storm proof than any cotton
grown at that time. Williams only child, Lala,
became the wife of Sam Bell Maxey Long.
1894 - The First Sewer
The sanitary sewer system of Paris was
begun in May 1994 under an agreement
between the city council and N. H. Ragland.
Ragland built the system, charged for making
connections, and then turned the system over to
the city.
1895 - New Courthouse
In 1895 the county’s twenty-one year old
courthouse was considered unsafe. Evidently it
was rather poorly built. With plaster falling
from the ceiling of the big courtroom, and the
east wall showing signs of cracking, the decision
was made to tear the 1874 courthouse down
and replace it with a courthouse benefiting the
❖
The Red Peppers were an early Paris
semi-professional baseball team.
COURTESY OF THE LAMAR COUNTY
HISTORICAL MUSEUM.
Chapter Four ✦ 55

❖
The Grand Jury of Lamar County,
April Term, 1885. Shown are (from
left to right) Wilson Mayo, D. F.
Latimer, A. L. Allen, C. P. Rutherford,
S. C. Hancock (standing), I. T.
Gaines, N. B. Ratliff (standing),
V. Bayless, J. R. Justiss, M. H.
Hancock (standing), J. K. P. Alley, and
J. A. Hogue.
COURTESY OF THE LAMAR COUNTY
HISTORICAL MUSEUM.
increased population, wealth, and needs of
Lamar County. At the August 1895
Commissioners Court meeting, a bid of $88,190
was accepted for its construction. Plans called
for a two story structure of Texas granite with a
tall central tower in which a four-faced clock
would be installed. Work on the courthouse
was sometimes slow because of delays in
receiving materials and changes that were made
to the plans as the work proceeded. An
additional $30,000 for the project was
approved. More than two years after the
building was begun, the court approved the
final payment to the contractors.
1896 - Peterson Hotel Fire
On April 28, 1896, Paris square suffered
its second major fire, known as the Peterson
Hotel fire. It is believed to have been started
by a drunken resident in the Bywaters building,
located on the northwest corner of Main
and Kaufman Streets. The fire quickly spread
to the adjacent Peterson Hotel on the southwest
side of the square. Most of the south side of
the square was destroyed before the fire
was extinguished.
1898 - First Car
The first automobile was brought to Paris
by Colonel R. Peterson in 1898. It was a
high-wheeled Oldsmobile, named for the
engineer who designed it. Around 1900,
Peterson bought a red Packard, a large vehicle
that terrorized the horses at the Gordon
Country Club so badly that the club established
a prohibition on automobiles.
As the Colonel aged, he sought help in
driving his new-fangled automobiles about
town. Among those part-time drivers was J. M.
(Mutt) Cross. A youngster at the time, Cross
says he often crossed the street to Colonel
Peterson’s house in the 400 block of Bonham
Street to examine the cars. The Colonel’s
regular driver, Eddie Bob Baker, taught Cross
how to drive.
1901 - First Electric Street Cars
On April 17, 1901, an ordinance was passed
in Paris granting to W. F. Little, Robert H.
Cornell, W. F. Dulaney, and R. W. Wortham a
franchise to construct and operate an electric
street railway. It also specified track locations, a
five cent fare, and a requirement that the
company pave between the tracks if the city
paved the street.
1901 - Bandstand Erected on the Square
A volunteer firemen’s street fair on the
square in 1900 was so successful that the
firemen enlarged it the following year. For
56 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

❖
The Maxey Rifles of Paris, Texas
photographed in September 1887.
Pictured are (from left to right) First
Lieutenant T. T. Murphy, Sergeant
Buford; Corporal Biard;
J. V. Biard; Gray; Hunt; Daly;
Hilliard; Redding; Corporal Rogers;
Dickinson; Second Lieutenant A. W.
Neville; Pillett; Bayless; Corporal
Henley; Hancock; Griffith; Cross;
Latimer; Boyd; Roberts; and
Captain E. S. Easley.
COURTESY OF THE AIKIN ARCHIVES.
this celebration a small frame bandstand was
built in the center of the square. The octagonal
structure had an elevated band stage with a
room on the ground floor that was used for fair
management. It was to be removed when the
firemen quit having street fairs on the square.
However, Henry P. Mayer bought it and let the
police use it for a night station. During the
several years it remained, R. J. Murphy hoisted
flags on its short flagpole to give the daily
weather forecast.
1905- New City Charter
A new city charter was drawn in the winter of
1904-05 by a committee of twenty citizens.
Three were city councilmen and seventeen were
named by R. F. Scott, Sr., president of the Board
of Trade. It took the committee three months,
then an informal election approved the charter
on February 23, 1905, 534 to 50. The charter
reduced the number of city councilmen from
eight to five and made them elected by the
entire city instead of one alderman from each
ward by the voters of that ward.
1907 - Streets Renamed
On February 6, 1907, City Ordinance No.
220 renamed Paris city streets that ran north
and south with numbers. Numbering began at
the square and grew larger as they progressed
east and west. House numbers on the Plaza did
not change.
1909 - First Municipal Abattoir
Paris gained national attention in 1909 when it
opened the first municipally operated slaughterhouse
venture in the United States. It was built on
North Main Street in what is now the 1400 block.
In 1936 it was moved to a site on Clement Road,
and a new building was constructed.
The abattoir always seemed to operate in
the red. Only during the years of World War II
was it reported to have made any money,
although it provided a stable local supply of
fresh beef and pork while meat prices soared
in other parts of the nation. Probably because
of this “in the red” operation, no opposition
surfaced when the Council announced plans
in 1949 to lease the abattoir to the North
Star Packing Company. The lease specified that
top priority be given to custom killings for
local consumption.
The abattoir employed a veterinarian, a
bookkeeper, an engineer for the refrigeration
machinery and three butchers. On-the-hoof
examination of live animals was required by the
city veterinarian. Another examination was
made of the carcass, and no meat could be sold
within the corporate limits of the city unless it
bore the stamp of the city inspector.
Chapter Four ✦ 57

Timeline: 1880-1909
1910 U.S. Census (Paris: 11,269; Lamar County: 46,544).
1910 Paris and Mount Pleasant Railroad constructed.
1910 Rufus Fenner Scott completed home at 425 Church.
1910 First airplane lands in Lamar County.
1910 Cunningham established.
1911 Deport incorporated.
1911 St. Joseph’s Infirmary opened.
1914 Lamar County Historical Society organized, Ed H. McCuistion first president.
1914 Sanitarium of Paris established.
1915 Gibraltar Hotel officially opened for business.
1916 Fire destroyed large portion of Paris.
1917 Second Paris High School building erected and operating.
1917 Scott Building completed to house the Burton-Peel Dry Goods Store.
1917 Holy Cross Episcopal Church, 322 Church, completed after the 1916 Fire.
1920 U.S. Census (Paris: 15,040; Lamar County: 55,742).
1922 First United Methodist Church completed.
1923 Paris Municipal Band organized.
1923 Lake Crook under construction.
1924 Paris Junior College established.
1925 New Paris Post Office completed.
1925 First class of five students graduates from Paris Junior College.
1927 Culbertson Fountain completed.
1927 Public Library opened in Paris.
58 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

Chapter Five
THE GREAT FIRE OF 1916
AND WORLD WAR I
Rebuilding in a Larger World: 1910-1929
Growth & Promise at the Start
of a New Century
After the turn of the century, the future looked
nothing but bright for the Paris and Lamar County
area. Cotton and railroads were forming the region
into an agricultural and business center. The area
had developed an educational system, a thriving
banking and medical community, numerous
churches and a market square surrounded with
private businesses. Nothing could have looked
brighter for the citizens of Lamar County. All this
was changed by the end of the 1920s. The 1916
fire, a crumbling national economy influenced by
World War I, and then the approach of the Great
Depression would challenge the efforts of all the
citizens of the county.
The 1916 Paris Fire
Paris survived large fires in 1877 and 1896,
but the third one was the worst. On a warm and
windy late afternoon of March 21, 1916, a
structure in southwest Paris near the Texas &
Pacific Railroad tracks caught fire. Some
thought the fire was caused by sparks from a
train, but others saw children playing in the
area. On the way to the city square area, the
wild March winds caused the fire to gobble up
everything in its path. It was reported that
firemen were forced to abandon their hoses as
the fire chased them. Sparks jumped from block
to block. By the middle of the evening, citizens
knew the downtown was a loss and wanted to
stop the fire from entering the courthouse.
❖
Looking north at the ruins of Paris
after the Fire of 1916 from the roof of
the Gibraltar Hotel.
COURTESY OF THE AIKIN ARCHIVES.
Chapter Five ✦ 59

Fireman Mutt Cross remembered, “It jumped
with the wind to First Southwest and Brame, then
to a grocery store. The fire department could not
keep up with it as it hit the lumber yards at what
is now Market Square, then up to the Episcopal
Church on South Main. You just couldn’t get in
front of it. You had to fight it from the sides.”
Dynamite was set at the northeast and
southeast corners and on the west side. Instead of
helping, this created firestorms. Cross said, “The
wind took the fire over the north side buildings
into the clock tower on the courthouse. Its south
hands froze at 10:55, it gonged at 11:00 and the
back hands froze at about 11:15.” The north roof
caved in from the fire and the relatively young
structure was in shambles. Most had thought the
1895 granite courthouse was indestructible, but
soon the fire gutted the inside leaving only the
large stone walls standing.
From about 5 p.m. until 5 a.m. the next
morning, the citizens of Paris ran from the fire.
Early in the morning hours, a light rain began to
diminish the threat, but by this time three
persons were dead and over 1440 buildings
were in ashes. The fire had burned some mile
and a third from south to north and threequarters
of a mile in width. Other firefighters
would arrive on the train from surrounding
communities, but most of Paris was already
destroyed. Telegrams from across the nation
offered sympathy, aid and relief.
Fireman J. M. (Mutt) Cross
The last surviving Paris fireman who fought
the great fire of 1916, except for some luck, may
not have lived to tell the story. Mutt Cross was
trapped at Third and Parr Avenue, and his fire
hose had burned. Fireman and residents fighting
the blaze believed that he died in the flames, but
Cross had managed to save himself by rolling into
a gutter where water had collected.
He was one of seven regular firemen at the time
of the Fire of 1916, others being Chief Ed
Baumgras, Jim Sanderson, Carl Bach, Bob Nixon,
C. R. Malone, and Jodie Moss. There were another
fifteen men on the call list who were paid $5 a
month and $1 extra for each fire.
Cross began his career with the Paris Fire
Department at an early age, hitching up teams to
horse drawn equipment. Not old enough to ride
the fire truck, he had to chase it to the scene. He
soon was allowed to ride, and was the one
depended on to crank the department’s first
motorized equipment when it arrived in 1911. In
1913, Cross was asked to drive the motor pumper,
but had to get a release from his father and a court
order first. He joined the armed forces in 1917,
becoming the first civilian fire chief at Fort Sam
Houston. He rejoined the Paris department in
1920. For forty years, Cross was a postal carrier,
working with the PFD at night. During World War
II, he organized the fire department at Camp
Maxey and closed it down in 1946.
❖
Paris’ first motor fire engine was
delivered in August 1911. Shown (left
to right) are Sam Heuberger, Mutt
Cross (driving), Bill Hollje (seated),
Reverend Max Barton, Carl Bach, Ed
Pierce, and C. E. “Slick” Reeves.
COURTESY OF THE AIKIN ARCHIVES.
60 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

An Overwhelming Part of Paris History
“Fire” is the most-talked-about, most boastful
topic of Lamar County history. Three disastrous
fires should be enough to make that true. But two
factors bring it out more importantly: the 1916
fire was the most destructive fire to that date in
the United States, when based on percentage of
area and value destroyed, and, most importantly
to the character of Paris, the people under
aggressive leadership, picked up the pieces with a
vigor of which the citizens still are most proud,
and with a minimum of outside help.
The work after the fire was the most crucial
“beginning” of modern Lamar County history.
Without aggressiveness the city might have died.
The day after the fire, Paris citizens gathered in
the Centenary Methodist Church. A relief
committee was named and subscriptions taken
from citizens. They totaled about $20,000, and
supplies sent from other towns and individuals
boosted the total to about $40,000. Of this, about
half was spent meeting necessities of people who
had lost everything. Later the money was used for
various relief projects.
The Red Cross had a representative on the
ground within twenty-four hours, and an army
captain experienced in relief work was detailed.
Estimates of money needed for relief ranged
from $90,000 to $120,000. However, no such
amounts would be needed, with Mayor E. H.
McCuistion putting hundreds of men to work
clearing streets, pulling down remains of
brick walls and other similar labor. Private
employers had hundreds others clearing
spaces for temporary business buildings under
limited permits.
The official report of the investigators for the
State Fire Insurance Commission was that 1,440
buildings were destroyed, including everything
from a four-story brick building to garages,
stables, and similar structures. The city also lost
City Hall, Central Fire Station, W. B. Aiken High
School and the East Paris Suburban Fire Station.
Ed H. McCuistion had been elected mayor in
1906, and by 1916 had said he would never run
again. But the week following the fire, citizens
insisted that he run again and remain in office.
He did, being re-elected without opposition as
the two candidates announcing withdrew.
Under his direction, rehabilitation proceeded
rapidly. Three principal streets were widened
and a building code adopted providing
comparative uniformity in the height of
buildings in the business district and building
lines with regard to distance from the curbs.
Within a year after the March 21 fire, Paris had
risen from the ashes. Members of the relief
committee included W. A. Collins, J. J. Culbertson,
Ed H. McCuistion, H. P. Mayer, H. G. Armstrong,
T. L. Beauchamp, and H. L. Baker. Record was
chairman and A. W. Neville was secretary.
King’s Daughters and Sons
There were countless heroes that came to the
aid of Paris after the 1916 fire. Much of the help
came from inside Lamar County. More came
from surrounding counties, the state and even
the federal government. When it was discussed
how this help would be managed, a long time
Paris organization was a clear choice. The King’s
Daughters and Sons was a long standing philanthropic
organization that was begun in Paris in
1887 doing many charitable acts with the poor
in the area. At a time before federal welfare
programs, many of the reasons for Paris having
successful local medical programs, several poor
farms and other active services for those in need
can be traced to the works of this organization.
Because of its reputation, and as the only
continuously operating group of its kind, the
City of Paris asked that donations of food,
clothing and money be accepted by and
distributed by them.
❖
The original ten members of the
King’s Daughters in 1887.
COURTESY OF THE AIKIN ARCHIVES.
Chapter Five ✦ 61

World War I
The first world war was precipitated by the
assassination of Archduke Ferdinand on June 28,
1914. The United States resisted involvement
with an isolationist policy, but finally declared
war on Germany on April 6, 1917.
The Lamar County Draft
Division No. 1 of Lamar County composed of
Justice Precincts 1, 5 and 6 provided by draft and
volunteering: 934 men for the war, 738 were from
the first registration on June 5, 1917, 104 were
from the second registration on June 5, 1918, and
92 from the third registration on August 24, 1918.
The three registrations totaled 2,612, and about
one out of three were taken into actual service.
There was a fourth registration on September 12,
1918, of men 18 to 45 years of age, but they were
never called because of the Armistice.
Division No. 2 of Lamar County was composed
of Justice Precincts 2, 3, 4, 7, and 8 which reached
from Petty across the south side of the county and
on around to Arthur City. It provided
approximately the same number of men for the
war as Division No. 1.
During registration a card was made for each
man which listed his information. The cards were
shuffled and numbered sequentially. To determine
who was called for duty first, numbers were
drawn from a wheel in Washington, D.C. The first
number drawn was the first called and so forth. In
the first drawing held July 20, 1917, the first
number drawn was 258. In Lamar County Board
No. 1 that number belonged to Joe McClellan, a
Negro who was exempted as physically unfit. In
Board No. 2 the number belonged to J. F. McClure
of High. 427 Lamar County men were called to
duty from the first registration.
Armistice
The people of Paris received the tidings of the
signing of the armistice through an extra edition
of the Paris Morning News at 6 o’clock. A few
minutes after the paper was out, the whistles
began to blow and firearms began to be
discharged. There were a hundred or more
people on the square by 7 o’clock, and from that
time on the gathering rapidly grew until the
sidewalks were blocked. An impromptu
Thanksgiving sevice was held at 11 o’clock.
During the celebration a wooden image of the
Kaiser made by the Hogue Manufacturing
Company, was placed in a coffin box, hauled
around in an automobile for a while, and then
borne on the shoulders of a crowd of men and
boys. It was deposited in the square, and a man
delivered a short funeral oration over the corpse.
❖
The Cenotaph located on the corner of
Lamar Avenue and Northeast Second
Street memorializes Lamar County
soldiers who died during World War I.
PHOTO BY MARVIN GORLEY.
62 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

It was then carried to the northwest corner of the
plaza where people were solicited to drive nails in
the coffin so that the Kaiser could not come back.
It cost a dollar a nail with the proceeds going to
the YWCA. Two hundred dollars was raised
quickly. After supper the Kaiser was dragged
around the plaza again and then burned in effigy.
Many black people turned out to participate
in the celebration. One portly old colored
woman marched around waiving a flag. Once in
a while she stopped, and placing her hands on
her hips, cheered and cried with joy, claiming
that now her boy would come back home.
The celebration continued with a procession
of people marching to the plaza on foot. Lines of
automobiles and other vehicles passed displaying
a profusion of bunting and flags of the allies.
When the town people became tired after hours
of celebrating, people from the country took
their places. There was not a minute in the day or
night up to a late hour that there was not a
rattling of firearms, explosions of torpedoes,
blowing of horns, and all manner of sounds. A
spectator in describing the event said that there
had never been anything so big since the birth
and resurrrection of Christ.
Milestones
1910 - First Airplane in Paris
The first aircraft flew over Paris seven years
after the Wright Brothers made their historic flight
at Kitty Hawk in 1903. That flight came in
October 1910, when the Paris Board of Trade paid
$1,000 to “a man named Pine” of St. Louis to
bring a plane and aviator to Paris “to promote a
crowd here and boost business a little.” The
aviator was a man named Cooper. His craft was
“an old box-type plane” which was shipped over
land to Paris for the flight. A large crowd gathered
that first afternoon and saw the pilot take off from
a meadow west of Evergreen Cemetery. He circled
Paris for a while, and then landed.
Four years later two young Paris men attempted
the first flight in an aircraft built in Paris. Frank
Perry and Vester Rich bought a plane started by
Robert and Craig Alexander and True Whit in a
Paris High School manual training class. They
installed an engine then took the plane to Shelby
Williams’ ranch west of Paris. After sleeping by the
plane throughout a rainy night, they attempted the
1911 Paris Progressive Club Brochure
Paris is the county seat of Lamar County. It is situated in the northern
portion of the state and has no rival cities. Paris is famous for her beautiful
shade trees and cement sidewalks. We have a fine market here for all kinds
of farm products, garden truck, fruit and berries, live stock, etc. We have
twenty-seven factories with a payroll annually of $500,000.00, but we are
not satisfied. Our abundance of water and fuel and close proximity to the
raw material make this an ideal location for factories of all kinds. We
want a city of 50,000 people, and all we have to do to get it is to let people
know of the many natural advantages and possibilities of our town and
surrounding county.
Paris has…
The largest Handle Factory in the world. The largest Crate Factory in the
world. The largest Furniture Factory in the state. A magnificent Water System
of unlimited supply. A tax rate of only $1.00 on the hundred dollars. A rigid
system of food and milk inspection. An Abattoir and refrigerating plant where
all meat is inspected and slaughtered under the supervision of the city, and
inspected again.
Has 28 factories employing 1400 workmen with a payroll of $500,003.00
annually. Has $8,500,000.00 taxable values, 5 miles of Paved Streets, 20
miles of Cement Sidewalks, 5 miles of Electric Street Railway, 12 miles
of Sewers, 3 Daily Papers, 2 Weekly Papers, 1 Garage, 3 Shoe Stores,
5 Millinery Stores, 8 Dry Goods Stores, 19 Confectionery Stores, 7 Drug
Stores, 4 Saddlery Stores, 7 Buggy Stores, 2 Seed Stores, 1 Tea
and Coffee Store, 1 Book Store, 3 Haberdasher Stores, 3 Paint and Paper
Stores, 8 Clothing Stores, 4 Hardware Stores, 3 Department Stores, 5
Jewelry Stores, 25 Grocery Stores, 2 Theatres, 2 Court Houses, 4 Railways,
3 Tin Shops, 1 Fish Market, 7 Meat Markets, 5 Lumber Yards, 1 Ice Factory,
1 Mattress Factory, 1 Broom Factory, 1 Handle Factory, 1 Crate Factory, 1
Canning Factory, 1 Candy Factory, 1 Trunk Factory, 1 Box Factory, 1 Excelsior
Factory, 1 Peanut Factory, 1 Carriage Factory, 1 Concrete Block Factory,
1 Chair Factory, 1 Furniture Factory, 1 Book Bindery, 1 Model Factory,
1 Collar Factory, 1 Saddle and Harness Factory, 1 Ice Cream Plant,
2 Foundries, 1 Flour Mill, 2 Cotton Oil Mills, 2 Bottling Works, 5 Printeries,
1 Pressed Brick Plant, 1 Cotton Compress, 2 Nurseries, 30.Lawyers,
9 Dentists, 40 Physicians, 2 Bakeries, 9 Barber Shops, 10 Tailor Shops,
5 Banks, 2 Social Clubs, 3 Hospitals, 6 Hotels, 12 Restaurants, 7 Insurance
Offices, 10 Cotton Offices, 3 Green Houses, 3 Real Estate Firms, 36
Automobiles, 2 Undertakers, 3 Livery Barns, 2 Gins, 1 Flour Mills, 1
Abattoir, 1 Electric Street Railway, 2 Steam Laundries, 1 Gas Plant, 1 Electric
Plant, 1 Planing Mill, 1 Filtering Plant, 4 Marble Yards, 1 Wholesale Dry
Goods Store, 1 Wholesale Hardware Store, 1 Wholesale Drug Store, 1
Wholesale Saddlery Store, 1 Wholesale Furniture Store, 3 Wholesale Grocery
Stores, 2 Telephone Companies, 2 Telegraph Companies, 2 Express
Companies, 2 Fire Stations, 8 Public School Buildings, 1 Female College, 1
Business College, 17 Churches, 1 Park, 1 Baseball Park, 3 Cemeteries, and
numerous other enterprises.
Chapter Five ✦ 63

❖
Originally a United States Post Office,
the building located at 26 Northeast
Second Street was also the original
Paris Junior College, the American
Legion building and the Paris
Independent School District
Administration building.
COURTESY OF MARVIN GORLEY COLLECTION.
flight. The homemade craft left the ground for a
short space, but in landing hit a ditch concealed in
tall grass. With their flying thus ended, the pair
sold the remains of their plane to aviation pioneer
Harry Weddington of Hugo, Oklahoma.
1912 - First PHS Football Team
The first organized football team at Paris High
School was fielded in 1912. Roy Johnson was the
coach. That first team posted a 1-3 record. In
1914, Paris recorded its first winning season
with a 6-4 record. Coach Bill Coughlin took over
in 1916. That team was not too successful, losing
by such scores as 53-0 and 89-9.
1912 - St. Joseph Hospital Expands
By 1912, St. Joseph’s was outgrowing its
sixteen bed capacity, and on July 2, 1912, a fourstory
brick building was dedicated by Bishop
Lynch. The old frame hospital was moved,
patients and all, from the corner of Clarksville and
sixth Street to make room for the new hospital.
1914 - McCuistion’s Hospital Built
The first medical director of St. Joseph’s was
Dr. L. P. McCuistion, but shortly after the hospital
commenced operations, he felt the need for
additional hospital facilities and in 1910
purchased the John Martin home on Bonham
Street. In 1912 the Sanitarium of Paris was
organized, and by Easter Sunday 1914, a fifty-bed
hospital was accepting patients. The old Martin
house was used as a home for nurses. A new wing
was added to this hospital in 1930, and in 1936
the Griffith home was donated for a children’s
hospital. Additional clinic facilities were later
added and used until the hospital was abandoned
for the new one on the north side of Paris.
1915 - Post Office Annex
On January 1, 1915, the two-story white
masonry building constructed as an “Annex” to
the existing Post Office, was first occupied.
Located adjacent to the old red federal building, it
was barely finished when the fire of 1916
damaged it badly and totally destroyed the federal
building. It was repaired and used until a new
Post Office was constructed. Later the building
was traded to the City of Paris for land on which
to construct a new Post Office. The City sold it for
$1 to be used as Paris Junior College’s first
independent location. The building later housed
the American Legion and the Paris Independent
School District Administration offices.
1916 - Downtown Park
On March 20, 1916, an agreement was signed
by the city council and property owners to put a
150-square-foot park in the center of the square.
Work on the park was begun the next morning,
but the Fire of 1916 started that afternoon,
delaying the park’s completion until 1917.
64 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

❖
This Lamar County Courthouse was
built on the foundation of the
courthouse destroyed by the fire of
1916. It has two cornerstones.
1917 - Market Square
On January 8, 1917, authority was given the
mayor and secretary by the city council to
execute the papers necessary for the taking over
of the ground to be used for a market square. A
new location was needed since that activity was
no longer allowed on the public square. The 570
feet by 220 feet lot was located between
Nineteenth (Second Southwest) and Twentieth
(First Southwest) and north of Sherman Streets.
It cost a little above $29,000. Transfer of the
property was made February 10, 1917.
1917 - A New Courthouse
The flames of the 1916 fire were barely out
when County Judge Tom L. Beauchamp and the
Commissioners’ Court went to work on the
county’s problems. On April 20, 1916, architects
were employed to design a new courthouse.
Their plans, submitted on May 20, were
accepted by the court. The plans called for
erecting the new building on the foundation of
the old one. Much of the pink granite was to be
reused on the new building. Bids were asked for
in July. Those were all rejected at the August 25
session and another architectural firm was hired
to erect the courthouse for seven percent
commission. The cost was not to exceed
$176,325. Other contracts were let for wiring,
plumbing and heating, jail cells, elevator, and jail
fixtures. The new building was accepted and
occupied in Fall 1917.
At one of the first sessions of the court after
the fire, an order was entered to have a picture of
former Court Judge Charles Neathery hung in the
County Clerk’s office to honor his foresight in
building a fireproof records building. The
formerly derided action saved county records
from destruction.
1920 - President Taft visited Paris
Ex-President William Howard Taft visited
Paris on April 8, 1920, making him the first
president to visit the city. Taft was on his way to
receive an honorary degree from Baylor
University. Tom M. Scott, Chamber of
Commerce president, and Henry P. Mayer, a
former president of the Chamber, arranged the
visit. The former chief executive’s schedule
included a tour of Paris, a talk to school
children from the steps of the high school, a
luncheon at the Gibraltar Hotel, time at the Golf
Links, and an evening address to the general
public at the high school auditorium.
1921 - Wade Park
Wade Park, located in the northeast part of
Paris, received its name in 1921 when J. W. Wade,
Chapter Five ✦ 65

construction. A picnic park was built on the south
shore of the lake. For many years, Lake Crook was
a popular recreation area and is still a frequented
fishing spot.
❖
Members of the first Paris Junior
College graduating class in June 1925
were Grace Moore, Vernon Stout,
Aileen Teague, Rachel Jeffries and
Mary Elizabeth Young.
COURTESY OF THE AIKIN ARCHIVES.
a philanthropic citizen, bought the property from
the Texas Power & Light Company and gave it to
the city as a park. It was called Warlick Park when
the utility company owned it. Its principal
attraction at that time was a modern and up-todate
natatorium (swimming pool), which had a
special children’s area and lifeguards on duty at all
hours. During the summer, the park was also the
site of regular concerts by the municipal band.
1923 - Lake Crook
To solve its short water supply problem, the
city of Paris created Lake Crook. The 1,227-acre
lake is held by a 3,065-foot dam that was thrown
up across Pine Creek. Completed in 1923, the
dam is 40 feet tall at its highest point and 177 feet
wide at the base. The lake is named for J. Morgan
Crook, mayor of Paris at the time of the lake’s
1924 - Paris Junior College
On June 16, 1924, the Paris Board of
Education passed a resolution establishing Paris
Junior College. When the idea of creating a junior
college in Paris was first presented by music store
owner Henry P. Mayer, there were only two such
colleges in Texas and only seventy-five in the
United States. It has since become the oldest
continually operated two-year college in Texas.
PJC’s first classes were held at Paris High
School. Six subjects were taught: English, history,
mathematics, foreign languages, education, and
science. B. E. Masters, principal of Paris High
School, was the college’s first dean. When the first
session opened September 14, 1924, there were
ninty-one names on the roll. Later thirty-nine
special students were added to make the total
enrollment for the first year 130. Members of the
first graduating class in June 1925 were Grace
Moore, Vernon Stout, Aileen Teague, Rachel
Jeffries, and Mary Elizabeth Young.
The following year the college moved into the
old post office building, located at the corner of
Second Northeast and Houston Streets. Known as
the “Concrete Campus,” it was the first building in
Texas to be used exclusively as a junior college. In
1931 the college became an independent unit of
the school system, and J.R. McLemore became its
first president. In 1934, PJC became a member of
the Southern Association of Colleges and
Secondary Schools, and in 1937, the board voted
to establish the Paris Junior College District,
independent but yet coterminous with the Paris
Independent School District. In 1940, PJC moved
to its present location on Clarksville Street. Today
its main campus remains in Paris, but it also
operates centers in Greenville and Sulphur
Springs and conducts classes on the Texas A&M
University-Commerce campus. In the spring of
2006, PJC enrolled a total of 3,975 students.
1924 - Lamar County Hospital
A bond issue was approved on October 18,
1924 by Lamar County voters for a charity
hospital. The Lamar County Hospital was
completed in 1926 on the site of the former
66 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

W. B. Aikin Hospital in southwest Paris. It
included a separate building for treating colored
people. The hospital continued in operation until
Medicare reduced the need for a charity hospital.
1925 - New Post Office
On February 23, 1925, the new Post Office
and Federal Building building located on Lamar
Avenue opened. Built to replace the one destroyed
by the fire of 1916, it consisted originally of only
one story and a basement. Construction began on
a second floor on January 17, 1927. The upper
floor was completed on September 1 and was
occupied for federal court activities in November.
1926 - Plaza Theatre
The formal opening of the Plaza Theatre on
July 30, 1926, marked a dramatic change to the
downtown skyline. The now familiar “Plaza” sign
on the northwest corner of the square topped its
new facade. Rounded arches, a tiled roof, and
wrought iron fixtures enhanced the building’s
distinctive Spanish-Moorish architecture.
1927 - The Last Paris Streetcar
On February 11, 1927, streetcars stopped
running on South Main Street. They were
displaced by the motorbus, a more modern
means of transportation. Two months later, on
April 23, the last streetcar ran in Paris.
1927 - Culbertson Fountain
Culbertson Fountain, the centerpiece of Paris’
downtown, was formally dedicated on December
6, 1927. A gift of Mr. & Mrs. J. J. Culbertson, the
fountain was designed by local architect, J. L.
Wees. Topping it is a graceful figure of the
mythological sea deity, the Triton. Water splashes
from its small bowl to the main basin beneath.
Nine feet in diameter, this basin was carved in
Italy from one huge piece of Carrara marble.
Below it is a 16 square foot aquarium sitting on
a base that is 36 feet across. Pillars flanking the
fountain are topped with globe lights on bronze
fixtures. The base and pillars are made of
Bedford stone and the steps of Carthage stone.
Grecian benches and urns complete the classical
appearance of the fountain. It is approached by
broad flights of steps and encompassed by wide
cement walks leading to the four corners of the
plaza. The cost of this Paris landmark
approached $50,000.
1928 - Culbertson’s Clock
On December 31, 1928, the Lamar State
Bank failed, leading to the creation of
❖
Culbertson Fountain, the centerpiece
of downtown Paris, was a gift of Mr.
& Mrs. J. J. Culbertson.
It was designed by local architect,
J. L. Wees.
COURTESY OF THE AIKIN ARCHIVES.
Chapter Five ✦ 67

along with other assets of the bank. J. J.
Culbertson acted upon the suggestion that it be
bought for the city. It was another of
Culbertson’s generous gifts to Paris along with
the ornamental steel tower and concrete base
that was constructed to hold it. The restructured
clock was located on the Plaza just east of the
fountain. Culbertson designed the base himself.
It was removed from the Plaza when it became a
traffic hazard. Its clock was taken to PJC for
jewelry students to study, and the base was sold
as scrap during WWII.
❖
Right: Paris philanthropist, John
James Culbertson.
COURTESY OF THE PARIS NEWS.
Below: Culbertson’s Clock originally
hung on the corner of the Lamar State
Bank & Trust Company on the south
side of the square.
COURTESY OF THE AIKIN ARCHIVES.
Culbertson’s Clock. Originally suspended from
the corner of the old bank on the southeast
corner of the square, it was moved in September
1928 when the bank relocated diagonally across
the street. When the bank failed at the end of
that year, the clock was taken down to be sold
John James Culbertson
No person bequeathed so much to Paris,
Texas as did cottonseed oil magnet John James
Culbertson. He was born in Ohio on March 16,
1853, and married Emily Lou Lee of Plainsfield,
New Jersey on September 6, 1881 (or 1882).
Culbertson’s first trip to the South was made
in 1883 as a salesman. During his daily travels
he discovered the possibilities of the cottonseed
oil business. Around this time, he met B. Gaston
of Montgomery, Alabama. They formed the Paris
Oil Works. It was only the ninth such facility in
Texas. In three years the two men sold out to the
American Cotton Oil Trust, one of the top three
companies in the cottonseed oil refining
business. Arguments about operation and the
secrecy in which the Trust operated prompted
some entrepreneurs to form a second cottonseed
processing corporation called the Southern Oil
Company. Culbertson went to work for that
company at its Little Rock plant. He left
Southern in 1891.
Returning to Paris, Culbertson organized the
Paris Oil and Cotton Mill. He constructed a
build-ing using, for the first time in Paris,
electric lighting. The company was a small fry
among giants. His partners were several
financial and political leaders of the town: W. B.
Wise, H. L. Scales, T J. Broad, and T. E. Griffis.
From that company, Culbertson organized the
Southland Cotton Oil Mill. He expanded it by
beginning or purchasing mills in Texas,
Louisiana and Oklahoma. He also associated
with some forty gins of the Bushbert Gin
Company. Quietly and unassumingly
Culbertson created quite an operation.
In 1914, Culbertson was given probably his
most distinguished job and honor, one he held
68 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

❖
The Paris Public Library building was
one of many gifts to Paris from Mr. &
Mrs. J.J. Culbertson. Construction
began in June 1931.
COURTESY OF THE PARIS NEWS.
to his death. Culbertson was appointed as a
board member of the Eleventth District Federal
Reserve Bank in Dallas when it was formed. In
1917 he became one of President Woodrow
Wilson’s “dollar men,” helping organize in
Washington, D.C., a bureau to oversee the
cottonseed and cottonseed products for the
food administration.
World War I was not kind to the cottonseed
business. Culbertson returned to Paris facing
a steep decline. With his skills, friends and
know-how, he continued to prosper. By
operating more efficiently, Culbertson became
one of many small chains of mills located
within the same general geographical area.
About 1920 he began to dispose of all but a
minor financial interest in the Southland Cotton
Oil Company and retired from active
participation in its management.
Culbertson spent a few years giving back to
Paris much that he had gained from the
cottonseed business. In addition to the plaza
fountain and clock, he donated the WWI
Cenotaph, the Holy Cross church bells,
sculptures for PJC, and more. In 1931, Emily’s
dream of having a nice library and art gallery in
Paris came true with the Culbertson funding of
a $50,000 public library. In its cornerstone are
two phonograph disks with Culbertson’s
recorded message placed inside.
During the middle of summer in 1932, Emily
and J. J. Culbertson vacationed in California to
see the Olympic Games. At that time he became
ill but the condition was not considered serious.
On September 19 he was confined at Mercy
Hospital, suffering from a bladder ailment. On
the night of September 27, 1932, he died from
a heart attack.
1929 - First Traffic Light
On May 28, 1929, Paris’ first traffic signal
light was put in operation on the northeast
corner of the Plaza regulating vehicle and
pedestrian traffic. The installation was a
demonstration given by C. E. Newell of
Greenville, manufacturer of the signal, in his
effort to sell them to the City of Paris. The lights
rotated according to the direction of traffic,
staying on for thirty seconds each rotation.
Their cost was $150 each.
1929 - Wall Street Crash
From October 24 (Black Thursday) until
October 29, 1929 (Black Tuesday), share
prices on the New York Stock Exchange
collapsed. Enormous stock market upheaval,
panic selling and vast levels of trading
during this period signaled the beginning of
the Great Depression of the 1930s in the
United States. As late as April 1942, stock
prices were still seventy-five percent below
their 1929 peak and did not regain that level
until November 1954, almost a quarter of a
century later.
Chapter Five ✦ 69

Timeline: 1930-1949
1930 U.S. Census (Paris: 15,649; Lamar County: 48,529).
1931 Legion Field, Paris’ first municipal airport, was establshed.
1931 PJC became an independent institution.
1932 Paris Public Library completed.
1933 Paris City Council officially designates the public square as the Plaza.
1934 PJC joined the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.
1936 The Texas Centennial Commission erected a marker near the Red River
designating the site of the first known Anglo-American settlement in
Lamar County.
1936 Paris becomes one of the first cities to apply the Lindbergh Act.
1937 Paris Junior College District established, independent of Paris public
school system.
1940 U.S. Census (Paris: 18,678; Lamar County: 50,425).
1940 Paris Junior College campus relocated.
1941 Paris native, James Otto Richardson was replaced as Commander of the U.S. Fleet.
1942 Camp Maxey opened.
1943 Cox Field activated and named for Lt. Charles Mac Cox.
1946 Nahas of Texas established in Paris.
1947 The Paris, Texas Industrial Foundation was granted a Texas Corporation Charter.
1947 Mid-Continent Airlines began service to Cox Field.
1947 Wall Concrete established in Paris.
1947 Guest Paper Company was founded.
1948 As its first project, the Paris Industrial Foundation constructed a building for the
Benjamin C. Betner Company.
1948 A new city charter establishes a city manager type of government in Paris.
1948 Mr. and Mrs. George Guest donate funds to establish a day nursery in Paris for
Negro children.
1949 Central Airlines began service to Cox Field.
1949 First Paris Junior College Board of Regents elected.
70 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

Chapter Six
THE DEPRESSION, WWII
AND AVIATION
Expansion and Development: 1930-1949
❖
A tank from Camp Maxey is on
display in front of the Grand Theater
on Lamar Avenue in Paris.
COURTESY OF THE PHYLLIS BYERS COLLECTION.
The two decades from 1930-1949 were
marked by three major influences on the Paris
and Lamar County economy: the Great
Depression, World War II and the rapid growth
of commercial aviation. Community leaders
turned to self-promotion to bolster positive
economic change. Members of the Lamar
County Chamber of Commerce and the city
council regularly visited state and national
leaders to promote the advantages of bringing
business and government projects to the county.
The Great Depression
Decline of Cotton
The most profound economic influence on
Paris, the city that was and the city that still
existed in the 1930s and 1940s, came from
cotton. The importance of its role in making Paris
cannot be overemphasized.
During the Great Depression, cotton prices
fell to two cents per pound, and there were few
buyers even at that price. World War II shrank
the county’s population in the 1940s as many
went to war, and many of those who returned
settled near the larger Texas cities and gave
up farming. Since cotton was a time-consuming
and labor-intensive operation, the cotton
fields shrank in size and became an agricultural
activity that involved fewer families and
more machines. By 1950 there were no
active local cotton houses, only buyers who
came into the community from Dallas, Houston,
and Shreveport.
Chapter Six ✦ 71

❖
Located about eight miles north of
Paris, Camp Maxey, an infantry
training camp, was activated
July 15, 1942.
COURTESY OF THE PHYLLIS BYERS COLLECTION.
Banking
The “depression” of 1932 was a period of hard
times. Banks closed because of a shortage of
money to meet obligations, so President Roosevelt
ordered all national banks closed until things
could be straightened out. The Paris News and the
Chamber of Commerce issued script in small
denominations, and it served as currency for some
time, and was very convenient for its users.
The truth is that times were rough in the 1930s
and several local banks did close or reorganize
during this period, but since the county was
mostly agricultural, most families pulled together
to survive with some extra effort and much worry.
The success of Paris banking institutions was as
much responsible to the conservative nature of
their leadership as the sacrifice of several citizens
of Paris who put up their own personal fortunes
to make sure that area banks survived. The
influences of leaders such as W. J. McDonald,
Michael Halbounty, J. J. Culbertson, and others
guided area banks through troubled times to
continue sound financial commerce and rebuild
in the better times of the 1940s.
One can note that banks no longer put
up a notice that the bank will be closed
on a certain day. The word “closed” does not have
a pleasant sound, so the notices now read that the
bank will “Not Open” on such dates as are legal
holidays. That is a better way of stating the case.
Population
In defense of those who say that Lamar
County was not much influenced by the
depression of the 1930s, the population of Paris
was 15,649 in 1930. By 1940, Paris had grown
to a population of 18,678 and boasted 530 rated
businesses. In 1950 the population had grown
to 21,636 with 610 businesses. The population
in 1960 had fallen some to 20,977, but the
constant growth of population and business
figures during the years of 1930-1960 are the
best proof that the leaders of Paris and Lamar
County were successful in building the
economy of the area even during the troubling
time of the depression, World War II and the
decades following.
World War II
Other than the depression of the 1930s, there
was no more important event in this era than
World War II and the contributions of Lamar
County to the war effort. A monument in front of
Paris Junior College lists the names of fifty-seven
students who made the ultimate sacrifice for
their county and country. Less severe, but of
importance, were the many everyday sacrifices
and contributions of those others who served in
the military and those who served by raising
crops, defense funds, scrap metal, and
72 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

❖
Located eight miles southeast of Paris
on Highway 271, Cox Field was
activated on February 6, 1943.
COURTESY OF THE MARVIN GORLEY COLLECTION.
newspapers. Many served by contributing to the
establishment and support of Camp Maxey and
Cox Field.
Camp Maxey
Located about eight miles north of Paris,
Camp Maxey, an infantry training camp, was
activated July 15, 1942 with Lieutenant Colonel
C. H. Palmer as camp commander. He was
succeeded by Colonel Robert C. Annin on March
25, 1943.
The 102nd Infantry Division, the first to be
organized at the camp, was activated on
September 15, 1942, with General John B.
Anderson as the commander general. It spent
exactly one year at Camp Maxey before moving
through other stateside camps and finally to
France shortly after the Normandy invasion in
June 1944. The 99nd Infantry, a young division
under the command of Major General Walter E.
Lauer, arrived in November 1943. They trained
until September 1944, at which time they
shipped out directly to Europe to participate in
the Battle of the Bulge that winter.
In addition to the army ground forces trained
at Camp Maxey, army service forces and army
air forces had a part in the development of camp
activities. The varied terrain provided facilities
for working out problems of infantry training to
meet modern battle conditions. An artillery
range, obstacle course, infiltration course, and
“German Village” were included in training
maneuvers. Troop capacity was 44,931.
A component not originally planned for the
camp which became very important, was the
POW camp which operated from October 1943
through February 1946. It became the largest
POW camp in the U.S. during WWII. Originally
projected to hold Japanese captives from the
Pacific, Camp Maxey actually primarily housed
captured German troops from the defeated
Afrika Korps, under Rommel, in North Africa.
Eventually the camp reached a total of 7,458
prisoners, slightly under the holding capacity of
9,000. From all accounts, most prisoners were
not displeased to spend the remainder of the war
here, as they were well-fed, well-treated and safe.
Camp Maxey was named for General Sam
Bell Maxey, a Paris resident who served
honorably during the Civil War and later
served as U.S. senator for the State of Texas.
The camp dominated Paris’ life socially
and economically. It brought soldiers from
the four corners of the globe and with
them their families and loved ones. Paris
population went from almost 19,000 to
as much as 28,000. When the war was
over, many elected to remain in Lamar County.
Camp Maxey was placed on inactive status
on October 1, 1945.
Chapter Six ✦ 73

❖
Admiral James O. Richardson, USN
takes the oath prior to giving
testimony during the 1945-46
Congressional investigation
of the Pearl Harbor attack, during
World War II. He was the U.S. Fleet
commander (CinCUS) in 1940 and
early 1941.
COURTESY OF THE U.S. NAVAL
HISTORICAL CENTER.
Cox Army Air Field
At the beginning of World War II, Cox Army
Air Field was built as an intercoastal defense
airfield, the second line of defense in case of
destruction of airports along the coast. Located
eight miles southeast of Paris on Highway 271,
Cox Field was authorized by the Federal
Government on April 28, 1942 and activated on
February 6, 1943. It was named for Second
Lieutenant Charles Mac Cox who was the first
Lamar County man to lose his life in service during
the American defense period preceding United
States entry into the war. In addition to training
and protection use, Cox Field served as an
auxiliary airport for nearby air base flight training
exercises. The field boasted three 150-foot-wide,
4,500-foot-long concrete runways with 50-foot
taxi strips connecting them. Cox Field was
declared war surplus, effective January 31, 1947.
James Otto Richardson
James Otto Richardson attended the Naval
Academy at Annapolis. He served during World
War I aboard the USS Nevada and afterward
taught at the Naval Academy. He was the chief of
the U.S. Bureau of Navigation in 1938 and was
fondly called “Jo” by President Franklin D.
Roosevelt. Richardson became the Commander
of the U.S. Fleet in January 1940. It is said that he
advised FDR of the dangers of the U.S. Fleet
being stationed in Hawaii. After he pressed the
issue with the president twice in personal
meetings, he was replaced by Husband E.
Kimmel in February 1941. Kimmel often stated
later that Richardson was only guilty of hounding
the president and being right about Pearl Harbor.
At breakfast on December 7, 1941, Richardson’s
wife, the former May Fenet of Paris, listened to
her husband say he wanted to re-read his thesis
on problems with Japan. He told her something
was imminent. At 1:30 p.m. he received a phone
call verifying his speculation. The Japanese that
morning had ambushed the Pacific Fleet in
Hawaii. Richardson would later testify before
Congress of his feelings about the Pearl Harbor
attack. However, he always played the role of the
good sailor no matter how he came to feel about
FDR. He would later serve as a part of the
military board that governed Japan after the war.
He retired in 1947 and was laid to rest in
Arlington Cemetery in 1974.
Dean Edward Hallmark
Paris’ most tragic hero may be Dean Edward
Hallmark. He was a football player from
Greenville and a student at Paris Junior College.
During World War II, he was a pilot who took
part in the Doolittle raid over Tokyo. Hallmark
was taken prisoner, executed by the Japanese
with two other Doolittle raiders, and is buried in
Arlington Cemetery not far from another
Greenville World War II veteran and hero,
Audie Murphy.
Odessa Stanley Johnson
Odessa Stanley Johnson, a Howland, Texas
native, was among the first WAACs in the U.S.
military. She was born February 19, 1905 and
taught school in Dodd City and High, Texas,
later moving to Fort Worth to join the Army-Air
Force. Johnson was in the 463rd Division at
Geiger Field in Spokane, Washington. Ranked
as a specialist 5 after serving two years, she left
the military and returned to teaching in High,
Texas. She continued her education and earned
her bachelor’s degree in education from Wiley
College in Marshall, Texas and her master’s from
Colorado College in Colorado Springs.
Johnson taught most of her years at H. G.
Smith High School in Roxton. She encouraged
74 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

Growth of Aviation
By the late 1920s, aviation was growing
dramatically throughout the United States, and
Paris residents were growing concerned about
not having a city airport. Many felt that Paris
could be in the same predicament as cities and
towns that were “off the railroad” during their
developmental period. Railroads were the
business-getters in those days, and aviation held
the same promise. Soon, “getting an airport”
became a common topic at civic clubs and
social gatherings.
her students to travel. Each year she sponsored a
school trip. On one such trip to Independence,
Missouri they visited President Harry S. Truman’s
home, bravely rang his doorbell and were
surprised to find him at home and willing to visit.
Johnson retired in 1972, and became a foster
parent for twelve years. She passed away in
2000 at the age of ninety-five. Many of her
former students say, “I am what I am today
because of Mrs. Odessa Johnson.”
Legion Field
It was 1931 before the citizens of Paris, Texas,
felt a municipal airport was needed. Several
crude private landing strips were available,
including one in Reno and the Oyler brothers’
strip west of Evergreen Cemetery, but city officials
wanted a more modern facility for the growing
community. Very little money was available for
the new airport. The Winfield Brown Post No. 30
of the American Legion took the lead. Donations
from it, the Chamber of Commerce and several
businessmen began the process of acquiring land
on Northwest nineteenth Street and the building
of an L-shaped field composed of two dirt
runways. The field was ready for the first plane
on November 11, 1931, and a 50-by-60-foot
sheet steel hangar was completed on July 19,
❖
Above: Odessa Stanley Johnson, a
long time educator in Roxton, Texas,
was among the first WAAC in the
U.S. military.
COURTESY OF THE MARVA JOE COLLECTION.
Below: Legion Field, Paris’ first
municipal airport, was dedicated on
July 30-31, 1932.
COURTESY OF THE MARVIN RODEN COLLECTION.
Chapter Six ✦ 75

1932. Formal dedication of the new Legion Field
occurred on July 30-31, 1932.
Air Mail Feeder Survey
On December 10, 1937, Eastern Airlines
conducted a Texas Air Mail Feeder Survey to test
the viability of extending its routes. Eager to
obtain air mail delivery, the citizens of Paris
stuffed a specially provided mailbox at the post
office with their air mail. Promoted by the
Chamber, the drive produced 3,322 pieces of
mail-more than any of the other 50 Texas cities
participating in the survey. Paris did not acquire
the wanted route, but its citizens had taken the
first step towards air mail delivery for their city.
Civilian Pilot Training Program
In October 1939, Paris Junior College was
selected to participate in the Civilian Pilot
Training Program by the Civil Aeronautics
Authority in Washington, D.C. The school was
allotted a quota of ten students. They were the
first of many pilots who attended ground school
at PJC and flying instruction at Legion Field.
Lloyd Damron, manager of the Paris airport, was
selected to conduct the flying lessons. He had
already been teaching flying courses at the field
for more than a year. In December 1942 the
junior college began teaching its first class of
Naval aviation cadets. Its contract called for
ground instruction, food, housing, and
transportation while the Paris Flying Service at
Legion Field was contracted for actual flying
instruction. In 1943 the school added Army
aviation cadets at the request of the Civil
Aeronautics Administration. Throughout the
1940s, hundreds of shirt tails were hung in the
Legion Field office as trophies of the first solo
flights by Paris-trained pilots.
Henry Ayres
Around this same time period, Paris
businessman Henry Ayres established himself as
the “Father of Aviation” for his chosen
hometown and a pioneer contributor to Texas
aviation. He first flew in 1928. His commercial
pilots license was number 4778, one of the first
5,000 issued in the United States. Ayres was
instrumental in the development of Legion Field
and the acquisition of Cox Field. He helped
secure commercial airline routes into Paris
resulting in the first major passenger and airmail
service for the city. At least ten different planes
were owned by him during his flying career. He
used them on business trips for his downtown
Paris company, Ayres Dry Goods Store. The west
wall of his former office still contains a wall-towall,
ceiling-to-floor map of the United States
on which he plotted his flight plans. Ayres also
flew to the meetings of the Texas Aeronautical
Commission of which he was a charter member,
its first secretary, and its chairman. The TAC was
legally activated on September 4, 1945. Ayres
served for twelve years promoting the
improvement, development and expansion of
Texas aviation.
❖
Paris produced more air mail than
any of the other fifty cities
participating in Eastern Airlines’
Texas Air Mail Feeder Survey.
COURTESY OF THE MARVIN GORLEY COLLECTION.
76 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

❖
Henry Ayres had one of the first five
thousand commercial pilots licenses
issued in the United States. He was
instrumental in the acquisition of
both of Paris’ municipal airports
and in securing its first commercial
airline route.
COURTESY OF THE MARVIN GORLEY COLLECTION.
First Commercial Airline
Dal-Air Lines, Paris’ first scheduled
commercial airline service began on March
27, 1946. R. M. White, chief pilot for the
Dal-Air Lines, landed a seven-passenger
Noordyn airplane at Legion Field around noon
that day. This first flight began a daily schedule
of one flight in and one out for Paris. The Dal-Air
feeder route started in Beaumont-Port Arthur
and continued through Lufkin, Tyler, and Dallas
before terminating in Paris, its northern most
city. On March 30, Richard Owens of Paris and
Travis Ables, a visitor to Paris, became the
airline’s first two passengers. However, the
airline was short lived. Effective May 13, 1946,
less than two months after its inaugural flight,
Dal-Air discontinued its Paris flights due to a
shortage of equipment. The owners expressed a
desire to soon establish a route from Texarkana
to Paris to Dallas, but it never materialized.
Municipal Airports
For more than a decade Legion Field was
Paris’ primary airport. Its decline began when
the City of Paris acquired Cox Field as war
surplus in 1947. At its April 10, 1950, meeting
the Paris City Council instructed City Manager
John Perryman to sell Legion Field and
concentrate on improving Cox Field. For a while
Jess Faulkner held leases to both airports. He
was granted a ten-year lease to Cox Field on June
16, 1947. His Legion Field lease was due to
expire on May 14, 1950. Faulkner had been the
Legion Field manager since August 1944. After
the City’s decision to close Legion Field,
Faulkner requested that all planes be moved
from the airport and all log books be picked up
by the end of his lease. May 14, 1950 can be
considered the official last day of the City’s first
municipal airport.
Legion Air Park
On May 2, 1950, Faulkner announced
his plans to open an “air park” for Paris. Its
construction began the following week at 2400
North Main Street. Faulkner moved his flying
service and facilities there when his Legion Field
lease ran out on May 14. Advertised as Northeast
Texas’ “Most Convenient Airpark,” it had good
runways, a twenty-five cent taxi zone, a nearby
tourist court, and an excellent restaurant. The
“Flight 50” restaurant was opened on October
24, 1950. On its menu were sandwiches,
Mexican food, southern fried chicken,
Chapter Six ✦ 77

❖
On August 1, 1947, a Mid-Continent
Airlines’ Douglas DC-3 Skyliner
landed with “City of Paris”
emblazoned on its nose. It was the
beginning of Paris’ first scheduled
major passenger and air mail service.
COURTESY OF THE MARVIN GORLEY COLLECTION.
charbroiled steaks, and free parachute jumping.
The restaurant was operated by Mr. and Mrs. C.
G. Kidd. Faulkner said his air park offered a
reduced cost on flying time and flight service to
transit aircraft within a three-hundred-mile
radius of Paris. On October 10, 1951, it hosted
the All-Texas Air Tour. Twenty-one assorted
airplanes landed at Legion AirPark around 12:30
p.m. and departed a little after 2 p.m. to
continue their week-long tour of Texas cities.
Cox Field acquired by City
Cox Field was declared war surplus, effective
January 31, 1947. The City of Paris accepted
“right of entry” for the airport shortly after
midnight on May 23, 1947. That was the first
step required to gain outright possession of the
field which happened in 1949 with only two
contract stipulations: that the City of Paris
would own and operate it, and that in case of
national emergency the field would revert back
to the federal government. The acquisition of
Cox Field made Paris a viable stop on the routes
of commercial airlines.
Mid-Continent Airlines
On November 27, 1946, The Civil
Aeronautics Board granted a three-year
temporary certificate to Mid-Continent Airlines
to provide air service to Paris, Texas. On August
1, 1947, Mid-Continent Airlines, Inc.,
inaugurated two daily flights (one north and one
south) into Paris, the city’s first scheduled major
passenger and air mail service. That day was
declared “Mid-Continent Day in Paris”. Route
No. 80 had been approved by the Civil
Aeronautic Board in January 1947, but was
delayed until release of Cox Field to the City of
Paris, and until installation of passenger and
radio facilities at the new terminal building were
complete. At 11:30 a.m. the first southbound
plane, a Douglas DC-3 Skyliner, landed with
“City of Paris” emblazoned on its nose. Majorie
McKinney, Paris’ “Queen of Aviation,” christened
the plane with a bottle of milk in recognition of
one of the newest and fastest growing industries
in the area. A few minutes earlier the first
northbound plane had landed. Mid-Continent’s
route between Tulsa and Houston linked Paris
with fourteen other major air carriers giving the
city access to important industrial and
commercial centers throughout the United
States. Paris, Texas passengers were only 40
hours and 13 minutes from Paris, France. Mid-
Continent Airlines joined Paris with
approximately three hundred other U.S. cities
that had direct air mail service in 1947. An
official U.S. government first-flight cachet was
applied to 3,073 airmail letters sent that first day.
Central Airlines
The first major east-west passenger and air
mail flights into Paris, Texas were made by
Central Airlines on October 15, 1949. The
airline was granted a three-year temporary
certificate to provide air service to Paris on the
78 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

same day as Mid-Continent Airlines, but took a
little longer to get started. Informal greetings
were extended to airline officials who arrived
the day before. Ben Marable (chamber of
commerce secretary), Leon Hodges (mayor protem),
Ross Iliff (chamber aviation chairman),
Mark Hodges (postmaster), Dick Eben (Mid-
Continent Airlines), and Tom Wren (Civil
Aeronautics Board) were a few on hand to
welcome the officials. Wren announced that
Central Airlines made history by being the first
single-engine air mail service authorized in the
United States by CAB to be in actual operation.
Twice-a-day round trips were offered by Central
on route No. 81 from Texarkana to
Dallas/FortWorth.
Milestones
1931 - Peristyle
Often called “the beauty spot of Paris,”
Bywaters Park is located on South Main Street
just south of the Plaza. It was donated to the city
by J. K. Bywaters in his will, dated April 30,
1914. A fund for improvements was also
bequeathed to the city. From this fund a marble
monument with the dedication was erected near
the northwest corner of the park. In the fall of
1931 a more permanent monument, the
peristyle, was erected using the same funds. The
dedication was relocated to the peristyle. It was
first used for a public gathering on Armistice
Day in 1931. W. M. McCraw, future attorney
general of Texas, was the featured speaker. The
peristyle is the annual site for the Paris
Municipal Band concerts.
designated the public square as the Plaza. The
same ordinance established Market Square on
South Twentieth Street and made it unlawful
to sell, barter, or exchange produce or merchandise
on the Plaza.
1934 - The Lindbergh Act
In the pre-dawn hours of November 26,
1934, Paris police officers R. N. “Newt” Baker
and H. R. “Tutt” Marks were kidnapped by
prison escapees, Ambrose Nix and Arthur
Gooch. The officers had stopped to investigate a
suspicious vehicle parked at Clyde Moore’s
service station on North Main Street. During a
struggle, Baker was injured and Marks
was overpowered. The inmates commandeered
the police car and headed for Oklahoma with
the captive officers. Eighteen hours later the
officers were released forty miles north of
Antlers, Oklahoma.
Nix and Gooch were stopped by federal and
Oklahoma state officers on December 23, 1934,
in Okemah, Oklahoma. Nix opened fire on the
❖
On her birthday, Emily Lee
Culbertson turned the first shovel of
dirt during groundbreaking
ceremonies for the Paris Public
Library. Philanthropist John J.
Culbertson, dedicated the building to
his wife, who had always dreamed of
a library and art gallery for Paris.
COURTESY OF THE PARIS NEWS.
1932 - Paris Public Library
On June 5, 1931, the birthday of Emily Lee
Culbertson, ground was broken for the Paris
Public Library. Local philanthropist John J.
Culbertson dedicated the building to his wife
who had always dreamed of a library and art
gallery for Paris. It was built on the site of the
Culbertson’s former home, which was destroyed
in the Fire of 1916. The building, designed by
architect J. L. Wees, was completed in 1932.
1933 - Square becomes the Plaza
On July 17, 1933, the Paris City Council
adopted Ordinance #922 that officially
Chapter Six ✦ 79

❖
Gibbons High School class of 1937.
COURTESY OF THE JOAN MATHIS COLLECTION.
officers and died in a hail of gunfire. Gooch was
captured unhurt and became one of the first
persons tried under the Lindbergh Act of June 2,
1932. The law was enacted in response to the
kidnap/murder of Charles and Anne Lindbergh’s
infant son by Bruno Richard Hauptmann.
Hauptmann’s trial began the week after Gooch
was arrested in Oklahoma.
Gooch appealed his conviction on the grounds
that no reward or ransom was demanded.
However, the Act had been amended on May 18,
1934, to include all other motives. Gooch’s
conviction was upheld by the Tenth Circuit Court
of Appeals on March 9, 1936, and he was
executed on June 19, 1936.
1936 - Talco Oil Strike
Early in February 1936, the ridge between the
Sulphur River and White Oak Creek was studded
with dry holes. On Friday night, February 7, an
enterprising group of independent operators
blasted away at Georgetown lime more than four
thousand feet below the surface, a deeper test
than the usual Woodbine sand layer. Strike! Oil
rose 750 feet in the casing on a drillstem test in
23 minutes.
The announcement electrified the oil fraternity
of the Southwest, as well as the general public
throughout Northeast Texas. Operators from a
half-dozen states swarmed to Talco and Mount
Pleasant, where titles to acreage could be secured.
Thousands of sightseers drove over the thenrough
Highway 49 to see the discovery well, the
Peveto et al No. 1 Carr. Boom conditions hit
Talco, and several times during the early
development of the field, the same conditions
were repeated as new wells came in.
1938 - Griffiths’ Children’s Hospital
On August 3, 1937, a contract to build a
children’s hospital was awarded to J. W. and
Barney Harrison by the Sanitarium of Paris.
Groundbreaking ceremonies were held the next
day. Building of the hospital was provided for in
the will of Mrs. George A. Griffiths as a
memorial to her husband. The hospital was
opened on February 13, 1938.
1940 - New PJC Campus
On September 17, 1940, Paris Junior College
began its seventeenth year of classes on a brand
new campus located at 2400 Clarksville Street.
1940 - Jack “Skinney” Russell
Jack “Skinney” Russell retired from major
league baseball in 1940. Fifteen years before, he
had played on the 1923-25 Paris High School
championship teams.
80 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

❖
Mr. & Mrs. Sam Green’s Grocery,
located on the corner of Northeast
Tenth and East Hickory Streets, was
the center of Paris’ minority
community for over thirty-eight years.
COURTESY OF THE JOAN MATHIS COLLECTION.
Russell graduated from PHS in 1925, turning
his attention to full-time baseball after a year
at Paris Junior College. By twenty-one he was a
member of the Boston Red Sox pitching staff.
After six years he was traded to Cleveland and
then, in 1933, to Washington. Russell led the
American League that year with thirteen saves
and an 11-6 record. In 1934, Russell became the
first American League reliever to be picked for
the All-Star Game. He completed his career with
the Tigers, Cubs, and Cardinals, pitching in
2,050 innings and compiling an 85-141 record
with an ERA of 4.47. He played in two World
Series, appearing in twelve innings with an ERA
of 0.75. There are twenty-three photos of him in
the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Russell moved to Clearwater Beach near
Tampa, Florida when he retired. There he became
a city commissioner, and the city named a
stadium after him. It was torn down for a
replacement in 2004. A framed shadow box hangs
on the wall of the new facility, explaining Russell’s
connection with Paris, Texas.
1947 - Green’s Grocery
Green’s Grocery, located on the corner of
Northeast Tenth and East Hickory Streets, was the
center of Paris’ minority community for over
thirty-eight years. It was established by Mr. and
Mrs. Sam Green in October, 1947. A new building
was constructed in 1966 at the same location.
After Sam’s death in 1970, Mrs. Green operated the
business alone. It has been in business under the
same name and at the same location for over
sixty years.
1948 - Guest Day Nursery
In 1948, Mr. and Mrs. George Guest donated
$10,000 to establish a day nursery in Paris for
Negro children. The money was bequeathed to
the First Circle of the King’s Daughters and
Sons in Paris for the purpose of constructing
and equipping the nursery. Guest was a
prominent Paris citizen. He was elected
president of the Paris Negro Chamber of
Commerce and chairman of the Negro War
Recreation Council. He also served many years
as chairman of the Republican County
Committee and was usually a member of its
delegation to the state convention.
1948 - New City Charter
The 1948 charter established a city manager
type of government, making the mayor’s chief
duty that of presiding over council meetings. It
also made the offices of police chief, city
secretary, and city judge subject to council
appointment. The charter was approved by a
170-vote margin (3,878 total votes cast, 2,024
for and 1,854 against) on November 2, 1948.
Chapter Six ✦ 81

Timeline: 1950-1979
1950 U.S. Census (Paris: 21,643; Lamar County: 43,033).
1950 Dismantling of Camp Maxey begins, ending all efforts and hopes to reopen it as a
military installation.
1950 Cox Field was designated as war surplus, then acquired by the city for its airport.
1951 Westinghouse Electric Corporation opened a plant in Paris.
1951 Fry & Gibbs Funeral Home opened in the old McCuistion home.
1952 Babcock & Wilcox opened in Paris.
1953 Paris Sesame Products established.
1954 Vasserette, a ladies’ undergarment manufacturer, opened in Paris.
1956 UARCO opened a plant in Paris.
1956 A. W. Neville died, and Backward Glances ceased being written.
1957 Loop 286 construction began.
1959 Flex-O-Lite built a plant in Paris.
1959 Oliver Tire and Rubber was established in Paris.
1959 The S. H. Kress building and the Ayres building are extensively damaged by fire.
1959 Scenes from Home from the Hill are filmed in Lamar and Red River Counties.
1960 U.S. Census (Paris: 20,977; Lamar County: 34,234).
1962 Superior Switchboard began production in Paris.
1963 Citizens State Bank opened in Paris.
1963 Paris native, Dr. Charles Baxter tries to save President Kennedy’s life in Dallas.
1964 Campbell Soup Company plant opened in Paris.
1964 A fire at the Lamar Creamery ultimately results in its relocation to Sulphur Springs.
1966 PISD voluntarily integrates Paris High School.
1968 Pat Mayse Lake completed and opened to the public.
1968 Wintermute Industries was founded.
1970 U.S. Census (Paris: 23,441; Lamar County: 36,062).
1970 North Lamar Independent School District established.
1970 Dedication ceramonies held for the four-laning of Highway 271 North.
1972 Grant received for the renovation of the Maxey House.
1972 Merico Packaging established in Paris.
1974 Merica Snack Foods built a plant in Paris.
1974 Paris High School was relocated to 2400 Jefferson Road.
1978 The A. M. and Welma Aikin Regional Archives was dedicated.
1979 Highway 24 designation given to route from Paris to Interstate 30.
1979 Senator A. M. Aikin retired.
82 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

Chapter Seven
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
AND PAT MAYSE LAKE
Farm to Factory: 1950-1979
The same group of businessmen who secured
Camp Maxey followed the war with packaged proposals
for industries to locate in Paris. Their early
success with food processors, a boilermaker, a
lightbulb plant, and small fabricators moved Paris
into an industrial economy directly connected to
the state, nation and world. The local economy
was no longer heavily dependent on agriculture or
regional wholesale houses.
Industrial Foundation
Following World War II, coastal industries
were warned to decentralize or risk going under.
It was thought that should the U.S. become
involved in another war, the concentration of
industry in vulnerable coastal areas might mean
the defeat of the country. Decentralization placed
Paris in a favorable position to secure its share of
new industry. Paris leaders developed a strategy to
take advantage of the situation. A ten-man
industrial team was formed.
On January 6, 1947, the Paris, Texas,
Industrial Foundation was granted a
Corporation Charter under the laws of the State
of Texas. Firms and individuals donated or
subscribed $100,000 (in 4,000 shares) for the
corporation. The money was used in a revolving
fund to buy sites and build buildings for
desirable industries to locate in Paris. The
buildings and sites were to be leased to the
industries on a business-like basis. Most
contracts contained an option to buy. As money
came back to the nonprofit Foundation, it was
used to entice more industries.
Marvin Gibbs
For a half-century, Paris and its industrial
recruitment efforts evolved through Marvin
Gibbs. He became a part of the industrial
committee of the Lamar County Chamber of
Commerce three years after his 1943 arrival in
Paris. The community lost an effort to retain
Camp Maxey, and the future was bleak. Pat
Mayse, publisher of The Paris News, called for an
effort to attract industry. Gibbs became the
driving force with the chamber committee and
the Paris Industrial Foundation, which worked
through Texas Power and Light Company and
Lone Star Gas Company to bring a breathtaking
number of industries to town.
Gibbs came to Paris when Fred Manton sold
his funeral home interest to him and J. A.
Ballard. Three years later, Ballard sold his share
to Grady Fry and Gibbs. The Fry & Gibbs
Funeral Home was located on Clarksville Street
❖
For a half-century, Paris and its
industrial recruitment efforts evolved
through the efforts of Texas Power &
Light Company, Lone Star Gas, and
local leader Marvin Gibbs.
COURTESY OF THE PARIS NEWS.
Chapter Seven ✦ 83

❖
Nahas of Texas was known across
the U.S. by a label in children’s
underwear marked “Styled by Nahas
Paris, Texas.”
COURTESY OF THE PARIS NEWS.
near downtown until it moved in 1941 to the old
Johnson-McCuistion mansion at 730 Clarksville
Street. At its earlier site, Harold Hyde’s Ideal
Bakery was next door. Hyde became Gibbs’ cochairman
of the original Industrial Team during
its first decade. The two made a good team, the
college-educated Hyde hob-nobbing on the golf
course and hard working Gibbs twisting arms
over the phone. By 1961, they, the foundation,
the chamber, TP&L, and Lone Star Gas had
attracted eleven new manufacturers to Paris,
with the largest of all being Campbell Soup.
Industrial Development
1946 - Nahas of Texas
Nahas & Son, Inc. became known across the
United States by a label in children’s underwear
marked “Styled by Nahas, Paris, Texas.” The
company made children’s clothes. Joseph H.
Nahas was president of the company. His wife was
in charge of designing, inspection and
production. His son, Reginald J. Nahas, was
secretary-treasurer. November 11, 1946, saw its
first production with three machines, a cutting
table and cutting equipment. By the end of the
year, 10 girls were operating 25 machines. By
1980, it employed sixty. Nahas occupied the
upstairs floor of the Ordway Furniture Company
at 10 Southwest Second Street when it opened. It
was located at 214 Northwest First Street on
February 29, 1980, when its plant was destroyed
by fire. The company did not re-establish its Paris
facility, deciding that they might as well relocate
closer to the main office in Oklahoma. Nahas of
Texas had been purchased by Bryan’s Infantswear
of Tulsa, Oklahoma, about two years prior to
the fire.
1947 - Wall Concrete Pipe Company
Wall Concrete has been located at 1545 South
Church Street since its establishment in 1947. At
that time, its major product was concrete pipe.
The company incorporated in 1971. Daon Wall
was president and his brother, Donald, was vicepresident.
In 1978, Wall Concrete had one of the
largest manhole businesses in the area, and it also
manufactured septic tanks. It was sold to CSR
Hydro Conduit Corporation on April 1, 1998,
who continued Paris operations under the name,
CSR Wall.
1947 - Guest Paper
Peyton-Guest Paper Company was founded on
July 1, 1947, by Jesse K. Guest and M. S. Peyton
as a wholesale paper company. Guest bought
Peyton’s interest in 1951 and since that time it has
been Guest Paper Company. The company moved
to 1110 West Washington Street in September
1969. It has distributed major paper products for
84 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

❖
Wayne Ward, an engineer at the Paris
Westinghouse plant, checks newly
made light bulb bases.
COURTESY OF THE PARIS NEWS.
manufacturers such as Scott, Crown, Zellerbach,
American Can, Boise Cascade, and International
Paper Company. They have also carried sanitary
supplies and cleaning equipment, and distributed
for Rubbermaid, No-Trax, Forbes and Sanifresh.
1948 - Benjamin C. Betner Company
Paper products were Betner’s business. It was
located in a twenty-four-thousand-square-foot
building just off North Main Street on Center
Avenue. As its first project, the Paris Industrial
Foundation constructed a building and leased it
to Betner on a lease-purchase plan. The
company moved into the building in August
1948 and quickly outgrew it. Another building
with ten thousand square feet was added the
next year. Every sort of paper bag was made in
the Paris plant—Fritos, Myti-Fine, Texees, Gold
Medal products, Admiration Coffee, Cheetos,
and many others.
1951 - Westinghouse Electric Corporation
When the announcement was made in
December 1950 that Westinghouse would open a
plant in Paris, it was called “the most significant
and far reaching single industrial development in
Paris within the past quarter of a century.” On
January 15, 1951, construction began on a onestory,
75,000-square-foot building to house its
lamp division at 3010 Clarksville Street. The L-
shaped building was located on a twenty-acre
tract of land purchased from Paris Junior College.
The plant became one of Westinghouse’s main
suppliers of light bulb bases, filaments, and leads,
turning out hundreds of thousands of the
components daily. It provided Paris with its largest
annual industrial payroll at the time. At capacity it
employed between 400 and 500 people, 85
percent of whom were women. The company
found that women, with more nimble fingers than
men, were preferable for the delicate work.
It was announced on September 17, 1982, that
North American Philips had reached an agreement
to acquire the Westinghouse lamp business. No
changes in the Paris operation were made because
of the sale.
1952 - Babcock & Wilcox
Babcock & Wilcox was founded in 1881 to
exploit a patent issued for a safety water-tube
boiler. By World War II, more than ninety percent
of the U.S. Navy’s fleet was powered by B&W
boilers. In the 1970s, B&W was the world’s
largest fossil-fueled utility boiler manufacturer.
The company’s Paris plant opened December
1952 in a three-bay, 135,000 square foot facility.
By its fifth anniversary, it employed 760 with an
annual payroll of $2.5 million. In 1971, a $1.4-
million expansion added 40,000 square feet to
the Paris facility. A second expansion in 1978
Chapter Seven ✦ 85

❖
The Babcock & Wilcox Paris plant
opened Decembe, 1952 in a three-bay,
135,000 square foot facility. When it
sold in 1998, it was Paris’ fifth
largest industry.
COURTESY OF THE PARIS NEWS.
added another bay. Foreign competition,
decreased product demand and rising utility
costs significantly reduced B&W’s market share
in the 1980s and 1990s. In December 1998 the
Paris B&W was sold to Turner International
Piping Systems. At the time, it was Paris’ fifth
largest industry with an economic impact of
$100 million.
1953 - Paris Sesame Products
Paris Sesame Products, located at 700 West
Center Street, processes tons of sesame seed each
year. It began when Roy Anderson, working as an
agronomist with Liberty National Bank,
persuaded a Lamar County farmer to grow the
first commercial sesame crop in 1952. John H.
Kraft, president and chairman of the board of
Kraft Foods Company, became interested when
he heard Anderson speak at an annual meeting of
the Texas Research Foundation. They formed
American Sesame Products Company. It cleaned
and sold sesame seeds in the United States. Roy’s
brother, James, joined the company, and they
soon formed another company, Sesa-Kraft, to
manufacture sesame chips, sesame sticks, sesame
oil, and seed for the retail market as it was not
successful, they sold it. The name of the original
company was then changed to John Kraft Sesame
Corporation. It operated under that name for
many years before being purchased in 1972 by
McCormick and the Mexican firm of
Promociones y Comisiones. Its name then
became Sesame Products, Inc.
1954 - Nafe Concrete Products
Located originally on Southeast Sixth Street,
Nafe Concrete Products opened in Paris on April
1, 1954. The concrete product manufacturer
relocated to 1660 Northwest Nineteenth Street
in 1966. It manufactured a variety of pre-cast
concrete products such as steps, patios stepping
stones and air conditioner pads. The company
was founded by Richard W. Nafe.
1954 - Vasserette of Munsingwear
Vassarette manufactured ladies’ undergarments.
Much of its product was dyed, cut, assembled, and
sewn in Paris. It opened its doors in 1954 at 214
Southwest First Street. It moved to Northwest
Loop 286 in 1967, and then to a 120,000-squarefoot
facility at 2510 Church Street in March 1985.
That facility had room for 220 sewing operators.
Vassarette, which at one time employed more
than 300 people, closed on July 22, 1988, for
economic reasons.
1956 - UARCO, Inc.
UARCO, one of the world’s largest producers of
continuous business forms, was founded in 1894.
Its original name was United Autographic Register
Company. On October 1, 1956, the Paris, Texas,
plant was opened to serve the Southwestern
United States’ market. On its one year anniversary,
the company had eighty-two employees. In 1966
it enlarged its facility to 80,000 square feet and
had 162 employees. The Paris facility cranked out
business forms for almost thirty-eight years. Over
86 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

capacity brought about by economic conditions
and changing technologies forced the UARCO in
Paris to close in March 1984.
1957 - Valley Feed Mill
Valley Feed Mill began operations as a
custom feed grinding mill. It was established at
315 West Center Street by owner and manager
A. T. Edzards in 1957. Ten years later, Valley
Feed Mill Fertilizer was established at the same
address under the management of Jack Edzards.
The company produced feed under its own
brand name, VFM Feeds, which was made from
grains grown throughout the local area.
1957 - Southern Paper Box Company
The Industrial Division of the Lamar County
Chamber of Commerce played a leading role in the
establishment of Southern Paper Box Company in
Paris. The company specialized in making folding
paper cartons for bakery items. Construction was
started on its Paris facility on October 1, 1956, and
completed by January 20, 1957. SPBC was located
on Center Street adjacent to the Betner Company.
It was one of Paris’ fastest growing companies,
expanding three times in its first five years. The
company was acquired by Champion Packaging
Company in 1965. The plant closed in 1970 in a
corporate realignment.
conventional rubber sold to passenger and
“off-the-road” independent retreaders. The
combined companies had significantly increased
production capacity and a greatly expanded
marketing network.
❖
Lucius Joe picks up the mail for his
employer, UARCO, with the
assistance of postmaster Mark
Hodges. Joe was UARCO’s first
African-American employee. Hodges
was the last presidentially-appointed
postmaster in Paris.
COURTESY OF THE MARVA JOE COLLECTION.
1959 - Flex-O-Lite
Flex-O-Lite was a division of General Steel
Industries when it announced in April 1959 that
it would build a plant in Paris to manufacture
glass and related products. A five-acre site located
in the Industrial District on Northwest Nineteenth
Street was purchased from the Paris Industrial
Foundation. In 1982, Flex-O-Lite was purchased
by Stewart Holding Company and then managed
by Luken’s Steel, Inc. It currently manufactures
glass beads for reflective traffic signs.
1962 - Superior Switchboard & Devices
Superior Switchboard manufactured electric
meter sockets and enclosures for electrical utilities.
The Union Metal Manufacturing Company
subsidiary delivered its product all over the United
States and to many foreign companies. Production
in Paris began the second week of July 1962, with
thirteen employees. During its early years in Paris,
the plant had over two hundred employees. Loss
of business to Canada began layoffs in July 1992.
The Paris plant closed on April 28, 1995.
1959 - Oliver Tire and Rubber
Oliver Tire manufactured and distributed precured
and conventional tread rubber to trucking
and industrial retread tire users. Established in
Paris in 1959, it was located at 2305 Northwest
Loop 286. It became a wholly owned subsidiary
of Standard Products Company in 1977, and in
July 1979, Oliver acquired the Dixie-Cap Rubber
Company. Dixie-Cap was best known for its
1962 - Big Tex Feed
Kathleen and Charles Bryans established Big
Tex Feed in 1952 as a place for farmers and
ranchers to purchase feed and supplies. In
1962, they started custom grinding hay and ear
corn for local farmers to feed their livestock.
When the custom grinding business died out,
they developed their own line of products and
marketed them under the K-C brand name. Big
Chapter Seven ✦ 87

Tex made and marketed their products direct to
the customer. It also brokered grain and offered
bulk feed service to cattle and dairy operators.
In 1972 the Bryans’ son, Robert, joined the
business as general manager, and in 1979 a new
elevator was opened in Cooper. The Loop 286
elevator project near Campbell Soup was begun
in 1982.
1964 - Campbell Soup
On September 24, 1958, it was announced that
the Campbell Soup Company had taken options
on 684-acres of land in Paris as a possible site for
a future food processing plant. The purchase was
finalized on February 16, 1961. The decision to
come to Paris was based on growth of the
Southwest market, the favorable business attitude
in the area and the fact that many of its
ingredients could be grown locally. Construction
began on July 11, 1961. The first soup, Vegetable
Beef, was produced at the new plant during the
first week of December 1964. On October 7,
1965, more than three hundred business, civic,
and governmental leaders from across the state
and nation gathered on the buildings front lawn to
dedicate the plant. In its first 25 years the company
manufactured more than 625 million cases of
product and used enough water to drain Pat Mayse
Lake. In 1989, Campbell Soup added a seventyfive-square-foot
distribution center to its Paris
facilities. The company continued to grow. In
March 1991 a 250,000-square-foot Prego addition
was completed. Another 65,000-square-foot
expansion was added in 1994, and in 1999 Pace
Picante Sauce was added to its product line.
1968 - Wintermute Industries
Wintermute Industries, founded in 1968,
manufactured decorative wall plaques. The
product was one of the hottest selling items in the
stores which sold them. TG&Y, Target, Wal-Mart
and Ben Franklin stores carried the inspirational
wall plaques all over the United States. The
company also shipped its product overseas. It was
sold to We Craft on December 11, 1993.
1968 - Rodgers-Wade Manufacturing
Established in 1856, Rodgers-Wade is the
oldest company in Paris, Texas. It once
employed well over 150 people, but by 1960
only twenty-five employees worked there. In
October of 1968, Don “Pinky” Wilson bought
the company and gave it new life. Over the next
few years, it focused on producing custom
cabinetry and fixtures for residential and
commercial builders. By 1982 it had expanded
its manufacturing plant and added additional
warehouse space to its facility in southwest Paris.
In 1991, Rodgers-Wade made its first overseas
sale as part of its contract to provide shelving
❖
In December 1964 the first soup was
produced at Campbell Soup’s new
plant in Paris. In its first twenty-five
years the Paris plant manufactured
more than 625 million cases of
product, and used enough water to
drain Pat Mayse Lake.
PHOTO BY MARVIN GORLEY.
88 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

fixtures for the Blockbuster Video chain. In 1997
the company was sold to J. P. Leggett and C. B.
Platt, North America’s leading independent
manufacturer of components for residential
furniture and bedding, retail store fixtures, and
office furniture components. Rodgers-Wade
today produces commercial fixtures and point of
purchase displays for customers such as
Blockbuster Video, Wal-Mart, Safeway, Goody’s,
Big Lots, and Burlington Coat Factory.
1972 - T&K Machine
T&K Machine began in 1968 as a small
business in the back of Thomas and Frances
Westbrooks’ garage in Hurst. It moved from Hurst
to Bells and then to Paris in 1972. T&K was
named after Taiwa & Kaiwa, the Westbrooks’ two
sons. The company’s main business was making
airplane parts for such firms as Boeing,
McDonald-Douglas and General Dynamics.
1972 - Merico Packaging
On April 3, 1972, Campbell Taggart, Inc., the
nation’s second largest bakery products company,
disclosed plans to build a $1.2-million
paperboard plant in Paris to produce folding
product cartons for its sixty-five nationwide
bakery and cake plants. The company bought the
56,000 square foot Champion Packaging
Company building at 800 West Center Street to
house the business. The new operation became
the packaging division of Merico, Inc. Campbell
Taggart was acquired by Anheuser-Busch in 1982.
In 1994, Merico Packaging was merged with
ILCO, the label printing division of Anheuser-
Busch, to form Precision Printing & Packaging,
Inc. The company was sold in 1998 and renamed
Precision Packaging, Inc. It was sold again in
2003 to 21st Century, a Dallas investment group,
1974 - Merico Snack Foods
Campbell Taggart, Inc. announced in
December 1972 that a multimillion-dollar
bakery plant would be built in Paris. In July
1973, ground was broken on a ninety-acre site
located at Northwest Nineteenth Street and Loop
286. Merico opened in late September 1974,
with about fifty employees and ten transport
trucks. Originally the company made only snack
cakes, fried pies, donuts and sweet rolls. In 1975
a specialty bread shop opened and Merico began
producing bread and dinner rolls under the
Earth Grains brand name. Two more major
expansions occurred in 1979 and 1981. Merico’s
name was changed in 1983 to Earthgrains after
the takeover of their parent company, Campbell-
Taggart, by Anhauser-Busch. In 2001 the
company was acquired by Sara Lee Corporation.
Pat Mayse Lake
On October 27, 1968, over one thousand
people attended the formal dedication of Pat
Mayse Reservoir. Mrs. A. G. (Pat) Mayse joined
Congressman Wright Patman in the unveiling of
a dedication plaque. Four years earlier, in
October 1964, she turned the first spade of dirt
during groundbreaking ceremonies. Her late
husband’s dreams and hard work led to the
construction of the lake that carries his name.
Pat Mayse, publisher of The Paris News, saw
the future need for an additional water supply
for Paris and envisioned a large reservoir on
Sanders Creek. He told his friend, Congressman
Patman who then began the legislative process.
When Mayse died on September 5, 1955,
Patman immediately set about having the
project named for the publisher. Congress
officially designated the Sanders Creek project
❖
Cupcakes pour off the line at Merico
Snack Foods Division in Paris. The
bakery opened in September 1974.
COURTESY OF THE PARIS NEWS.
Chapter Seven ✦ 89

the project’s dedication, featured speaker Patman
lauded the Corps of Engineers for its great work,
and noted how rapidly the Mayse project moved.
He recalled the last letter written home by Alamo
legend Davy Crockett describing the bountiful
lands and beautiful sights of the Red River Valley.
“Davy Crockett and Pat Mayse were together in
their vision of people living where an abundance
of good mineral-free water offered the greatest
opportunity for human progress.” Mayse’s vision
was prophetic. The lake he envisioned became a
cornerstone for industrial recruitment and
recreation in Lamar County.
Milestones
❖
Pat Mayse Lake was named for The
Paris News publisher who dreamed of
its potential benefits to Lamar County.
PHOTO BY MARVIN GORLEY.
as the Pat Mayse Dam and Reservoir and
formally authorized its construction in 1962.
The 6,000-acre lake had a shoreline of 62
miles, a drainage area of 175 square miles, and
covered approximately 15,000 acres. The City
of Paris was allotted fifty-five million gallons of
water daily from the reservoir and began using
it immediately. The total cost of the project was
nearly $10 million.
The Pat Mayse Lake project was cited as an
ultimate example of cooperation at every level of
government. The Corps of Engineers’ Colonel
Jack Morris said, “I have never seen a project
move as swiftly as the Mayse Reservoir. Of
thirteen projects authorized in the Tulsa District in
1962, I would say that the Pat Mayse Dam and
Reservoir will probably be completed and in use
before construction starts on the other twelve.” At
1950 - Atomic Bomb Plant
In 1950, rumors circulated that the federal
government had new plans for Camp Maxey
and Cox Field. Indeed, a team from the U.S.
Coast and Geodetic survey was mapping
roughly a forty mile radius around Paris and
Camp Maxey. The Paris News reported, tonguein-cheek,
that “they’re surveying for a bomb
plant all the way from Paris to Honey Grove
along the Red River.”
In 1985, William Morris, a 1935 Paris High
School graduate and a scientist on the
Manhattan (atomic bomb) Project during the
war, revealed the secret to his classmates at their
fiftieth reunion. Morris had recently retired
from a career at the Savannah River, Georgia,
nuclear plant and confirmed that around 1950
the federal government was looking for a site to
develop the hydrogen bomb. Savannah was the
selection. Lamar County was the first alternate.
1951 - Fry & Gibbs Funeral Home
The formal opening of the new Fry & Gibbs
Funeral Home at 730 Clarksville Street was held
on Sunday, June 3, 1951. The house was
originally built in 1858 by Dr. A. S. Johnson and
remodeled in 1907. In 1916, it was occupied by
Dr. L. P. McCuistion who served as a Paris
physician for fifty-seven years.
Fry & Gibbs Funeral Home was originally a
part of the Rodgers-Wade Furniture Company,
which was founded around 1892. Fred Manton
and Grady Fry purchased the funeral service
division from Rodgers-Wade in 1921, and
operated as Manton-Fry Funeral Home until
90 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

1943 when Marvin Gibbs acquired interest in
the business.
1956 - Judge A. W. Neville
Alexander White “Sandy” Neville was born on
November 17, 1864, in Salem, Virginia. Neville’s
father died when he was seven. A few years later
the family followed Sandy’s older brother George,
a pharmacist, to Paris, arriving there on
December 6, 1879. By the winter of 1880, Neville
was working in his brother’s drugstore as errandboy,
janitor and part-time printer. It was the
beginning of his long and distinguished career in
the printing industry. In 1882 he married Jeannie
Walker. They had seven children.
Neville began his career as a job printer and
newspaperman and was highly recruited for his
skills. On September 1, 1902, he began working
for The Paris News. Neville claimed he was an
“historian by accident and a writer the same way.”
A. G. “Pat” Mayse, publisher of The Paris News,
recognized his abilities and moved him from the
composition room to the editorial room. He
became editor in 1936 and remained there until his
death in 1956. On August 9, 1929, Neville wrote
his first “Backward Glances” column about the
history of Paris and Lamar County. The columns
continued almost every day for twenty-nine years.
Because the Fire of 1916 destroyed almost all
historic records of Paris and Lamar County,
Neville’s more than 7,000 columns and two books
are an important source for the area’s information.
1957 - Loop 286
Loop 286 came into being with its first
contract in August 1957. Contractors
constructed what was the equivalent of a farm-tomarket
road between FM79 and FM195. That
first contract was for $202,000, Fourteen more
contracts totaling $14.5 million were let by 1978.
Work continued “off and on” depending upon
need, funding and planning until the northwest
section was finished in October 1979.
1959 - Downtown Fires
On March 28, 1959, the second floor of the
S. H. Kress building burned, threatening for a time
the entire east side of the Plaza. Flames shot 40 to
50 feet in the air and smoke rose almost 200 feet.
On May 20, the second major fire in two months
destroyed the Ayres Department Store. It was
probably the most damaging fire in Paris since the
Fire of 1916. A crowd of two thousand residents
watched and sometimes assisted firemen.
1959 - “Home from the Hill”
Some of the scenes for the Metro-Goldwyn-
Mayer movie, Home from the Hill, were filmed in
❖
The “Backward Glances” columns
written by longtime Paris News
editor A. W. Neville are the primary
source for historical information about
Paris and Lamar County.
COURTESY OF THE PARIS NEWS.
Chapter Seven ✦ 91

Grand Theatre in Paris on March 31, 1960 and
ran through April 7.
❖
Above: The MGM movie Home from
the Hill contained scenes filmed in
Lamar and Red River Counties. This
Paris News advertising clip ran on
April 7, 1960, the last day the movie
was shown at the Grand Theatre
in Paris.
Below: Lamar Creamery was
established in Paris in 1928. It
moved to Sulphur Springs after it
burned in 1964.
COURTESY OF THE PARIS HISTORICAL MUSEUM.
Lamar and Red River Counties. Stars in the movie
were Robert Mitchum, George Hamilton, George
Peppard, and Eleanor Parker. Director Vincente
Minnelli and his young daughter Liza stayed in
the Nicholson House on Bonham Street in Paris
along with a large part of the cast and crew.
Two to three weeks of filming took place in
June 1959.
On February 9, 1960, during a preview
showing in Dallas, chamber manager Jim Oxford,
Paris mayor Robert Glass, and Paris Interstate
Theatre manager Weldon Wood became the first
Parisians to see the movie. It began with a scene
taken of geese at the Gambill Goose Refuge.
Other scenes filmed locally were taken at the
Sulphur River Bottoms, Lake Crook and two or
three scenes in Paris. The movie opened at the
1963 - JFK Assassinated
Dr. Charles R. Baxter, one of the doctors
who tried to save President John F. Kennedy after
he was shot in Dallas on November 22, 1963,
was born in Paris, Texas. He was a thirty-fouryear-old
assistant professor of the Dallas medical
school and director of the emergency room at
Parkland Memorial Hospital when Kennedy was
brought to the hospital. After Kennedy died,
Baxter performed surgery on Governor John
Connally, who was wounded during the
assassination of JFK.
Baxter also developed a formula for burn
patients, referred to as the Baxter Burn Formula,
and he founded a tissue bank at Parkland to
provide skin grafts for burn patients.
1964 - Lamar Creamery Fire (May 18)
Milk was the number one product of the Lamar
Creamery in Paris, but during its first three years in
business, butter was its sole product. Three years
after the company’s founding in 1928 by Bedford
Harlan, the first milk was processed, followed by
other milk products. Local dairy industry growth
was phenominal. On May 18, 1964, a half-milliondollar
blaze destroyed most of the creamery’s
facilities on Houston Street. The company elected
to rebuild in Sulphur Springs rather than Paris.
1964 - Paris Junior College
An open house was held on September 13,
1964 for Paris Junior College’s recently
completed $1-million building program. The
John Roy McLemore Student Union building, the
J. L. Newton Library, the Dixon L. Hatcher Hall
for Men, and the Clara Rice Thompson Hall for
Women were formally accepted as complete from
the contractor on August 12. They were
dedicated during homecoming activities on
December 12. It was also the school’s fortieth
anniversary celebration.
1966 - Integration at PISD
Although it would be another four years before
Judge William Wayne Justice of the U.S. District
Court for the Eastern District of Texas would
order the desegregation of Texas public schools,
Paris Independent School District fully integrated
92 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

in 1966. All African-American students from
Gibbons High were transferred to Paris High.
They were not the first black students to
attend PHS. After the historic 1954 Brown v.
Board of Education of Topeka case that made
integration the law of the land, PISD made it
optional for African Americans to attend white
schools. Arnold Rex Bray was one of, if not the
first, to transfer. He went to PHS for the sports.
PISD also added African-American instructors
at PHS in 1966. Homemaking teacher, Odessa
Outley Durham and American history teacher
Cora Lee Williams had been teachers at Gibbons.
Other early African-American teachers at PHS
were Mrs. James E. McPhail who taught English,
shop teacher Edward Roan, and biology instructor
Ralph Rodgers.
Gibbons served as a “black” junior high school
for another three years before it was closed. In
1969, African-American junior high students were
transferred to either Travis or Crockett.
1970 - North Lamar ISD
North Lamar’s history began in 1963 when the
Powderly school consolidated with the Lone Star
District in the Novice/Faught area. In 1964, it
consolidated with Reno and became known as the
Powderly-Reno School District. It passed its first
bond issue in 1965- a $1 million bond to purchase
the land where the high school, junior high school
and Everett Elementary complex was located. In
1970, Powderly-Reno consolidated with Central
and became the North Lamar School District.
North Lamar passed its second $1-million bond
issue in 1973 to build a junior high addition,
Everett Elementary, an auto mechanics building, a
cafeteria at Powderly, and some remodeling work
on the Powderly building. In 1975, NL
consolidated with Chicota and passed a third $1
million bond issue for a junior high addition, an
all-weather track, an administration building, and
relocating the Chicota gymnasium for use as a
vocational building. A new high school building
was dedicated on October 15, 1996, students’ first
day in the new facility.
opened the highway on October 28, 1970. The
completed project provided Paris with four-lane
access to Tulsa, Oklahoma via a new Red River
Bridge and the Indian Nation Turnpike.
1972 - Maxey House
On June 26, 1972, Congressman Wright
Patman announced the approval of a $27,988
matching-funds grant for the restoration of the
General Sam Bell Maxey House. The Paris City
Council made formal application for the grant
under Secton 709 of Title VII of the Housing Act of
1961, which made funds available for maintenance
and preservation of property for public use and
benefit and for historic preservation. The approval
followed a two-year effort by the Lamar County
Historical Society, the Resource Conservation and
Development Committee, the City of Paris, and
numerous other interested individuals. Planned
improvements totalled $55,200 of which half came
from local resources. The Maxey House is a
signature Paris landmark.
1974 - Paris High School
Paris High School relocated from its Lamar
Avenue Location to 2400 Jefferson Road in
Southeast Paris. A new gym, cafeteria and academic
building were completed on May 20, 1974, and a
new auditorium was finished on August 8.
1975 - Mirabeau Shopping Center
On June 20, 1975, ground was broken for
Mirabeau Shopping Center at the intersection of
❖
A matching fund grant was secured in
1972 to restore the Sam Bell Maxey
home, a signature Paris landmark.
PHOTO BY MARVIN GORLEY.
1970 - Highway 271 North
Governor Preston Smith joined highway
leaders from Texas and Oklahoma to dedicate the
four-laning of U.S. 271 North from Paris to the
Red River. A traditional ribbon-cutting formally
Chapter Seven ✦ 93

❖
Reverend A. M. Seamon was a “drum
major for justice.” He fought
to change the City of Paris, PISD,
and PJC into single-member
voting districts.
COURTESY OF THE MARVA JOE COLLECTION.
Lamar Avenue and Loop 286. Many longtime
businesses on the Plaza relocated there, signalling
the beginning of the end of the Plaza as the
predominate retail shopping center in Paris.
1976 - Redistricting
In 1971, Reverend A. M. Seamon, Jr., became
the first African-American to serve on a public
entity whose members were usually elected by the
citizens of Paris. He was selected by PJC to serve
as board member when B. P. Denney resigned.
However, he was not elected the following year.
A suit filed January 29, 1975, in federal
district court alleged the method used to elect
Paris city officials unconstitutionally diluted the
voting rights of African-Americans. The City
Council was comprised of seven members. Four
who lived in their wards were elected citywide,
and three were elected at-large. Reverend
Seamon and Paris attorney Leighton Cornett
spearheaded the effort for change. They, along
with the suit’s other plantiffs (Leon Williams,
Charles E. Battle, Annette Grant, Walter E.
Williams, and Beuford Blakewith), sought to
change the system to seven single-member
districts where council members were elected by
residents of their districts. U.S. District Judge
William Wayne Justice ruled on March 15, 1976,
that the old system violated the plantiffs’ rights.
On April 3, 1976, the first African-American
City Council members since the Reconstruction
were elected. George Fisher, Jr., won the District
1 seat and Leon Williams District 2.
On March 26, 1976, similar suits were
filed against the Paris Independent School District
and the Paris Junior College District. On the last
day of August 1978, Judge Justice ordered the
school districts to change their lines and election
habits. Just over a month after his order, the PISD
board appointed Leon Williams the first African-
American trustee to ever sit on its board. In 1979,
Leon Williams and Clovis Graves were elected to
the PISD board.
Reverend A. M. Seamon, Jr.
During the A. M. Seamon Day celebration on
December 1, 1991, Reverend Victor McCullough
declared, “Reverend Seamon was a drum major
for justice. He was willing to raise questions
when many people wouldn’t.” The memorial
honored long time community leader Reverend
Seamon who died July 23, 1991. Seamon fought
for the city’s redistricting into single-member
districts. He also filed a suit which challenged
the congressional redistricting plan of 1980,
claiming it reduced the voting power of
Mexican-Americans and African-Americans.
Ambus Manuel Seamon was born August 24,
1916, in Cass County. He was a graduate of Booker
T. Washington High School in Hugo, Oklahoma.
He served in the army during World War II, then
attended Bishop College in Marshall. He was a
graduate of the United Theological Seminary in
Monroe, Louisiana. His first church was the Hills
Chapel Baptist Church in Roxton. After Roxton, he
served as pastor of the Olive Branch Baptist Church
in Paris for forty years. Seamon served for many
years as president of the Paris Ministerial Alliance,
member of the NAACP, member of the PJC Board
of Regents, president of the Zion District Sunday
School Congress, and president of the B.M.E. State
Ministers Conference. He married Georgia Settles
of Kilgore on October 14, 1950.
1976 - Paris Community Theatre
In the spring of 1976, a small group discussed
the formation of a community theater. With a
charter membership of sixty-four, the Paris
Community Theatre produced its first play, “Up
the Down Staircase,” on July 16, 1976, at PJC.
The organization prospered, then it leased the
94 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

Plaza Theater building in 1981. The downtown
building first opened in 1926 as a movie theater.
It ceased showing movies in 1977. PCT’s first
production there was “A Thousand Clowns.” The
group purchased and renovated the building in
1985. In 1997, PCT staged its 100th play,
“Barefoot in the Park.”
1978 - Highway 24
In October 1978, community leaders from
Hunt, Delta and Lamar Counties formed the
Highway 24 Association. Its goal, according to
President David Glass, was to acquire a single
designation for the route from Paris to Interstate
30 and to get it widened to four lanes. At that time,
the route was designated by three different
numbers: Highway 19, Highway 24 and Highway
50. On July 1, 1979, the State Highway and Public
Transportation Commission merged the three into
one, designating the route as Highway 24.
In February 1980 the widening of the first
section of Highway 24 began. It covered a stretch
from FM 1507 in Paris to a point one-third of a
mile south of the Paris City limits. In May 1984
the section from just south of the Paris City limits
to the bridges spanning the North Sulphur River
began. The stretch from the river to Delta County
had already been completed, so this construction
finished the Highway 24 improvements in Lamar
County. By 2006 only the part of Highway 24
located in Delta County was not four-lane.
1979 - A. M. Aikin, Jr. Retired
A. M. Aikin, Jr., was the longest-tenured and
most-honored member of the Texas Legislature.
He became the dean of the Texas Senate in
1963, and had served fourty-six years as a
lawmaker when he retired in January of 1979 at
the age of seventy-three. He served two terms as
a state representative before being elected to the
Senate in 1937. He claimed that he missed only
2.5 days of legislating during his entire career.
Probably his greatest achievement was the
passage of the Gilmer-Aikin Laws in 1949,
which established the Minimum Foundation
school program that provided state-financed
minimum teacher salaries and guaranteed levels
for other expenditures. He served on the
powerful Senate Finance Committee from the
day he became a senator, and he was its
chairman from 1967 to his retirement. His
portrait was hung in the Senate chamber on A.
M. Aikin Day in 1973, a rare honor for a
lawmaker who was still serving. In 1943, he was
acting governor of Texas while president pro
tempore of the Senate. On one occasion as
acting governor, he declared martial law to
prevent a race riot in Beaumont.
Aikin also had two careers in Paris-the
practice of law as senior member of the firm of
Aikin & Townsend and haberdashery as senior
partner of Aikin’s Men’s Wear. He died on
October 24, 1981.
❖
A. M. Aikin, Jr., was the longesttenured
and most-honored member
of the Texas legislature. He also had
two careers in Paris, Texas: the
practice of law and haberdashery.
He is pictured below in his office at
Aikin’s Men’s Wear.
COURTESY OF THE PARIS NEWS.
Chapter Seven ✦ 95

Timeline: 1980-2006
1980 U.S. Census (Paris: 25,498; Lamar County: 42,156).
1980 Southwestern Foundry opened in Paris.
1981 The Farmers & Merchants cotton press was purchased by the Paris Historic
Landmark Preservation Committee.
1981 Senator A. M. Aikin, Jr., dies.
1982 Kimberly-Clark announced it would construct a new facility in Paris.
1982 Tornado struck Paris, killing eleven people.
1984 Paris designated a Texas Main Street City and architectural survey taken of city.
1985 The first Tour de Paris bike race was held.
1985 Delmar and West Lamar school districts consolidated to form Chisum ISD.
1987 The Paris Public Library expansion was dedicated.
1988 The first Uncle Jesse’s Fishing Tournament was held.
1988 Chisum High School completed.
1989 Tenaska III Power Plant began operations in Paris.
1990 U.S. Census (Paris: 24,799; Lamar County: 43,949).
1992 A new Lamar County Jail was opened.
1992 Hayden Museum of American Art opened.
1994 Love Civic Center opened.
1995 Paris’ own Eiffel Tower was erected at the Love Civic Center.
1999 St. Joseph’s Hospital became part of Christus Health System.
2000 U.S. Census (Paris: 25,898; Lamar County: 48,499).
2000 The Lamar Power Partners power plant began operations in Paris.
2001 Christus St. Joseph’s Hospital buys McCuistion Regional Medical Center.
2001 Post Office moves to 500 Clarksville Street.
2002 Historical Preservation Ordinance passed by Paris City Council.
2002 Heritage Hall and Santa Fe Depot restoration began.
2003 Downtown Historic District created.
2003 Paris qualified as a “Certified Local Government” city.
2004 Construction began on the Downtown Streetscape Project.
2004 Essent Healthcare purchases Christus St. Joseph’s Hospital.
2004 THC recorded a historically significant Fourche Maline site in Lamar County.
2005 PJC Men’s Basketball wins national (NJCAA) championship.
2005 The restored Lamar County Courthouse was rededicated.
2006 The Lamar County Historical Museum opened.
2006 The new Paris Police & Court Building held its grand opening.
96 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

Chapter Eight
RECLAIMING OUR HERITAGE
Building for the Future: 1980-2006
Paris is a city that has not had to make
comparisons with itself. It has never tried to be
another Dallas or St. Louis, its cultural Mecca of
earlier days. It has not tried to imitate other
places. Today, Paris is generally recognized
around the Southwest as being a unique city
with its own personality. The need to preserve
this outlook, this attitude, this heritage, and
inheritance, is recognized by thoughtful citizens
of today’s Paris. The ability to utilize this as a
foundation for the future is the challenge the
city faces.
Historic Preservation
“Preserving historic structures isn’t just about
saving history,” Paris Historic Preservation
Commission member Barbara Wilson said. “In
the big picture, preservation means business. It’s
all about getting people to come to Paris, invest
in Paris and stay in Paris.”
1957 - Dr. William deG Hayden
Dr. William Hayden came to Paris in July
1957, with his wife Betty. He quickly acquired
the reputation as an outstanding physician and
devoted historian. He is the “Father of Historic
Preservation” in Lamar County.
Hayden has had an enormous impact on the
preservation of local history. A member of the
Lamar County Historical Commission since its
inception in 1963, Hayden has been its chairman
throughout most of its existence. Many of Lamar
County’s Texas Historical Markers and Medallions
are the result of his encouragement and work.
He helped create the Lamar County Historical
Society in 1966, has been a member
since, and served as an officer many times. The
Society’s museum exists because he provided
inspiration, manpower and a building for it.
Guarding the entrance to that museum, and
Hayden’s Heritage Hall, is the bronze bust of Paris
founder, George W. Wright that Hayden
commissioned. Heritage Hall is a conference and
meeting center located in the restored National
Hardware building, another Hayden project. Both
buildings are located in Heritage Park, the former
Texas Midland Railroad land that Hayden
purchased and donated to the city.
Hayden is an expert on the Civil War. Perhaps
his most significant historic preservation
accomplishment is his role in the creation of
Confederate General Sam Bell Maxey’s House as a
museum, later to be a state park. He also hosts
monthly meetings of the Sons of the Confederacy
in the Confederate Gallery of the William and
Elizabeth Hayden Museum of American Art located
behind his home on Cardinal Lane. The museum
contains the Haydens’ American collection of
paintings, photography and chairs. Only his love of
art can compete with Hayden’s passion for history.
In addition to the American Museum of Art, he
established the Plaza Art Gallery in downtown
Paris. It is fittingly located at the spot where Paris
founder George Wright had his store.
❖
The William and Elizabeth Hayden
Museum of American Art consists of
four galleries, the largest of which
houses a permanent collection of
graphic art, archival photography,
and American chairs.
PHOTO BY MARVIN GORLEY.
Chapter Eight ✦ 97

objective of the local committee was the
development of Lamar County’s history as a
tourist attraction and for the preserving of the
county’s history.
The LCHSC arranged for the official
medallions and plaques that marked historic
structures. The first to receive one in Lamar
County was the Maxey House. Second was the
Lightfoot home, and third was the original
hewed log dwelling in Biardstown. The first
commemorative marker arranged by the
committee recognized Paris’ first survey site. It
was dedicated on March 11, 1966, the same day
a Texas Historical Marker for Lamar County
confederates was placed on the courthouse
grounds. In 1966 the committee sponsored the
formation of the Lamar County Historical
Society. The Historical Survey Committee’s
name was changed to the Lamar County
Historical Commission in 1973.
❖
Above: The first project for the Paris
Historic Landmark Preservation
Committee was to raise funds to
purchase the old Farmers &
Merchants cotton compress. It was
relocated to the Southwestern
Industrial Park, which is now We
Pack Logistics.
PHOTO BY MARVIN GORLEY.
1963 - Lamar County Historical Commission
The first meeting of the Lamar County
Historical Survey Committee was held on
January 18, 1963, the day proclaimed by
Governor John Connally to be Texas Historical
Preservation Day. County Judge Lester
Crutchfield appointed the local board with
Judge T. L. Beauchamp as chairman. Dr. William
Hayden became chairman on June 16, 1964.
The committee was charged with
implementation of the Lamar County RAMPS
(Recordation, Appreciation, Marking,
Preservation and Surveys of Texas) history
program that was spearheaded by the Texas
State Historical Survey Committee. The overall
1966 - PDDA
In April 1966 the Paris Downtown
Development Association, Inc. received a nonprofit
charter from the State of Texas. Its mission
was the revitalization of the downtown Paris
business district. Garvey House was its first
chairman. On June 27, 1966, the Paris City
Council approved the PDDA’s first-stage plans for
the renovation of the Plaza. The plans provided
thirty-six additional parking spaces by allowing
angle parking on both sides of the streets, by
removing concrete median strips, and by
permitting vehicles to circle the Plaza. The
project was carried out jointly by the PDDA and
the City.
1979 - Architectural Preservation Committee
On August 15, 1979, the Paris City Council
established the Committee of Architectural
Preservation of the Central Business District
(Ordinance 2461, Section 7.2). It was created
initially to regulate decorative awnings placed
on buildings in the Central Business District.
1980 - Landmark Preservation Committee
City Ordinance No. 2536 established the
Paris Historic Landmark Preservation
Committee on November 10, 1980. The
Committee was to be notified of all requests for
demolition or building permits, which could
98 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

possibly endanger historically significant
structures in Paris. It was also charged to work
with the owner to help retain his property’s
historic personality. The Committee’s first
project was to raise funds to purchase and
preserve the old cotton compress, long a part of
the historic Farmers & Merchants Warehouse.
The Committee was replaced in 2002 by the
Paris Historic Preservation Commission.
1984 - Texas Main Street City
Linda Gale White, wife of Texas Governor
Mark White, was in town to officially kick-off
the Paris Main Street Project on March 20, 1984.
The project encouraged downtown revitalization
through the renovation of downtown
properties. It assisted with building design,
marketing, technical assistance, and the
development of low interest loan programs. Sue
Smith was the first Paris Main Street Project
director. Paris became a Graduate Main Street
City in 1987 after three years in the program. It
remained in the program through 1989.
1998 - Texas Main Street
City Recertification
On November 12, 1997, the Paris City Council
approved an application for recertification as a
Texas Graduate Main Street City. The application
read, “Our goal is to recapture the vitality of the
Central Business District. This section of our
community, once considered the heart of Paris, is
in desperate need of rehabilitation. The residents
in our city are quickly losing the community pride
they once shared in the early 80s during the initial
Main Street Project. We hope this project
will include more education for the merchant
and property owner, creating a long term
difference in our historic city.” Paris city
manager Mike Malone received a congratulatory
confirmation letter from the Texas Historical
Commission on January 7, 1998.
2002 - Historical Preservation Ordinance
On June 17, 2002, the Paris City Council
passed the Paris Historic Preservation Ordinance.
Its was established to protect, preserve and
enhance the districts and landmarks of
architectural, archaeological, cultural and historic
importance as necessary to promote the economic,
cultural, educational and general welfare of the
citizens of Paris. Major sections of the ordinance
1984 - Architectural Survey
On September 5, 1984, a five-man historical
survey team began its inspection of Paris to
locate historical buildings and historical
districts. The intensive survey was made
possible by a $15,000 grant from the U.S.
Department of the Interior through the
Texas Historical Commission in
conjunction with the Paris Main Street
Project. The completed “Architectural
and Historic Resource Survey of Paris,
Texas” was published by ArchiTexas in August
1985. It was the first to identify Paris’
Downtown Historical District.
❖
The architectural survey taken in
1984 identified historic buildings in
Paris and for the first time, outlined
historic districts for the city.
Chapter Eight ✦ 99

❖
Numerous street signs delineate
the parameters of Paris’ two
historic districts.
PHOTO BY MARVIN GORLEY.
created the Paris Historical Preservation
Commission and endorsed an application to
become a “Certified Local Government” city.
2002 - Historical Preservation Commission
Section 7-153 of the Paris Historic Preservation
Ordinance, passed on June 17, 2002, established
the Paris Historical Preservation Commission. The
original seven-member commission elected Arvin
Starrett as the PHPC’s first chairman. The group
was charged with preserving Paris’ historic
resources by recommending historic districts, by
conducting historic resource surveys, and by
protecting historic landmarks and other
structures. They could pursue these goals through
public education programs, by establishing design
guidelines, by issuing certificates of appropriateness
and by recommending the city acquire
certain endangered his-toric resources.
2002 - Certified Local Government
On October 25, 2002, the Texas Historical
Commission announced that Paris qualified as a
Certified Local Government. The certification
was official on January 30, 2003. The CLG
Program is a local, state and federal government
partnership for historic preservation. It was
designed to help cities and counties develop
high standards of preservation to protect a wide
range of important older properties. The Texas
Historical Commission administers the program
at the state level, and the National Park Service
is the responsible federal agency. CLG cities are
eligible for state preservation grants, technical
assistance and guidance.
2003 - Downtown Historic District
The Paris Downtown Historic District, the city’s
first historic district, was established on May 8,
2003. Roughly, the district’s lines followed Price
Street to Northwest Third Street, south to Houston
Street, west to Northwest Fourth Street, south to
Kaufman Street, east to Southwest Second Street,
south to Sherman Street, east to Southwest
First Street, north to Kaufman Street, east to
Southeast Third Street, and north back to Price
Street. This area was listed on the National Register
of Historic Places in December 1988 as the
Paris Commercial Historic District. It includes the
original fifty acres George Wright donated to form
the original twenty-five blocks of Paris.
2004 - Residential Historic District
On January 15, 2004, the Paris Historic
Preservation Commission approved a second
historic district for the city. It was approved by the
City Council on August 5, 2004. The South
Church, South Main and Southwest First Street
District encompasses six city blocks starting at the
intersection of West Sherman Street and
Southwest First Street, then going south to
Hearne Street, then east to South Church Street
and then north to Kaufman Street.
2004 - Visionaries In Preservation
Paris was one of four Texas cities to be chosen
in 2004 by the Texas Historical Commission to
receive the Visionaries in Preservation (VIP)
Program. The program helps local citizens and
entities work together to promote historic
preservation in their area. Paris residents worked
with the Main Street Program to secure the VIP
program. Paris was selected based on readiness to
begin, local support, historic resources and other
relevant factors. On September 1, 2004, THC
staff conducted the first monthly workshop. All
Paris entities involved in historic preservation
worked together to produce an action plan
tailored to the specific needs of Paris. The plan
was ready to be activated on January 1, 2006.
2004 - Preserve America Presidential Award
In 2004, Paris was one of four cities in the
United States to receive a special designation as
100 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

❖
When Kimberly-Clark Corporation
constructed a new plant in Paris, it
provided the city with 275 new jobs.
COURTESY OF HARRISON, WALKER & HARPER.
a Preserve America Community. Dr William
Hayden, who submitted Paris for the award, was
notified of his success on November 30. Preserve
America is a White House initiative, which
recognizes communities that protect and
celebrate their heritage, use their historic assets
for economic development and community
revitalization, and encourage people to
experience and appreciate local historic
resources through education and heritage
tourism programs.
2004 - Tax Incentive Approved
On November 18, 2004, the Paris City Council
unanimously approved an ordinance establishing
the requirements and procedures for historic
building owners to receive a seven-year tax
exemption for spending more than $5,000 in
exterior rehabilitations for residential properties
and $10,000 in exterior rehabilitations for
commercial properties.
Industrial Growth Continues
1980 - Southwestern Foundry
This Paris manufacturer of bronze-trimmed
components for valves and pumps poured its first
metal on April 8, 1980. Southwestern Foundry, a
subsidiary of Stockham Valve and Fitting,
shipped the parts it made to its parent company
in Birmingham, Alambama. Construction of the
valve plant called for three phases: phase one was
a bronze foundry, phase two an iron foundry, and
phase three a machining facility.
1982 - Kimberly-Clark
In June 1982, Kimberly-Clark, one of
the world’s foremost corporations, announced
their plans to construct a new 430,000-square-foot
facility in Paris to manufacture Huggies disposable
diapers. By the end of the following month, site
preparation had begun at its Southwest Loop 286
location. Darwin Smith, chairman of the board of
Kimberly-Clark, credited the Paris Industrial
Team’s efforts as a significant part of the company’s
decision. The new Paris industry brought 275 new
jobs to the area, with a payroll of more than $5
million. Leo Moersen was manager of the new
plant. In 1989, the company expanded its
production area by three hundred thousand
square feet, doubled the number of its employees,
and added a new product, Huggies Pull-Ups. The
Paris plant was the first and only K-C facility
producing Pull-ups at that time. In 1993, they
expanded their production area by another eighty
thousand square feet. In 1999, Kimberly-Clark
added a distribution center, and in 2006, it added
a 121,500-square-foot warehouse expansion.
1984 - We Pack Logistics
We Pack Logistics was founded in 1984,
initially as HW Commercial Warehouse, to
support the storage needs of Kimberly-Clark’s
new Paris facility and Campbell Soup Company’s
Chapter Eight ✦ 101

Paris plant. Because custom packaging for both
industries was done out of town, We Pack went
into the co-packaging business. As the logistics
industry evolved so did the company, adding
additional warehouses, contract packaging
services and personnel. In 2006, We Pack was a
full-service, third-party logistics company
operating over two million square feet of
warehousing and custom packaging facilities
located across Northeast Texas and North
Carolina with services extending throughout the
United States.
1985 - Paris Industries
In March 1985, an industry new to Paris
moved into the recently vacated Vassarette plant
on Northwest Loop 286. Paris Industries, a
Division of General Foam Plastics of Norfolk,
Virginia, manufactured artificial Christmas trees
when it began operations. A few months
later it began manufacturing plastic children’s
swimming pools. In 1987 the company added
116,000 square feet to its facility, and in 1994,
it expanded another 75,000 square feet.
1985 - Winzen International
It was announced on April 3, 1985, that Winzen
International, Inc. would establish a plant near the
Hinckley community. Winzen was the primary
supplier of research balloons worldwide with most
going to governments. Some of the nations that
used Winzen balloons were India, China, Japan,
France, Italy, England and Australia. The balloons
were used to take research instruments to a very
high altitude. Balloons made by the firm were twice
listed in the Guinness Book of World Records: one for
the highest altitude reached by a balloon and one
for the largest balloon ever built. On July 1, 1988,
the company’s board of directors decided to move
the plant to Sulphur Springs where its raw
materials were manufactured.
1989 - Paris Sewing
In 1989, Paris Sewing took over the
Hollywood Vasserette operation on South
Church Street retaining the company’s
machines and workforce. For approximately six
years the company produced zip wrap garments
for JCPenney.
1989 - Tenaska III Power Plant
Tenaska III Texas Partners Plant, the area’s first
electrical co-generation station, began limited
generation of electricity on July 5, 1989. At that
time, it produced 151 megawatts of power with
two gas-powered turbines. When a third turbine,
powered by steam, was online at the beginning of
1990, 213 megawatts were produced. That was
enough power to serve a city of 125,000. Steam
from the plant, located just north of Paris on
Highway 271, was sold to the nearby Campbell
Soup Company via a pipeline connecting the two
❖
Tenaska III Texas Partners Plant was
the area’s first co-generation station.
COURTESY OF HARRISON, WALKER & HARPER.
102 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

❖
The Lamar Power Partners natural
gas power plant was the single largest
capital investment ever built in Lamar
County, and the largest natural gasfired
combined-cycle plant in Texas.
PHOTO BY MARVIN GORLEY.
facilities. It was used for cooking, cleaning and
heating Campbell Soup’s building. Electricity
from the plant was sold to TU Electric. Tenaska
III, Inc., an Omaha, Nebraska-based company,
was the managing partner of the Paris project,
and North American Energy Services of Bellevue,
Washington, held the contract for operations and
maintenance. Tenaska’s long-term contracts with
TXU and Campbell Soup ceased at the end of
January 2005. On February 1, Direct Energy, a
retail energy provider, purchased ownership
interest of the Paris plant and changed its name
to Paris Energy Center.
1997 - Exide Warehouse
In October 1997, Exide Corporation of
Cooper announced it would relocated its
warehouse to Paris. The Cooper Exide plant,
which manufactures starters and alternators, is a
subsidiary of the parent Exide Corporation,
which manufactures batteries. Exide’s Paris
warehouse was located in the former Paris
Grocery Supply and National Hardware building
on South Church Street.
1998 - TIPS
It was announced on November 3, 1998 that
Turner International Piping Systems of Baton
Rouge, Louisiana had purchased the Babcock &
Wilcox plant. The plant was converted into a
manufacturer providing services to the pharmaceutical,
power generation, petrochemical, and
food processing industries. B&W had closed six
months earlier.
2000 - Lamar Power Partners LP
A state-of-the-art 1,000-megawatt natural
gas power plant began operations in Paris
on June 10, 2000. On that date, the Lamar
Power Partners LP project was the largest single
capital investment ever built in Lamar County,
and the largest natural gas-fired combined-cycle
plant in Texas. The plant, located near
Kimberly-Clark on Southwest Nineteenth
Street, is capable of producing enough
electricity to power 150,000 homes.
2003 - C-Tech Computer Company
An agreement between the Paris Economic
Development Corporation and C-Tech, signed
June 16, 2003, secured Paris’ first technology
industry. The contract provided an interest-free
$1.5 million loan and a five-acre site in the
Northwest Industrial Park on Northwest Loop
286. C-Tech, a computer technology company,
was founded in October 1998, by Mike
Meshbesher. The company buys excess
computer inventory and reconfigures them into
customized systems or breaks them down into
parts for sale to computer service companies. C-
Chapter Eight ✦ 103

❖
The 1982 Paris tornado destroyed
more than 1,500 homes and left eight
dead and 3,000 homeless. Notice in
the photo how an automobile is going
the wrong way on a one way street to
escape the storm.
COURTESY OF THE PARIS POLICE DEPARTMENT.
Tech began its Paris operations in the old Heillig-
Meyers furniture store at 3150 Clarksville Street
while waiting for completion of its new facility in
the industrial park.
Milestones
1981 - Cotton Compress
In January 1981 the Paris Historic Landmark
Preservation Committee made an offer to
purchase the cotton compress located in the old
Farmers & Merchants warehouse on Southwest
First Street. Built in the late 1800s, the compress
was one of the very few left in the cotton
producing areas of the South. The Committee‘s
offer was accepted, and the cotton press
was relocated to the Southwest Industrial Park
on Southwest Loop 286. The Industrial
Park was later purchased by We Pack Logistics,
and the cotton press was kept as a symbol of
Paris industry.
1982 - Tornado
Block after block of Paris homes and
businesses lay in ruins on April 2, 1982, after a
twister bisected the northern half of the city. It
destroyed more than 1,500 homes, left eight dead
and 3,000 homeless. Its five mile trail of
destruction was 200 yards to half a mile wide. It
entered Paris from the west, first touching down
near Travis Middle School. After exiting east
Paris, it bore down on Reno and Blossom where
it flattened at least thirty homes.
1985 - Tour de Paris Bike Rally
The first Tour de Paris Bike Race was cosponsored
by the McCuistion Regional Medical
Center and the Red River Valley Cycle Club on
July 4, 1985. It became an annual event
sponsored by the Paris Visitors and Convention
Council. The V&CC changed the race to a rally
in 2003 to make it safer for cyclists. No times
are kept in a rally, and riders are not awarded by
order of finish. The rally consists of four tour
lengths- 15K, 40K, 70K and 100K. The event
has drawn hundreds of cyclists every year. 2006
was the 22nd Tour de Paris in Lamar County.
1985 - Chisum ISD
On July 26, 1985, two Lamar County school
districts, West Lamar and Delmar, began
conducting a series of public meetings to explain
their efforts to consolidate. Voters agreed to the
consolidation on August 10, 1985. The new
district was called Delmar-West Lamar
Consolidated ISD. A week later on August 17, the
new district’s first classes were held. Grades 9-12
attended classes at the Delmar campus, grades 7-8
at the West Lamar campus, and K-6 classes were at
both campuses. A bond election for a new $2.5
104 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

❖
Denver “Uncle Jesse” Pyle of The
Dukes of Hazzard television show
created Uncle Jesse’s Big Mouth Big
Bass Classic in 1988. Mike Herron,
a tournament volunteer, is shown
with Denver just prior to releasing
a winning bass back into Pat
Mayse Lake.
PHOTO BY MARVIN GORLEY.
million junior/senior High School near Loop 286
and Highway 24 passed on November 2, 1985.
On August 21, 1986, the district’s name was
changed to Chisum ISD. Voters approved the
construction of a $1.9 million elementary school
on November 14, 1987, and a new middle school
and administration building in 2001.
1985 - Officer David Roberts
On September 21, 1985, twenty-three-yearold
David Roberts became the first Paris
policeman to be killed in the line of duty.
Roberts was shot after stopping a vehicle
matching the description of one used in the
armed robbery of Braum’s Ice Cream Store earlier
that day. Patrick Fitzgerald Rogers and Willis
D’bron Cooper were convicted of the crime.
1986 - Coach Berry and Coach Stallings
On August 2, 1986, two coaches from Paris,
Texas faced each other in the National Football
League’s 24th Annual Hall of Fame Game in
Canton, Ohio. Gene Stallings’ St. Louis Cardinals
were defeated by Raymond Berry’s New England
Patriots, 21-6. Ordinarily, nothing was allowed
to detract from the NFL’s enshrinement
festivities. However, since it was such a unique
circumstance, the League allowed a special
presentation to the coaches on the field before
the game.
1987 - City Library Expansion
On May 4, 1985, voters easily approved a
$975,000 city bond proposal for the renovation
and expansion of the Paris Public Library. The
ninety-six-hundred-square-foot wing was added
to the back of the library, retaining the Main
Street facade of the historic structure. Ground
was broken on June 18, 1986, and the completed
facility was dedicated on November 15, 1987.
1988 - Uncle Jesse’s Fishing Tournament
The first annual “Uncle Jesse’s Big Mouth Big
Bass Classic” was held in 1988. The event was
created by Denver “Uncle Jesse” Pyle of The Dukes
of Hazzard television show along with local
volunteers. It is held each spring at Pat Mayse Lake
with the assistance and cooperation of the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers. Denver was on hand for
every tournament until his death in 1998. His
wife, Tippi, carries on the tradition of giving a
percentage of the tournament’s proceeds to benefit
children through Denver Pyle’s Children’s
Charities, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization.
1988 - 1989 - State Champions
The Paris High School “Class of 89” fielded
two athletic state champions. The Paris Wildcats
defeated two-time defending champion West
Orange-Stark, 31-13, to claim the Class 4A high
school football championship on December 17,
Chapter Eight ✦ 105

not do in Pinhook. In 1989, a year before his
death, Paris Junior College instructor, Ray
Karrer, co-authored a one-hour KERA program
with James Lipscomb, a noted documentary
film maker. The program, based on Owens’
autobiography, This Stubborn Soil, was narrated
by Bill Moyers. Its final scenes show Dr.
Owens being honored as an outstanding
graduate of PJC.
❖
Paris does not just have a little Eiffel
Tower, it has one with a big red
cowboy hat on it. The hat was
removed, repainted and reattached by
Lone Star Steel in 2006.
PHOTO BY MARVIN GORLEY.
1988. The Wildcat baseball team defeated
Austin Anderson, 11-8, in a dramatic comefrom-behind
miracle on June 10, 1989 to
become the Class 4A baseball champs. In May
1988 the “Class of 88” Wildcats won the state
championship in golf.
1989 - William A. Owens
Bill Owens was born in Pinhook, Texas in
1905. By the time he died sixty-seven years
later, he’d earned several college degrees,
written sixteen books, and become a professor
of English and a dean at Columbia University.
He’d seen the world, gotten semi-famous and
generally done a lot of things that you just could
1992 - Education Coalition
On April 18, 1991, President George H. W.
Bush announced his new education strategy,
“America 2000.” Inspired by this strategy,
concerned community leaders met in September
1991, to discuss educational goals for students of
Lamar County. An organization was formed to aid
in the attainment of these goals. Initiated as
Project CARE, County Alliance for Resources in
Education, the organization was incorporated July
24, 1992, as the Lamar County Coalition of
Education, Business and Industry, Inc. The
Coalition was organized to link education with
business and industry in Lamar County in an
effort to assure that students of the county became
successful high school graduates, fully prepared to
enter the work force and higher education. The
Coalition’s early successes included Project SAVE,
Texas Scholars and Junior Achievement.
1992 - New Lamar County Jail
Cornerstone leveling ceremonies and an open
house on June 6, 1992 marked the completion of
the new Lamar County Jail. Groundbreaking for
the $3.5 million, 196-bed facility was held on
February 8, 1991. Its design featured a wide drivethrough
sally port running between the
administrative and incarceration sections of the
building. With garage doors lowered, it provided a
secure method of unloading patrol cars and
processing inmates.
1992 - Hayden Art Museum
William and Elizabeth Hayden Museum of
American Art opened in 1992. It consists of four
galleries, the largest of which houses the
permanent collection of graphic art, archival
photography, and American chairs. The art is
arranged chronologically to present a complete
history of the American art scene. The Southwest
Gallery features Native American art. An upstairs
106 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

gallery is for Confederate history. Changing
exhibits are shown in the remaining gallery.
1994 - Love Civic Center
For many years the leadership of Paris
attempted unsuccessfully to obtain a civic center.
On July 2, 1994, the struggle was finally over.
The J. A. and Malone Love Civic Center was
dedicated. Ground was broken for the facility on
April 30, 1993.
1995 - Eiffel Tower
The second largest Paris in the world has the
only Eiffel Tower with a huge red cowboy hat on
top. The fifty-foot replica is made of iron welded
together by the Boilermakers Local Union #902
of Babcock & Wilcox. It was erected on the
south lawn of the Love Civic Center in 1995 and
dedicated on June 28, 1996. The hat, created by
Daon Wall, was added on October 19, 1998.
Wall said, “This hat will give us distinction. We
won’t just have a little Eiffel Tower; we’ll have
one with a hat on it.”
assets, healthcare, housing, public safety, and
transportation. Nationwide, Paris ranked 100 out
of 193 top small cities.
1999 - Hospital Ownership Changes Begin
For decades Paris was fortunate to have
two quality hospitals within its city limits. The
end of the century, however, saw rapid changes
in its healthcare providers. St. Joseph’s Hospital
ownership changed in 1999. It became a part of
the Christus Health System, which was created
when the Incarnate Word Health System merged
with the Sisters of Charity of Houston. In 2001,
Christus St. Joseph’s Health System purchased
the 210-bed McCuistion Regional Medical
Center, and consolidated the two hospitals into
one system. That system was purchased in 2004
by Essent Healthcare and became known as
Paris Regional Medical Center.
❖
The Santa Fe/Frisco Depot held a
grand re-opening after its restoration
in 2003. It is now the home of the
Lamar County Chamber of
Commerce and the Lamar County
Genealogy Society.
PHOTO BY MARVIN GORLEY.
1997 - New Airport Terminal Building
At a meeting of the City of Paris’ airport
advisory board on March 19, 1997, final
drawings and floor plans for a new terminal at
Cox Field were presented. The 4,000-squarefoot
facility’s construction was made possible by
a $400,000 matching grant from the Texas
Department of Transportation’s aviation division.
The Paris Economic Development Corporation
funded the city’s $200,000 portion of the 50/50
grant. The terminal was completed in 1998.
1997 - New Fire Station
Central Fire Station in Paris’ downtown business
district served the city for seventy-six years. The
historic building was vacated on August 28, 1997,
when the city’s new Paris Fire Station No. 1 opened
on North Main Street. The new facility was
constructed by the city’s engineering department.
1998 - Best Small Town In Texas
Paris was ranked highest in a list of Texas cities
with a population less than fifty thousand
according to the April 5, 1998, issue of The New
Rating Guide to Life in America’s Small Cities.
Rankings were based on climate, diversions, economics,
education, urban proximity, community
Chapter Eight ✦ 107

❖
The Lamar County Courthouse was
restored as part of the Texas Historic
Courthouse Preservation Program.
County Judge Chuck Superville
spoke at the dedication on September
3, 2005.
PHOTO BY MARVIN GORLEY.
2000 - George Wright Bust
A bronze bust of Paris founder George W.
Wright was dedicated at Heritage Hall on
May 11, 2000. It was sculpted by Eddie Dixon
from a Jenkins Marble Yard plaster created around
1920. The bust depicts Wright as he looked in the
latter days of his life when he was painted by
William Henry Huddle.
2001 - New Post Office
A new Paris post office, located at 500
Clarksville Street, officially opened on February
20, 2001. It replaced the old post office building
at Lamar Avenue and Northeast Third Street,
which was first occupied seventy-six years
earlier on February 23, 1925. It was the first
time since 1893 that a Paris post office was not
located on that city block.
2003 - Santa Fe/Frisco Depot Renovation
The Lamar County Chamber of Commerce
held an open house on March 27, 2003, to mark
the grand re-opening of the Santa Fe/Frisco Depot.
The newly restored Union Station also became the
home of the Paris Visitors & Convention Council,
the Lamar County Genealogy Society, the Paris
Economic Development Corporation, and the
Paris Transportation Museum. The Kiamichi
Railroad donated the building in January 1997 and
TxDOT awarded the city a $1 million grant for the
restoration in July 1997.
2004 - Downtown Streetscape Project
Construction began on the much anticipated
Downtown Streetscape Project on March 15,
2004. The city council passed resolution
No. 99-100 almost five years earlier declaring their
intention to seek funds for the project from the
Texas Department of Transportation’s “Statewide
Transportation Enhancement Program.” TxDOT
provided $807,920, eighty percent of the total
amount needed. The Streetscape replaced curbs,
gutters and sidewalks, and installed an irrigation
system in the landscaped areas. Park benches and
antique style light poles and fixtures were also part
of this primary phase of a restoration and
beautification program by the City of Paris and the
Paris Main Street Program.
2004 - Archeology
In 2004, the Texas Historical Commission
recorded a site on Gene Stallings’ ranch in
Northeast Lamar County as significant, dating
to the Fourche Maline Culture, which predates
the Caddo Indians. This prompted interest from
the Texas Archeological Society. They conducted
a week-long field trip in June 2005 to further
investigate the site. More than 300 archeology
enthusiasts participated in the excavation work.
The following year on June 10-17, a second
field school was conducted by TAS. One of the
biggest finds was evidence of a Fourche Maline
house directly beneath a Caddo Indian site.
Artifacts collected during the digs are to be
placed eventually in a museum the Stallings
want to create.
2005 - National Basketball Championship
The Paris Junior College Dragon basketball
team defeated Moberly Area Community
108 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

❖
Police Chief Karl Louis helped
dedicate the new City of Paris Police
and Court Building at 2910
Clarksville Street.
PHOTO BY MARVIN GORLEY.
College Missouri 70-61 to claim the NJCAA
Men’s Division 1 Basketball championship on
March 26, 2005. It was the first national
basketball championship for PJC in only two
tournament appearances. The first time they
competed for the crown was forty-six years
earlier in 1959.
2005 - Lamar County Courthouse
In June 1999 the Texas legislature established
the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation
Program. In October 2000, Lamar County
was awarded $464,500 to fund the development
of architectural plans and plans for the
restoration of its courthouse which was built to
replace the one destroyed in the Fire of 1916. In
January 2002, the county was granted
$3,535,500 for construction. The restored
Lamar County Courthouse was dedicated on
September 3, 2005.
2006 - Lamar County Historical Museum
On May 26, 2006, the Lamar County
Historical Museum opened to the public. It was
originated by the Lamar County Historical
Society. Located in Heritage Park just south of
Heritage Hall, the museum’s interior and its
exhibits were constructed by a small group of
volunteers. Its layout consists of three areas—a
foyer with exhibition space, a central section
with six galleries, and the rural life museum.
2006 - The Scott Mansion
The Scott Mansion, located at 425 Church
Street, was completed in 1910 by Rufus Fenner
Scott, who brought architect J. L. Wees to Paris
from St. Louis to design his home. In 1938 the
house was purchased by Gene Roden, who
supervised extensive renovations for its use as a
funeral home while still retaining its original
design. The home was listed in the National
Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of
the Interior in 1983. It became a Texas Historic
Landmark property in 1984. In 2006 the Scott
Mansion became the Starrett-Rose Funeral Home.
2006 - Paris Police & Court Building
The City of Paris started looking at the
possibility of a new police and municipal courts
building in 1999. They considered renovating
their existing building, renovating the old post
office building, or constructing a new facility.
City staff eventually reviewed thirteen properties.
A decision was made to renovate the old UARCO
building located at 2910 Clarksville Street on
23.2 acres of pine trees and rolling grass. The
new $6.1-million Paris and Police Court Building
had its grand opening on April 8, 2006.
Chapter Eight ✦ 109

110 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

SHARING THE HERITAGE
historic profiles of businesses,
organizations, and families that have
SPECIAL
THANKS TO
contributed to the development
and economic base of Paris and Lamar County
FPL Energy and the Lamar Energy Center.........................................112
Harrison, Walker & Harper ............................................................116
Nicholson Outdoor Power Equipment ................................................118
Bank of America ...........................................................................120
Kimberly-Clark Corporation ...........................................................122
Campbell Soup Supply Co., L.L.C. ...................................................124
Lamar County Electric Cooperative Association .................................126
Stephens & Sons Concrete Contractors, Inc. ......................................128
Holiday Inn - Paris .......................................................................130
Turner Industries Group, LLC .........................................................132
Sara Lee Food Service....................................................................134
Legacy Corporate Management, LLC ................................................136
Liberty National Bank ...................................................................138
Rodgers-Wade...............................................................................140
Lamar Federal Credit Union ...........................................................142
First Federal Community Bank ........................................................143
First Baptist Church ......................................................................144
Paris Air Conditioning Company .....................................................145
Kiamichi Railroad, L.L.C................................................................146
Paris Church of God ......................................................................147
Whitaker Homes ...........................................................................148
King’s Inn ....................................................................................149
Paris Economic Development Corporation .........................................150
Adkins United Finance Co., Inc. ......................................................151
Circle W. Health Foods, L.L.C. ........................................................152
TXU Electric Delivery....................................................................153
Paris Junior College ......................................................................154
Church of the Holy Cross, Episcopal.................................................155
Morris Tobin, M.D., P.A. ................................................................156
Paris Golf & Country Club .............................................................157
Paris Custom Trailers Inc...............................................................158
Century 21 Harvey Properties, Inc...................................................159
Slayden Floors..............................................................................160
Lamar Loans LLC..........................................................................160
Sesame Solutions, LLC ...................................................................161
Brady Fisher, Attorney at Law.........................................................161
C. L. Smith Equipment &
Service Company
Jamar Contractors, Inc.
North Main Auto Sales
Stone Title Company, Inc.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 111

FPL ENERGY
AND THE
LAMAR
ENERGY
CENTER
FPL Energy is a leading clean energy provider
with natural gas, wind, solar, hydroelectric
and nuclear power plants in operation across
the nation. With a growing portfolio of
facilities, totaling more than 12,000 net
megawatts of generating capacity with a
presence in more than 20 states, FPL Energy is
one of the nation’s leaders in power production.
The company has more than 6,497 net
megawatts of natural gas generation (13 plants)
including 2,700 megawatts of natural gas
in Texas. Natural gas currently represents
approximately fifty-two percent of FPL Energy’s
total generation.
112 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

FPL Energy has incorporated the cleanest
burning fossil fuel into its portfolio with natural
gas facilities currently in ten states. Often
it installs combined-cycle technology, which
uses waste heat to drive an additional
power generator for increased energy efficiency
and lower emissions than conventional fossilfueled
units.
Paris is the ideal location for the Lamar
Energy Center, which is located on 107
acres near high-voltage electrical transmission
lines, high-pressure gas transmission pipelines
and an adequate cooling water supply. The
success of the facility is in part due to the
local community’s receptiveness and the
excellent workforce.
The plant capacity is approximately 1,000
megawatts, which is enough power for up to
1,000,000 homes. Fueled by natural gas, the
Lamar facility features state-of-the-art
technology for operations, safety control
devices, and is one of the cleanest power plants
in Texas.
This state-of-the-art plant meets or exceeds
all emissions requirements including U.S. Clean
Air Act and Clean Water Act limits. The plant’s
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 113

air emissions are among the lowest in the State
of Texas. The plant has a staff of thirty-four
employees who live in the surrounding area.
Using only a small portion of the site for power
production facilities—the rest remains in its
natural habitat, providing homes to native plant
and animal species. At Lamar, of the 107 acres
that FPL Energy currently owns, less than
half of the land is used for power production.
The Lamar Energy Center uses Lake Pat
Mayse water for cooling to conserve valuable
aquifer resources.
Employees of the Lamar Energy Center
participate in the following community
activities: Industrial Managers Group, Lamar
Chamber of Commerce, donating Scott Air
Packs for Local Fire and Water Departments, Big
Brothers Big Sisters of North East Texas, Lamar
County Crime Stoppers, Newspapers for
Education Programs, and YWCA of Paris and
Lamar County.
Here are a few of the major facts regarding
natural gas. Natural gas is believed to have been
formed millions of years ago when plant and
tiny sea animals were buried by sand and rock.
Additional layers built up and pressure and heat
from the earth changed this material into
petroleum and natural gas. Natural gas was first
used in the United States in 1816 when
gaslights were used on the streets of Baltimore,
Maryland. The first large-scale demand for oil
occurred as a result of the kerosene lamp,
invented in 1854 (Source: Chevron Learning
Center). Natural gas is lighter than air, is
colorless and odorless. Crude oil is typically
straw-colored liquid or tar-black solid; however,
red, green and brown hues are not uncommon
(Source: Chevron Learning Center). Almost all
of the natural gas consumed in the United States
is produced in the United States (eighty-four
percent). Most of FPL Energy’s natural gas plants
use state-of-the-art technology known as a
combined cycle generator, which is about thirty
percent more efficient than conventional
generators to this sentence
FPL Energy is committed to working to
ensure that the growing demand for power is
met in the most environmentally responsible
manner. This commitment to environmental
stewardship is visible at many of its fossil
plant sites.
Many of its fossil-fueled plants, such
as the Lamar Energy Center, use the combined
cycle generation system fueled by clean-burning
natural gas. Using advanced emission controls,
the state-of-the-art combined cycle technology
is one of the cleanest power generating methods
available today. As a result, air emissions from
FPL Energy plants are among the lowest in the
states where our facilities are located.
In its fossil fuel plants, it burns fuel
(either natural gas or oil) in a large boiler.
The combined steam cycle process is as
114 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

follows: FPL Energy’s Lamar Energy Center
uses state-of-the art combined cycle technology,
which results in a much more efficient
plant-about thirty percent more efficient, in fact.
It works like this: A natural gas, combined-cycle
plant produces electricity from two sources of
energy instead of one. Energy is produced by
combustion of natural gas in a turbine, similar
to a jet engine. Making use of the gas turbine
exhaust to make steam also produces energy.
Both sources of energy then drive turbines and
electric generators to produce electricity. This
design is significantly more efficient than older
electric generating technologies.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 115

❖
HARRISON,
WALKER &
HARPER
Above: As part of its centennial
celebration in 1987, Harrison, Walker
& Harper unveiled a Texas Historical
Marker honoring the company.
Right: Chip Harper is the fourth
generation steward of Harrison,
Walker & Harper. Under his
leadership, a century-old primarily
residential construction company
became a multimillion-dollar
Southwest United States regional
industrial/commercial construction
company in less than twenty years.
In 1887, the year America lost Wyatt Earp’s
sidekick Doc Holliday, a young farmer and brick
mason arrived in Paris to found what
has become one of the oldest construction
companies in the State of Texas.
J. W. Harrison came to Paris with four mules
and a Fresno scraper as part of the construction
boom that followed the city’s first railroad. After
the Great Fire of 1916, Harrison was at the
forefront of rebuilding the town, including the
construction of virtually every building around
the Plaza. J. W. Harrison had a long history of
activism in the community, serving as alderman,
and constructing many public buildings
including the Paris Public Library in 1931.
Upon his death, his son Barney Harrison
continued the business and at Barney’s untimely
death, his son J. W. Harrison II took the reins.
J. W. II formed a partnership in 1959 with C. L.
Walker, a civil engineer, and together
they expanded the company into commercial
and civil construction and real estate
development. The Johnson’s Woods residential
area in Southeast Paris is one of their
developments. In 1969, while still in
college, Chip Harper began working in
the field for his stepfather, J. W. Harrison.
He became partner-in-charge of Harrison &
Walker Metal Buildings in 1973. In 1979
that company merged with the original
construction company to become Harrison,
Walker & Harper, Inc. and the
“We Build” slogan—a skyline logo
in red, black and white—
was introduced. Under Chip, the
company has built commercial,
institutional, and industrial projects
across the country.
Today, We Build, Inc. is a specialty
contracting company affiliated with
Harrison, Walker & Harper. Formed
in 2004, its beginnings trace back to
Weehunt Roofing, a Paris company
founded in 1931. The story goes that
J. W. Harrison I could not get
qualified roofers for his projects so
he funded L. T. Weehunt’s start-up
business. Fittingly, in 1975 on
Weehunt’s retirement, the company
was purchased back by Harrison,
Walker & Harper.
In 1984, We Pack Logistics
was founded, initially as HW
Commercial Warehouse; to support
the storage needs of Kimberly-Clark’s
new Paris facility and Campbell Soup
116 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

Company’s Paris plant. The enterprise began in
a modest way: the company built four wooden
tables, purchased two used rollers, and packed
with Chip’s wife Suzy and daughter Anne
Harper Biard at work on the first line. As
the logistics industry evolved so did We
Pack, adding additional warehouses, contract
packaging services, and personnel. Today, We
Pack operates over two million square feet of
warehousing and custom packaging facilities
across Northeast Texas and North Carolina.
We Stow, organized in 1999, was inspired
by a college project of Chip’s son Jordan.
His ideas, combined with research by
former Paris Mayor Charlie Neeley, became
We Stow. The company serves the storage
needs of customers ranging from big-box
retailers to contractors on job sites by
repurposing overseas shipping containers
for clients in the Southwest.
Harrison, Walker & Harper purchased
Shurtleff Sheet Metal in 2001. The custom metal
fabrication/steel erection facility, working
closely with the construction company, became
Chisum Steel in 2004.
Harrison, Walker & Harper, We Build,
We Pack Logistics, We Stow and Chisum
Steel employ over six hundred people. They,
as their mission statement states, “want to
provide a safe place where our people can
grow and prosper and be proud as they
contribute to making the world a better place.”
Chip has a vision that Harrison, Walker &
Harper will celebrate its two hundredth
anniversary. In the footsteps of J. W. Harrison I,
Barney Harrison, J. W. Harrison II, and Chip
Harper, the fifth generation—Holland, Jordan,
Anne, and Alix—are involved in company
activities. Chip and Suzy’s grandchildren,
Preston and Ella Ryan, will provide the
company with sixth-generation leadership
and with their help Harrison, Walker & Harper
will celebrate its bicentennial.
❖
Left: We Pack Logistics’ flagship
facility is located in Paris, Texas. Its
438,500 square feet of office,
packaging, and warehouse space sets
the standard for numerous facilities
throughout Northeast Texas and
North Carolina.
Below: On June 30, 2005, the We
Pack Logistics warehouse expansion in
Paris, Texas, was topped out. All
Harper companies worked together on
this project. Harrison, Walker &
Harper was the general contractor.
We Build erected the steel. We Stow
provided construction site storage.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 117

NICHOLSON
OUTDOOR
POWER
EQUIPMENT
❖
(From left to right) Griffin Lance,
Donald Clark, and Stephen
Scott Nicholson.
Nicholson Outdoor Power Equipment began
with the combination of two basic, yet very
important elements—the skill of its owners and
the needs of the consumer. Its history spans sixty
years to date and the grandsons/great-grandsons
of the original founders continue to lead the
company through a new century of success.
Norman G. Nicholson came to Texas from
Hugo, Oklahoma, and began farming in Lamar
County. Norman’s son, V. A., grew up on a farm
until he married. He went to work for Gulf Oil
Company in Powderly, Texas, and, in the mid-
1940s, he left Gulf Oil Company and he and his
wife, Elizabeth Griffin Nicholson, moved to Paris,
Texas, to start a farming/ranching operation with
his father.
This father and son team enjoyed success in
the business and in 1946, decided to start a
company in Paris at 1651 South Church Street to
manufacture trailers for hauling cotton to the gin
and corn to the feed mills. They also built
barrows, cotton rollers, and shredders (made
from truck rear ends). They took on the Ferguson
tractor line, selling and servicing tractors and
other types of farm equipment including discs,
hay rakes, combines, planters, and cultivators.
V. A. and Norman also owned a machine/
blacksmith shop where Norman, the blacksmith,
could make just about anything anyone needed
from hinges to plow points, while V. A. was well
known in the area as the accomplished machinist
and mechanic. With the business growing so well,
the name Nicholson Machine and Equipment was
adopted and helped to identify father and son as
genuine “jacks of all trades.”
V. A.’s sons, Eddie and Donald Clark
Nicholson, worked in the shop after school and
assembled the farm equipment that was shipped
in for sale in the store. As they got older, the boys
also began making deliveries—a huge asset to
their dad and granddad.
In the mid-1950s, Norman and V. A. became
dealers for McCullough and Homelite chainsaws.
At the same time, they took on the Mercury
Outboard Motor dealership and Yellow Jacket
Boats owned by famed western star Roy Rogers.
The name of the business also changed to
Nicholson Motor and Equipment Company. In
the late 1950s, the row-cropping type of farming
in the area diminished and the company’s
involvement in the sales and service of the
farming related equipment lessened as well.
More people were now working in industryrelated
fields rather than on the farm. It was
decided that the business should keep pace with
people’s needs and desires. After Norman’s death
in October 1960, V. A. became a Stihl chainsaw
dealer and sold Ouachita boats and Dilly trailers.
In the late 1960s, the dealership started selling
Chrysler boats and motors. In the 1970s, other
boats sold by Nicholson Motor and Equipment
Company included Thunderbird, Sterncraft, and
GM. It was during this time that the Lombard
chain saw line was added to the equipment
being carried by the company. During the late
1970s, the decision was made to finally cut
down on the lines of merchandise carried due to
the lack of time in everyone’s schedule. Though
they were no longer farming, the family still had
a cattle operation. The boat and motor business
was demanding, as it required going to the lake
to demonstrate the boats and motors.
Upon the death of his wife in 1983, V. A.
retired and his son Don became the third
generation owner of the company. The name of
the company was changed to Nicholson Outdoor
Power Equipment. The boats, motors and trailers
were phased out and the company started selling
Snapper and Ariens lawn equipment. The Stihl
product line was increased to include line
trimmers, blowers and tillers.
Many people worked for the company
throughout the years including Edgar Raper and
Horace Miller, chief mechanics in the 1950s. Jerry
Ballard joined the company in March 1961 and
became one of the best chainsaw and outboard
118 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

motor mechanics in North East Texas and South
East Oklahoma. Jerry worked for the second-thirdand
fourth-generation owners. Bud Sheets was the
traveling salesman for the Lombard chainsaw line
in the 1970s and did a fantastic job of lining up
dealers over a large part of Texas, Louisiana, and
Oklahoma. Joe Nicholson, Don’s younger brother,
worked as a part-time employee from 1960 to mid-
1962 and was a full-time employee from mid-1966
to 1968. Bobby Middleton helped with over the
counter sales in the 1980s. In November 1987,
Don decided to pursue other business interests
and, in 1988, turned ownership of the company
over to his sons, Griffin Lance and Stephen Scott,
and daughter, Marilyn Martel Nicholson.
V. A. died in July 2002 but his legacy, and his
father’s legacy is continued by the fourth
generation, Lance and Scott. Scott returned to
Paris from Dallas in November 1987. Lance
returned to Paris from Nacogdoches in January
1988. Both Lance and Scott were electricians
before taking control of the family business. As
newcomers, they decided to look at all the
different equipment brands sold and serviced in
the business. They picked out the brand names
of companies that stood behind their dealers.
The Nicholson brothers said that after years in
the business and using the same products sold to
customers, they now find it hard to sell anything
they do not believe in personally. As a result, the
outdoor power equipment brands sold at
Nicholson Outdoor Power Equipment Company
are Stihl handheld powertools, Scag and Snapper
lawnmowers, Polaris all-terrain vehicles, and
Polaris Ranger utility vehicles.
Garry L. Parker began employment in
November 1987. Parker’s expertise in repair of
equipment, counter sales of parts and sales of
outdoor power equipment helped increase
business sales. Parker worked for a number of
years and his loyalty was appreciated. He left the
company in April 2003 to pursue another career.
In 1990, Lance and Scott decided to pursue new
endeavors and sell Polaris all-terrain vehicles. After
being in the same location for fifty-six years, the
company moved to a new location at 2340 North
East Loop 286 in Paris on Labor Day weekend,
September 2002. At this time, the company started
selling Polaris Rangers, a utility vehicle.
Lance is in charge of daily operations of the
business. Scott is the master service technician
for all Stihl outdoor power equipment and is in
change of the service department.
Mike Marando was employed in January
1999. He is the service technician for
Polaris all-terrain vehicles, Polaris Ranger
utility vehicles, Snapper and Scag lawnmowers,
and is a certified Briggs and Stratton, Tecumseh,
and Kohler engine technician. Nicholson
Outdoor Power Equipment sells parts to fit
several brands of mowers.
Deanna Ann Dixon Nicholson, wife of Scott,
worked for the company during the summer from
2003 to 2005 and left to pursue another career.
Carolyn Martel Stephens Nicholson, mother of
Lance and Scott, came to help her sons in the office
after retiring from the State of Texas in June 1998.
Lance is the father of one daughter—Jessica
Nicole Nicholson. Scott is the father of two sons—
Daniel Clark and Stephen Andrew Nicholson.
Marilyn graduated from school and pursued
a nursing career and became a registered nurse.
She is married to David Neal Kennemer and
has two sons—Aaron Scott Greer and Haden
Neal Kennemer.
The location on Loop 286 has two covered
bays to load and unload equipment, and a larger
showroom to display Stihl power tools, Snapper
and Scag lawnmowers, and Polaris ATVs and
Polaris Ranger utility vehicles.
Parts and equipment sold at Nicholson
Outdoor Power Equipment are not sold in a box.
They are fully serviced and customers will know
how to operate their equipment before they leave.
The year 2006 was is the sixtieth anniversary of
Nicholson Outdoor Power Equipment and Lance
and Scott are proud of the accomplishments that
have been made since the company was founded
in 1946. They are very proud of the legacy that
was left by their great-grandfather, Norman,
grandfather V. A., and father, Don Nicholson.
❖
Nicholson Outdoor Power Equipment.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 119

BANK OF
AMERICA
Bank of America is a leading financial service
company, ranking in the top five banks of
the world.
Bank of America in Paris, Texas, is working
to attract, retain, and deepen profitable
customer and client relationships throughout
the bank. He provide a wide selection of
products and services with the back support
that is amazing. Bank of America is the
Community Bank of whatever community you
are in.
The Bank of America in Paris began life in
1965 as Citizens State Bank in ultraconservative
and controlled environment
originally located in the west end of the
Brookshire Grocery building. In 1975 the name
changed to Paris Bank of Texas, and in 1985 it
became InterFirst, then assumed the name of
First Republic that same year. The NCNB
Corporation from North Carolina overtook a
failing First Republic in 1989. This was a first in
cross-state-lines transaction. NCNB changed the
name of the bank to NationsBank, and when the
bank merged with BankAmerica the name was
changed to Bank of America. The banking
center is located at 1161 Clarksville Street
in Paris.
The original Bank of America officers in
Paris included Harold T. Hyde, chairman of
the board; William B. Payne, president;
William C. Meacham vice president; William B.
Vaughan, vice president; and Richard H.
Horton, cashier.
The original directors were noted area
businessmen, Jess R. Alford, Jack Denman,
Jesse K. Guest, Thomas E. Hunt Jr., M.D.,
120 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

Harold T. Hyde, Robert S. Norment, William B.
Payne, James Rheudasil, W. B. Vaughan,
Rayford D. Walker, John W. Williams, and
Harry Woolston.
Emphasizing the advantages of being both a
local bank and a part of one known worldwide,
Payne says, “We have the freedom and
responsibility to do the right thing for our
customers, shareholders, community and one
another.” He says the bank’s personnel succeed
together, taking collective responsibility for
customers’ satisfaction.
Among the local banking center’s goals for
customers are to provide convenient access and
efficient, error-free service, offer rewards for
bringing the bank more of their business,
deliver innovative financial products and
solutions, and become the trusted adviser
for financial solutions, achieved through
higher standards.
Goals for shareholders are to double value
added in three years; achieve 101 percent EFS
growth and 7 to 9 percent revenue growth;
manage risk and reward to reduce earnings
volatility; and achieve double-digit productivity
gains each year.
Bank of America, with headquarters in
Charlotte, North Carolina and, San Francisco,
California, is well positioned for growth with
unrivaled presence in America’s top growth
and wealth markets and relationships with
more than ninety percent of U.S. Fortune
500 companies. It offers customers a full
spectrum of financial services through
its channels of choices, including the largest
network of banking centers and ATMs,
award-winning online banking, twenty-fourhour
telephone service, and a global network
of offices.
The products and services offered by Bank of
America provide customers and clients with
opportunities to manage their finances through
a single financial partner.
Facing tough competition from a broad range
of competitors inside and outside the banking
industry, Bank of America continues to produce
consistent, quality revenue growth in all its
business, while containing expense growth and
maximizing operating leverage to meet its
financial goals.
Management and personnel strive to increase
customer satisfaction by demonstrating higher
standards in product innovation, service quality,
and process excellence.
At the same time, efforts continue to create a
work environment in which all associates are
valued and rewards are based on results.
Opportunities for shareholders continue
through growing the company and producing
strong, consistent financial returns by attracting,
retaining and deepening relationships in all of
the bank’s business.
For more information, you are invited to visit
Paris Banking Center at 1161 Clarksville Street
on the Internet at www.bankofamerica.com or
call 903-737-7300.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 121

KIMBERLY-
CLARK
CORPORATION
In 1983, Paris, Texas, became the home of
Kimberly-Clark Corporation’s newest diaper
manufacturing facility in North America.
Huggies ® Disposable Diapers were the sole
product of the Paris plant upon its opening and
today, Kimberly-Clark’s business of disposable
diapers and training pants in North America is
larger than the entire corporation when Huggies
was first launched in 1978. North American
Baby and Child Care sales for Kimberly-Clark
have grown from $50 million in 1978 to over $2
billion today and worldwide sales are estimated
at $4 billion.
Alongside the success of the product can be
seen the success of the individual families
represented at the Paris plant. The Paris plant
has not had any layoffs since its inception and
this unparalleled level of job security is a
commodity in today’s market. The success of
not only the Paris plant but Kimberly-Clark
Corporation can be traced to four principles:
being first to market with a stream of
continually improved products (to date, the
Huggies brand stands as the market leader with
thirty-five percent of diaper sales in North
America and two-thirds of the company’s
diapers are now sold outside the U.S.); to
deliver superior products at a fair price;
innovations; and teamwork.
Kimberly-Clark was founded in 1872
by four young businessmen in Neenah,
Wisconsin. John A. Kimberly, Charles B. Clark,
Frank C. Shattuck, and Havilah Babcock joined
as partners with only $30,000 to start Kimberly,
Clark, and Company to produce their first
product, newsprint made from linen and cotton
rags. Their small company eventually expanded
six years later when they took over a nearby
Atlas mill in Appleton that produced manila
wrapping paper from ground wood pulp. In
1880 the partners incorporated as Kimberly
& Clark Company and nine years later built
a pulp- and paper-making complex along
the Fox River in Wisconsin, creating the
community of Kimberly. By 1906 the company
was reorganized and incorporated as Kimberly-
Clark Company with a capital of $2 million.
Throughout the early twentieth century, the
corporation led in the development of creped
cellulose wadding, or what is commonly known
as tissue.
In 1915, Kimberly-Clark rebuilt its
Globe mill in Neenah, Wisconsin, to produce
Cellucotton, a substitute for cotton, to be used
as bandages for wounded soldiers in World
War I. During the War, Army nurses found
122 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

different uses for the cotton substitute which
led to Kimberly-Clark’s later marketable
product, Kotex ® feminine pads, introduced in
1920. Kleenex ® facial tissue, another cotton
substitute product was introduced to the
market in 1924. Throughout the 1940s, the
company produced gun mounts as well as
fuses for heavy shells among products for the
armed forces and received two Army-Navy
excellence awards.
After the introduction of Huggies diapers
in 1978, Depend ® adult products were
introduced in the market with an advertising
campaign that attempted to dismiss the
stigma of adult incontinence. In 1995,
Scott Paper and Kimberly-Clark announced
their $9.4-billion merger, making the
company a Fortune 100 global consumer
products company.
The Paris plant has played a key role in
the expansion and growth of the Huggies
brand as three entirely new and innovative
products were first launched from its facility:
Pull-Ups ® Training Pants (1989), Goodnites ®
Underpants (1994) and Huggies ® Little
Swimmers ® disposable swim pants (1998).
Kimberly-Clark gives annually through the
Paris plant to many community charitable
endeavors, including grants awarding the
125th Anniversary Playground Project at
Justiss Elementary School and the Salvation
Army Capital Fund Drive and contributions
to the Paris Community Theater, Paris
Education Foundation, and the City of
Paris Pumpkin Festival, just to name a few.
The company matches employee contributions
to the United Way 1:1 and the matching gifts
program enhances the financial support that
Kimberly-Clark employees provide to qualified
educational and charitable organizations by
matching employee contributions on a dollarfor-dollar
basis, up to $10,000 per employee
per year. Community Partners enables the
company to donate up to 1,000 grants of
$500 each to organizations that employees
and their spouses do for schools and
charitable organizations in the U.S. and Bright
Futures college scholarships to deserving sons
and daughters of Kimberly-Clark employees
afford up to four years of $5,000 awards
to graduating high school seniors who
demonstrate academic excellence. Several Paris
Plant employees’ children are currently
attending college with the assistance of Bright
Futures scholarships.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 123

CAMPBELL
SOUP SUPPLY
CO., L.L.C.
Campbell Soup Supply Co. L.L.C. and the
city of Paris, Texas, have enjoyed a relationship
that began over a half-century ago, when
officials with both Texas Power & Light and the
Chamber of Commerce of Lamar County
contacted Campbell Soup Company regarding
Texas’ vegetable growing possibilities.
After several years of negotiations, the
company purchased 532.375 acres of land
north of Paris, obtained an option for another
150 acres, and completed its plant there
in 1964.
Additional land purchases in 1960 and 1986
brought the company’s to a total of 1,521 acres,
900 acres of which they currently utilize on
plant premises. Warehouse space additions
throughout the plant’s history have brought its
area under roof to a total of thirty-five acres.
Production figures are remarkable—six
hundred million cans and jars of products
including Campbell’s R&W, Chunky, Healthy
Request, Beans, Select, and Canned Pasta, along
with Swanson Broths, Prego Spaghetti Sauces,
and Pace Sauces.
These products are composed of over
100,000 tons of ingredients each year, including
staggering amounts of daily ingredients,
including over 150,000 pounds of tomato paste,
17,000 pounds of carrots, nearly 28,000 pounds
of chicken meat, 50,000 pounds of potatoes,
over 20,000 pounds of mushrooms, and more
than 90,000 pounds of jalapeno peppers.
Each day the plant distributes more than 100
truck loads of finished products to be sold or
shipped to 48 states, as well as to Canada,
Mexico, and the United Kingdom.
The Campbell’s plant partners with Paris
Junior College and the North East Texas
Workforce Board to train and educate its
employees, a total of 750, who earn $44.5
million in payroll and benefits annually.
Some 71 percent of the employees are male
and 29 percent are female. Thirty-four percent are
African Americans, 1.2 percent Hispanics, and 1.1
percent American Indians. The employees are
represented by Local 540, Dallas, of the United
Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW).
The impact of Campbell’s operations within
the Paris area is obvious, accounting for
$125,000 annually in local contributions and
$2.35 million in state and local taxes.
The overall history of Campbell Foods
began in 1869, when Joseph Campbell, a
fruit merchant, and Abram Anderson, who
manufactured iceboxes, formed a partnership
to can tomatoes, vegetables, jellies, condiments,
and mincemeat at a plant in Camden,
New Jersey.
Through the next quarter-century the
company grew slowly until 1897, when Arthur
Dorrance, then the president, reluctantly hired
his twenty-four-year-old nephew, Dr. John T.
Dorrance, as company chemist at a token wage
of $7.50 per week.
Dr. Dorrance developed the formula for
condensed soups, reducing the volume so that
the price could be lowered from about thirtyfour
cents to a dime. One of the original
124 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

varieties was Tomato soup, which still ranks
among the top ten-selling dry grocery items in
U.S. supermarkets.
The familiar red and white soup can labels
were adopted in 1898, inspired by the red and
white uniforms a company executive saw at a
Cornell-Penn football game.
In the years since, the company has added
scores of products, ranging from Campbell’s
Pork & Beans to more varieties of soup.
Advertising in magazines and radio added to
the success, and soon began incorporating the
company’s “M’m! M’m! Good!” slogan.
Other products and divisions, including
tomato and V8 vegetable juice to Pepperidge
Farm baked goods, sparked more growth in the
1930s, while the next two decades saw the first
television commercials and sponsorship of such
highly rated shows as “Lassie” and “Peter Pan.”
In the 1950s, having become a multifaceted
international company, Campbell was admitted
to trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
It entered the frozen food market with
the acquisition of C. A Swanson & Sons in
the 1950s.
Investors saw multiple stock splits, and in
1971 the company reached a milestone sales
figure topping $1 billion. Growth in the past
quarter century has been phenomenal, with
scores of new products introduced.
By 2004 when the Campbell Kids turned one
hundred years old and Campbell Soup
Company celebrated its fiftieth year of listing on
the NYSE, its products had become both legion
and legend, ranging from Spaghetti O’s and
Pepperidge Farm Goldfish to Soup at Hand and
Pace Salsa, and from Kettle Chips to V8 Splash.
The Campbell Soup’s operation in Paris,
Texas, proudly claims a part of the company’s
successful operation.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 125

LAMAR COUNTY
ELECTRIC
COOPERATIVE
ASSOCIATION
❖
Above V. A. Rodgers inspects one of
the Cooperative’s electric substations
in the early 1950s.
Below: V. A. Rodgers.
Lamar County Electric Cooperative
Association received its charter as a rural electric
distribution cooperative in June of 1938 and
immediately became active in the development
of an electric system to serve the rural
populations of Lamar, Red River, and Delta
Counties. Lamar Electric Cooperative is owned
by its members, who elect directors to govern
their cooperative. This direct control by local
citizens ensures that the cooperative is
dedicated to the welfare of the area and the
members it serves.
Co-op systems were first organized across
America to provide a necessary service in areas
that for-profit electric utilities declined to serve.
By the 1930s, electricity was enjoyed by 90
percent of urban dwellers as opposed to a
mere 10 percent of rural dwellers. Private utility
companies, who supplied electric power to most
of the nation’s consumers, argued that it was too
expensive to string electric lines to isolated rural
farmsteads and that most farmers were too poor
to be able to afford electricity.
It was simply not profitable for private power
companies to provide service to sparsely
populated rural areas, and farmers and
ranchers were left to their icehouses, hand
pumps and oil lamps. Farmers and ranchers
wanted and needed power, and decided to
do something about it. They organized into
local cooperatives and petitioned the U.S.
government to provide the financing necessary
to electrify their communities.
Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated the Rural
Electrification Administration (REA) in 1935 as
a lending agency for building electric systems in
rural areas not served by private companies.
Former Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn,
who lived at Bonham, was a co-sponsor of the
Rural Electrification Act of 1935.
The first REA loan for Lamar County Electric
Cooperative was secured in early 1939 for
extension of electric service to some 600
members most of whom were located in Lamar
County. The first of these lines was energized on
September 22, 1939.
Mark Kennedy, T. L. Hollinsworth, M. E.
Boaz, Harrison Wooldridge, and J. R. Emmons
were the original incorporators and directors of
the cooperative. V. A. Rodgers became manager
in December 1939. Rodgers made numerous
trips to Washington and headed up important
committees, and became known throughout the
Southwest as a key man in the electrical
cooperative field.
Rodgers indicated in a 1988 interview
that he wrapped notices around corncobs
and threw the messages out to rural homes
to notify them of meetings to find out
how they would be able to get electricity
to their homes. There would have to be
an average of three homes per mile of line
to be able to get money from REA to build
the lines.
126 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

One of the first items rural families
purchased when the electricity was brought to
their homes was an iron. The next most
common item was a refrigerator. Before their
homes could be energized, they would have to
pay a $5 membership fee and have their house
wired. Many people in those days were a little
afraid of electricity, but once people started
receiving it in their homes, the others soon
wanted it, too.
In the 1930s and ’40s if the rural customer
happened to be out of power, since most did not
have telephones, customers would just send a
letter to the Co-op requesting that when a
serviceman happened to be out their way to
please get their electricity back on. Electricity
was not as critical then as it is today. Most of the
residential electric bills back in those days
averaged about $2.25 a month.
A. B. “Buzz” Corder, one of Lamar County
Electric Cooperative’s first linemen, who later
became general manager, retold a story from the
early days of a case of trouble on the line. The
linemen were out for four days and nights
working on the line from Blakney to Kiamichi
where the areas were not accessible by truck. In
those days, there were few paved roads,
especially in the rural areas and they had to go
in on horseback. A member of the cooperative
loaned them their horses.
In 2005, Lamar County Electric Cooperative
included approximately 29 employees, 9,000
members, and 11,365 meters connected.
LEC averaged approximately 2,132 miles
of energized line including 2.6 miles of
transmission line and 19 miles of underground
line. The average number of meters per mile
of line is five. Revenue in 2005 was
$18,031,805. Cooperative members are 93
percent residential, 5 percent small commercial,
1 percent large commercial, and 1 percent other.
For more information about Lamar County
Electric Cooperative Association, visit their
website at www.lamarelectric.coop.
❖
Above: Lamar County Electric
Cooperative, 1949.
Below: One of Lamar Electric
Cooperative’s dedicated linemen,
Leon Parker.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 127

STEPHENS AND
SONS
CONCRETE
CONTRACTORS,
INC.
Stephens and Sons Concrete Contractors,
Inc., one of the largest concrete and excavation
contractors in Northeast Texas and
Southeastern Oklahoma, provides excavation,
sand and gravel, commercial, and residential
concrete contracting.
After several years of traveling throughout
Texas and building bridges for road
construction projects, Jerry Bob Stephens
decided it was time to settle down and start a
family. In 1961, Stephens founded Stephens
and Sons.
A true shoestring operation at first, he started
with equipment consisting only of a 1949
Dodge pickup with a flat crankshaft, a
wheelbarrow, pick, shovel, and a used concrete
trowel. Every two hundred or so miles the
pickup began knocking so badly that Stephens
had to put an insert on one of the journals on
the crank. He had done this so frequently that
before he finally got a new pickup, he could do
that work in just fifteen minutes.
Understandably nervous when he bid his
first job, Stephens forgot to add his labor and
128 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

profit. He said later that it was the best lesson he
could have learned just starting a new business,
because it never happened again.
Key individuals during the company’s earliest
years, in addition to Jerry Bob and Lynda
Stephens, were Buck Spann, Clifford (Head)
Harrison, Robert (Hambone) Crawford, and
“Big” Earl Mitchell.
By the 1980s the company had grown
considerably. Key personnel during this era, in
addition to Jerry Bob and Lynda, included their
sons, Todd and Paul, along with Harrison and
Crawford. The company, which was doing
growing numbers of residential foundations, not
only became one of the top residential
contractors in the area but also began
contracting small commercial jobs. Growth
during this period was also reflected by
equipment purchases as the company slowly
moved into dirt work.
The decade of the 1990s found Todd and
Paul leading the company, with other key
individuals including Brad Spann and Rodney
Cooper. Stephens and Sons began to shift away
from residential foundations to more and larger
commercial projects. During the late nineties,
the company bought its own dirt pit on
Highway 82 East and made a substantial
investment in heavy equipment.
At the turn of the new millennium, Todd and
Paul bought the company from their parents
after forty years in business. Bryan Cooper, Troy
Cooper, and Danny Roach joined Spann and
Rodney Cooper in key positions.
This period also brought the purchase of
another dirt pit, and involvement in huge
industrial concrete jobs. Among these was the
Big Lots Distribution Center in Durant,
Oklahoma, in which the warehouse floor
covered 1.6 million square feet and the total
area of the project was well over 2 million
square feet.
In 2005, Todd bought out the interest
of his brother, Paul. The business continued
to grow, with another dirt pit purchased in
2006, along with more heavy equipment, and
the addition of Jeff Strickland and Bobby Don
Guess as key employees.
Stephens and Sons Concrete Contractors,
Inc., which is located at 4725 Lamar Avenue in
Paris, Texas, now employs forty-eight people.
Plans for the future are to continue the
company’s steady growth, and to add more
employees and equipment as needed, in order
to continue doing larger commercial projects.
The company’s management and employees
are strong believers in supporting young
people in the Paris community, especially
through involvement in the youth baseball
leagues at Woodall Field and the area schools.
More information about Stephens and Sons is
available by calling 903-785-0430 (phone); or
903-785-4424 (fax).
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 129

HOLIDAY INN-
PARIS
“Your Extended Stay Solution.” One of
America’s most enduring symbols along the open
road, Holiday Inn Resorts and Hotels has been
providing families and business travelers
outstanding service and quality since its first hotel
opened in Memphis, Tennessee in 1952. Today,
this historic chain of hotels is found in nearly
fifteen hundred locations around the world.
Originally located at Highway 271 North
Loop 286, we are now conveniently located at
3560 Northeast Loop 286 and Pine Mill Road.
The hotel is a two story exterior structure located
in the second largest Paris. During a renovation
in 1999, the original plan was 124 rooms. Ten
suites were created from connecting rooms
reducing the room count to 114. These suites are
popular with the long-term guests, corporate
travelers and groups, such as weddings and
reunions. Holiday Inn-Paris is independently
owned by APM Enterprise located in Moses
Lake, Washington. APM purchased the hotel in
May 2006 and is currently in the process of
renovating and upgrading the property.
The hotel’s mission is to create a reputation and
tradition of excellent accommodations, provided
by a friendly and professional staff that excels in
uncommonly good service. The hotel proudly
offers a safe, friendly and positive working
environment in which its associates have the
opportunity to grow and reach their maximum
potential. The Holiday Inn-Paris prides itself on
receiving Quality Excellence Awards and performs
among the top five percent of the Holiday Inn
Brand. Its guests are its top priority and the staff
will continue to go that extra mile to make their
stay memorable.
The majority of business is generated
through corporate travelers coming in from all
130 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

egions of the world. Extended stays have been
and will continue to be offered to companies for
relocation and temporary assignments. Also, the
government segment is big business for Paris.
There are several Fortune 500 companies
located within the city, including Kimberly
Clark, Campbell Soup, Sara Lee Bakeries, and
Turner Piping International.
The Holiday Inn-Paris is the only full
service hotel in Paris, offering every guest the onestop
shopping experience. It can effectively cater
to the business traveler, as well as the leisure
traveler. There is no need to leave the property
once a guest has checked in. The property has a
twenty-four hour restaurant, room service,
lounge, business center, fitness center, wireless
high speed Internet, and meeting rooms/banquet
rooms. It offer catering options for meetings,
weddings, and reunions, “Your Caterer or Our
Caterer.” The spring and summer months offer a
very colorful courtyard area that surrounds the
largest swimming pool in the area. While relaxing
in the pool area, guests have the facilities of a gas
grill where they can cook their own steak or
burger if they choose.
Holiday Inn-Paris is also very active in the
Lamar County Chamber of Commerce and
Paris Economic Development. It is committed to
community involvement and staying informed
so it may be able to have input with other
committees and their members.
As of May 2007, APM Enterprises took over
ownership of Holiday Inn-Paris and began
upgrading the facilities.
Please visit www.holidayinn.com to make
reservations or view guest rooms and
amenities. Please call 903-785-5545 for
reservations or more information.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 131

TURNER
INDUSTRIES
GROUP, LLC
Turner Industries Group,
LLC, is a full-service industrial
pipe fabrication organization,
which includes carbon and alloy
pipe fabrication, induction and
cold pipe bending, and climatecontrolled
blast and coating
facilities. The company works
with power, oil production
and refining, petrochemical,
plastics, pulp and paper, and
pharmaceutical industries.
The Pipe Fabrication
Division opened in Paris on
March 15, 1999, after demand from long term
alliances required an increase in capacity of the
pipe fabrication division. While land was
available to expand operations at the Louisiana
facility, a tight labor market made that
alternative less attractive. In the spring of 1998,
the company president received a flyer in the
mail from the Paris Economic Development
Corporation advertising an available industrial
facility. After investigating the facility, testing the
available workforce, and negotiating with the
former owners and the PEDC, Turner decided to
purchase the facility.
Turner International Piping Systems (TIPS—
as it was first named) came into the community
rather quietly and a large majority of local
people and small businesses in Paris did not
know of the company. When calling local
supply vendors, the employees would state they
were calling from TIPS and the vendors would
ask where TIPS was located. Even upon giving
the address, the vendors would not always
know of the company. In the beginning, most
thought Turner was just a small company and
would only be around for a short period of time.
Little did they know that the largest pipe
fabrication facility in the United States was right
around the corner and would grow to become
one of the area’s major industries, contributing
millions of dollars toward the local economy.
The first project booked for the Paris facility
was the largest fabrication project ever
performed by a Turner Industries Group
company. It was comprised of over 34,000
individual and unique “spool pieces” and was
performed over a fifteen-month period. One of
132 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

the early projects completed in the facility was
the piping required for the Lamar Power
Partners 1000MW plant, also located in Paris.
Within the first two years in Paris, Turner’s
employee numbers swelled from 300 to over
600. Within the first few years of operation, two
different unions from outside the Paris area
attempted to organize the employees and
establish Turner as a union-organized facility.
Fortunately, the employees, recognizing the
value that Turner brought to the community and
to their continued employment opportunities,
voted these efforts down. Turner continues to
operate as an open, merit-based facility that
offers training, benefits, and job and
advancement opportunities to its employees and
the Paris community.
Continuing to grow in capacity, Turner added
six pipe-bending machines (three cold benders
and three-induction benders) that, together, have
the capability of bending pipe from a half-inch in
diameter through fifty-four inches in diameter in
wall thickness up to and over four inches. Turner
purchased the old Southwest Foundry site which
sits on approximately 100 acres of land with an
existing 50,000-square-foot building. The facility
has been converted into a world-class climate
controlled coating facility, adding an additional
twenty thousand square feet under roof.
Looking forward, Turner’s mission is to
set an industry standard for customer
satisfaction through excellence in performance.
The company’s plans include continuing to
expand as needed to serve their clients,
providing additional training, jobs, and career
opportunities for the citizens of Paris and the
surrounding area.
Turner Industries Group, LLC, supports the
Paris community with contributions to
charitable organizations such as Denver Pyle’s
Children’s Charities, St. Joseph’s Community
Foundation, and the Paris Teen League Baseball
Association. Employees of Turner have
consistently supported the United Way of Lamar
County and were also honored with the Eagle
Award by the local United Way.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 133

SARA LEE
FOOD SERVICE
Campbell Taggart originally
founded the Sara Lee plant in Paris,
Texas after an exhaustive search for
the perfect site around the north
Texas area. After visiting several
locations (including Sherman,
Denison, and Durant), the company
chose Paris for its skilled labor force;
its flexibility to build either on the
bypass or on a folding carton plant
property, and the opportunity to
receive a consideration on local
property taxes. In addition to having
access to both rail and truck service, the company
reached an equitable agreement with the city for
the use of the municipal water treatment plant.
The initial cost projection was set at $5 million for
the land, building, and machinery.
The plant began production in 1974 as
a result of Campbell Taggart’s desire to
consolidate sweet goods into one facility
and to increase production for the southwest
regions. The first snack cake left Paris
on September 7, 1974. The facility was
then expanded to produce frozen Pan
and Hearth breads in 1976, before being
acquired by Anheuser-Busch in November
of 1982. As the business prospered, it
was expanded again in 1993 to produce
frozen pizza dough. In 1996, Anheuser-Busch
spun off all of its baked goods facilities into an
independent Earthgrains Baking Company.
Earthgrains invested in a state-of-the-art
croissant production line in 2000.
Sara Lee acquired the Earthgrains Company
in August 2001. Shortly after the acquisition,
production of the innovative Iron Kids Crustless
Bread began in April 2002. In 2004 the
company closed its facility in Fort Payne,
Alabama. As a result of that closure, a majority
of the volume was transferred to Paris,
improving the plant utilization.
In August 2005 the Paris plant volunteered
to be one of the first baked goods
facilities in Sara Lee to implement the
Lean approach to the manufacturing process.
Lean manufacturing discipline focuses on
134 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

improving efficiency, eliminating waste, and
reducing cost. Using a Lean-based approach lays
the foundation for the continuous improvement
processes to thrive. As a result of the
programs success, the company has been able
to make significant improvements in all
aspects of the business including costs,
manufacturing capacity, and product quality.
Those improvements will help ensure the
longevity of the plant in Paris as well
as make their products more competitive in
the marketplace.
The Paris facility was chosen to produce
the new Sara Lee-branded breakfast bread
in December 2005 for the southern and
eastern markets. This was the first wave of
many Sara Lee-branded products to be
produced in Paris.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 135

❖
LEGACY
CORPORATE
MANAGEMENT,
LLC
Vera Mae Lackey Wilson, founder of
Deport Nursing Home.
Legacy Corporate Management, LLC, is
committed to providing quality, professional,
and individualized care in an active, enriched,
and secure environment. Where excellence
becomes understatement, the company places
an emphasis on independence and family
involvement. The staff is warm, friendly,
compassionate, and committed to enhancing
the social, emotional, and physical well being of
each resident by creating an atmosphere that
preserves dignity and respect for generations
to come.
Jeanna Allen Smith is the sole owner of
Legacy Corporate Management, LLC (founded
in 2006), and its member organizations—
Northeast Texas Rehab, Inc., (founded in 1998);
Paris Skilled Nursing Facility, Inc. (founded in
2003); Northeast Texas Linen Service (founded
in 2003); and Premier Home Care & Rehab
(founded in 2005). Healthcare is nothing new
to Smith as she comes from generations of
accomplished and successful family members
whom have established themselves in the
healthcare community by providing high
quality care to those in need within the
Paris community.
In fact, Smith’s legacy spans four generations,
hence the Legacy name appropriately chosen
for her revolutionary long term care system
exemplifies and delivers the ideal business
model in the healthcare industry today and will
continue to offer a choice in long term care
services by not only establishing herself but also
by leading and paving the way for others to
follow in the years to come.
Smith’s great-grandmother, Vera Mae Lackey
Wilson, started the first nursing home in the
region in the 1940s in the old Grant Hospital
Building in Deport, Texas, about fourteen miles
outside of Paris. She also opened a home in
Quitman. When Vera retired she turned the
operation over to her daughter Martha Sybil
Wilson Castlebury. In 1975, Martha and
husband Roy Lee built what is now Deport
Nursing Home. In 2002, they sold Deport
Nursing Home to a nonprofit group—the same
year Smith opened the SNF in Paris. Jeanna’s
family has also held membership in the Texas
Health Care Association since its inception.
Legacy Corporate Management, LLC, adopts
and implements the “Managing by Walking
Around” theory of management. The MBWA
focuses its main objective on assuring quality
and does this by effective interactive
communication and action which takes place
between the administrator and other staff
136 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

members on every level within the facility.
Walking around and observing staff interaction
with residents, families, volunteers, and with
other employees allows the manager to better
evaluate the level of care that is being provided
and also allows the opportunity for various
staff members to communicate with the
administrator informally.
Legacy Corporate Management, LLC, and its
member organizations market by offering skilled
nursing services, home health services, social
services, physical, occupational, speech therapy
services, and hospice services. A nurse aid
training program is coming soon, and IV
certification classes and CPR and AED training are
also offered. Though the company is located in
Paris, services are provided to the entire Northeast
Texas region. Target customers are sixty-five
years or older individuals with multiple chronic
conditions who require skilled nursing care.
Premier Home Care are Medicare and Medicaidlicensed
and certified and accept private pay.
The Legacy’s corporate headquarters and
Premier Home Care & Rehab are located in Lamar
County in the heart of Paris off Lamar Avenue.
Northeast Texas Linen Service is conveniently
located just across the street from the corporate
office and Premier Home Care & Hospice Paris
Skilled Nursing Facility is located on the fourth
floor at the North Campus of the Paris Regional
Medical Center Hospital.
Legacy Corporate Management, LLC, has an
overall customer base of 3,500 patients per year
and employs 100 people. Ask any Legacy
employee and the response will be the same:
“Jeanna finds a way to make things happen.”
She expects the best and therefore, receives the
best from her employees, which translates into
exceptional patient care. Volunteers are also a
vital part of the company and many varied areas
are available in which to work, including
general activities for residents. The company
also volunteers back to its community via its
participation in the Meals on Wheels program,
Salvation Army Christmas Program, and the
local chamber of commerce, just to name a few.
For more information about the company,
contact the corporate office at 903-785-0355, or
visit the following websites:
• www.premierhomecareandrehab.com;
• www.northeasttexasrehab.com; and
• www.parisskillednursingfacility.com.
❖
Four generations of the family. Seated
(from left to right): Martha
Castlebury and Charlene Borders.
Standing: Jeanna Smith (right) and
her children, Josh and Danci.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 137

LIBERTY
NATIONAL
BANK
The present Liberty National Bank in Paris
evolved from the second national bank
organized in Lamar County, City National Bank
of Paris, established and opened in September
1890. Directors were Frank Fitzhugh, president;
T. J. Record, cashier; H. H. Kirkpatrick,
W. E. Dailey, M. J. Hathaway, S. D. Hall,
N. H. Ragland, B. M. Lewis and V. M. Locke.
City National’s original building, an
impressive pink granite structure with polished
granite columns, was located on the north side of
the downtown square. It was totally destroyed by
the Paris fire of 1916, which destroyed four of the
five banks located around the downtown square,
leaving First National Bank as the sole survivor.
Representatives of the four destroyed banks
joined to construct a building in the center of the
square as temporary quarters, all occupying the
same building and using the same vault.
The five-story City National Bank was then
built on the southwest corner of the square,
operating there until January 1925. Difficult
circumstances, including loss of the original
bank home in the fire, the cost of rebuilding,
and the 1920 cotton market collapse combined
to impair the bank’s capital. On January 6,
1925, City National closed its doors.
The Liberty National Bank of Paris was
organized to acquire the assets and assume the
liabilities of City National, saving depositors any
loss on their accounts. Shareholders added
capital, and the new bank’s charter was issued on
March 3, 1925, with E. H. McCuistion, a former
City of Paris mayor, as president; J. M. Cecil, a
prominent banker from Valliant, Oklahoma,
cashier and bank manager; and John B. Hamman,
W. A. Huthison, C. P. Johnson, H. P. Mayer,
C. M. McWherter, A. P. Park, B. Temple,
J. L. Van Dyke and J. W. Williams, directors.
Economic conditions that led to the Great
Depression, especially the collapse of
agricultural values, had a devastating effect on
area banks. On April 17, 1931, with its capital
depleted, The Liberty National Bank of Paris
was reorganized into the Liberty National Bank
in Paris. Strengthened by additional capital, the
bank reopened on April 20, 1931, with its new
charter. Because of the minor difference in the
name, many people were unaware of any
change. Directors were E. H. McCusition,
H. P. Mayer, James M. Cecil, W. A. Hutchison,
Alf A. Edwards, Claude Ferguson, R. F. Scott Jr.,
W .C. Clark and Morris Fleming.
When McCusition retired as president in
1941, J. M. Cecil became president, serving
until his death in 1953. His son, J. Gilbert Cecil,
previously cashier and vice president,
succeeded him. In 1975, J. Gilbert Cecil was
succeeded by his son, Philip R. Cecil. The fourth
generation, Philip’s son Carl T. Cecil, became
president in January 2002 and presently serves
in that capacity.
By 1932, in the depths of the Depression,
only two banks, First National and Liberty
National, both located on the downtown Square,
remained in Paris. In 1963, Citizens State Bank
commenced operations on Clarksville Street.
Several other banks and branches have been
established in the city since that time.
To provide more space and better serve its
expanding customer base, Liberty National
constructed a new building at the corner of
138 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS

Third Northeast and Lamar Avenue, site of the
old Paris High School, moving into its new
building in December 1982. This structure
contains approximately twenty thousand square
feet of open space, glass, unique angles, and
spacious split-level lobby area. Its large safe
deposit vault serves as a focal point to the
building’s exterior and entrance.
The bank operates two other full-service
branches, located at North Collegiate Drive,
solidifying the bank’s presence in east Paris; and
on Bonham Street and Nineteenth Northwest,
offering the only full-service banking facility in
west Paris.
Today, Liberty National is a modern, fullservice
bank serving the financial and civic needs
of the Greater Red River Valley. In addition to its
three banking locations, it offers services such as
on-line banking and various ATM locations to
make banking as easy and convenient as possible
for customers. Liberty has experienced steady
growth in deposits and assets over the years and
is known as one of the strongest and most
financially sound banks in the state.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 139

RODGERS-
WADE
In 1856, J. W. Rodgers came to Paris
from Bedford County, Virginia to work
with H. W. Overstreet in an established
furniture business. The relationship
soon became a partnership and in 1859,
the partners purchased equipment and a
cabinet shop from J. S. Ownby and J.S.
Burton and renamed the business “The
Rodgers Table Company.” The deed
recorded a price of $1,000 with $62.50
given in cash and a note for
the balance.
After the Civil War began in 1861, Rodgers
and Overstreet ran an advertisement in The Paris
Press, a local newspaper, telling of their
furniture business and burial service, which
included a hearse and reasonably priced coffins.
During the years leading up to 1879 when
Overstreet left the partnership, four employees
were hired, the company building located just
west of the present-day downtown square was
destroyed by fire, rebuilt at the same location,
and equipped with the latest in steam-driven
equipment. Rodgers was now the sole owner
of the company, along with his sons, one of
whom was sixteen-year old Dan. Dan was
sent, along with a fifteen-year old helper, to
Sulphur Springs, Texas to operate a soonprospering
furniture business with stock from a
recent purchase.
In 1884, J. W. “Will” Wade, a native of
Statfordshire, England, arrived in Paris from
Kentucky. After employment as a salesman for
the W.H. Bettes Furniture Company, Wade
joined several investors in establishing the J. W.
Wade Company around 1890. The following
year, J. W. Rodgers died leaving his company to
his four sons. Dan, who was now twenty-sixyears
old, returned home from Sulphur Springs
to help run the business.
Three years later in 1894, J. W. Wade bought
into the Rodgers’ company as a partner and
following this association, the company
expanded and the factory was relocated to
its present location south of the downtown
area, while the showroom and undertaking
department remains at the downtown location.
Two years after the start of the Spanish-
American War in 1898, the business was
chartered as “The Rodgers-Wade Furniture
Company” and was listed on the New York
Stock Exchange. In 1916 the average burial cost
around $90, which included a burial casket,
box, embalmment of the body, and care and
transfer of the body. In 1921, the undertaking
portion of the business was purchased by Fred
Manton and Grady Fry and began operating as
Manton and Fry Funeral Home, the forerunner
to the present-day Fry and Gibbs Funeral
Home. It was during 1921 that the downtown
building was again destroyed by fire, but
promptly rebuilt containing the most up-to-date
sprinkler system and 130 feet of plate glass
showroom windows.
In 1933, Rodgers-Wade employed 103
hourly employees with an average wage
of 14 cents per hour and, in 1938, a
newspaper advertisement listed a “two-piece
living room suite, overstuffed with innerspring
removable cushion and tapestry effect
upholstery for $29.95.”
In 1941, the U.S. entered World War II and
the company was acknowledged as the largest
furniture manufacturing concern in the
southwest. The company was consuming 150
carloads of lumber a year to produce more than
60,000 items, and employed 130 factory
workers and 36 retail personnel. Two years later,
the retail portion of Rodgers-Wade was sold, but
the manufacturing side continued to operate
with Bok Kimball as superintendent of
manufacturing and W. C. Clark as president,
until his death the following year, when T.B.
Revell succeeded him.
During 1956 the company was again
impacted by fire as a large section of the
factory was destroyed. Business continued by
switching to more purchased components
verses in-house fabrication of the wood
components and by 1960, the company was
140 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

producing custom kitchen cabinets with Bok
Kimball, Jr,. as manager. In 1965 the U.S.
entered Vietnam and three years later, Don
Wilson purchased Rodgers-Wade with fewer
than ten employees.
Fast forward twenty years to 1986 to find
Rodgers-Wade receiving its first order from the
retail store fixture market. In 1990 the company
moved exclusively into the retail store fixture
business where growth of sales allowed the
company to sell and ship products to not only
all fifty states in the union, but also markets in
Canada, Central America, Europe, and Asia. A
fully staffed sales office was established in
Richardson, Texas, followed by a branch office
in England.
In 1997, Leggett and Platt, Inc. bought out
Rodgers-Wade Manufacturing, a Fortune 500
diversified manufacturer that conceives,
designs, and produces a broad variety of
engineered components and products that can
be found in virtually every home, office, retail
store, and automobile. The 123-year-old
corporation is composed of 29 business units,
34,000 employee-partners, and more than 300
facilities located in over 20 countries.
Today, Rodgers-Wade, a 150-year-old
company, and the 111 employee-partners
provide store fixtures to such household names
as Blockbuster Video, Target, Bed Bath &
Beyond, JCPenney, H&R Block, and Safeway
grocery stores.
Rodgers-Wade is located at 1401 Third Street
Southwest in Paris, Texas and additional
information is available on the Internet at
www.rodgerswade.com.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 141

LAMAR FEDERAL
CREDIT UNION
Lamar Federal Credit Union began life in
California, as Hollywood V-ette Vasserette
Federal Credit Union and was issued Charter
#15066.
In 1962, when the Vasserette Plant in
California closed, Mary A. Ward to brought the
records back to Paris, Texas, where the credit
union has been located ever since.
It opened in the Munsingwear Vasserette
plant at 214 First Southwest in Paris, with Ward
as the treasurer and Lemond Hiner, Mary A.
Ward, Mori Buster, Charles Corn, and Elizabeth
Smith as the board of directors. Joletta Brown
served as the credit union’s manager for the next
eleven years, from 1972 to 1983.
The Paris Munsingwear plant—and therefore
the credit union—relocated to different addresses
twice during that period, moving from its original
location at 214 First Southwest to 2320 Nineteenth
Northwest and then to 2510 South Church. The
financial institution’s name was shortened in 1975,
when it became Vasserette Federal Credit Union.
Additional changes approved by the board of
directors in June 1987 brought not only a
decision to move the credit union from the
Munsingwear plant to a separate location, 1765
Ballard, but also to change its name to Lamar
Federal Credit Union. The credit union
remained at this location for thirteen years
before moving to its present address at 1801
Pine Bluff.
Beverly Walters, who succeeded Brown in
1983 as manager of the credit union,
continues to serve in that capacity. Members of
the board of directors are chosen at the credit
union’s annual meeting each March. Those
presently serving as directors are Debbie
Hindman, president; Ken Ormsbee, secretarytreasurer;
Mary A. Ward, vice president; Jerome
Chapman, Mori Buster, Dorothy Plunk, and
Terry Henson.
Ward and Buster, each of whom has given
forty-four years of service to the institution,
truly know the meaning of “volunteer.”
142 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

FIRST FEDERAL
COMMUNITY
BANK
Founded in May 1922, First Federal
Community Bank was originally organized as a
state-chartered stock company known as Paris
Building & Loan Association of Paris, primarily to
make home loans. It was converted to its present
federal mutual form of ownership in 1934.
Its mission is to serve Northeast Texas as a
community bank providing the highest level of
banking services in a way that enriches the lives of
area residents and improves the quality of life for all.
Organizers were W.T. Ridley, H. G. Henley,
C. P. Johnson, Tom Hinkle, A. W. McGuire,
Thomas E. McMillan, W. C. McDowell, B. L.
Billingsley, D. B. Alexander, O. W. Boswell,
Hugh L. Campbell, C. G. Curtis, Ed H.
McCuistion, and S.L. Bedford.
Conversion to the federal institution in 1934
opened funding opportunities through
participation in federal programs. This capital
helped fuel the post-depression recovery. First
Federal was a leading seller of war bonds during
World War II and made home loans to returning
soldiers under the G.I. Bill.
Initially located in an office building in
downtown Paris, the first loan was to Mr. and Mrs.
Emory Shaw for an East Houston Street home that
still stands today, but is no longer a residence.
Since 1937, First Federal has grown from less than
$1 million in assets to total assets of $280 million,
and currently has 82 employees.
Only six men have served as the association’s
president in its history: Henry P. Mayer, 1922-1938;
O. W. Boswell, 1938-1958; Colonel J. M. Caviness,
1958-1962; Philip Hutchison, 1962-1979; Duran
Davis, 1979-1984; and Richard M. Amis, 1984-
present. Philip Hutchison led the association
through a high growth period and Duran Davis and
Richard M. Amis continued that trend.
Always an active community member, First
Federal encourages its employees to participate
in these endeavors. They are involved in some
fifty civic clubs and organizations.
Future plans call for continued service to
customers in Northeast Texas, with full-service
banking including home, consumer, and
commercial lending, and a wide selection of
deposit services.
First Federal Community Bank’s
headquarters is located at 630 Clarksville Street
in Paris, with branches at Loop 286 East in
Paris, one in Clarksville, and one in Mount
Pleasant, Texas. For more information on First
Federal, visit www.1st-fed.com.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 143

FIRST BAPTIST
CHURCH
❖
Above: First Baptist Church, 1917.
Below: First Baptist Church, 1924.
Pastor Willis W. Pickett and six charter
members organized the First Baptist Church of
Paris, Texas on April 23, 1854. Through the
following 150-plus years, the church has
served as a beacon for Baptist work in
Northeast Texas and has been the mother
church of at least six missions in the area that
have grown into independent churches. It has
led in missionary emphasis and giving through
the years and has sent youth and adult groups
on missions in Texas and other states, as well as
Mexico, Europe, and Africa.
Dr. Robert Cooke Buckner became pastor of
FBC in 1861 and served during the Civil War
and afterwards. He started many innovations
such as a woman’s society, which became the
forerunner of the Woman’s Missionary Union.
Later in Dallas, he started a denominational
newspaper before returning to Paris in 1877
for a Deacon Convention and raised money to start
an orphanage in Dallas. This was the beginning of
what is now Buckner Baptist Benevolences, the
largest private childcare institution in the nation.
In 1916, much of Paris was destroyed in
a great fire and the building of First Baptist
and its parsonage were destroyed. Under the
leadership of Reverend W.B. Kendall, a beautiful
new Greek Revival-Style sanctuary was built and
still stands today.
In 1931, during the Great Depression, a fourstory
educational building was completed under
the pastoral leadership of Dr. W. M. Wright. In
1936, First Baptist morning worship services
were broadcast over the local radio station, and
the first Vacation Bible School ran for four weeks.
Subsequent pastors, Dr. A. B. White,
Dr. L. B. Reavis, Dr. James S. Riley,
Dr. Ronald W. Prince, Dr. James H. Semple,
Dr. Dwight Blankenship, Dr. Sidney R. Young,
and current pastor Dr. Randall H. Perry, have
continued to lead the church in reaching
out to the community and to the world
and “bringing people to a saving knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ, teaching and training
them and equipping them for service.”
144 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

PARIS AIR
CONDITIONING
COMPANY
Paris Air Conditioning Company opened
its doors in 1969 thanks in part to another
business closing its doors. James Sharrock
had worked for five years as a general
manager for Katy-Rock Engineering Company
when they moved out of state leaving
their customers in need of a good installer/
repairman. Those customers remembered
Sharrock and called him directly. Though
he started out doing only small jobs, Paris
Air Conditioning Company was born as
his experience and knowledge grew and
those small jobs became larger.
Today, Paris Air Conditioning Company
provides the installation and service of
central air conditioning and heating systems
for residential and commercial buildings
in Lamar, Red River, Delta and Fannin
Counties. The company mission is to furnish
its customers with a good, efficient air
conditioning and heating system and to give
good, reliable service.
The company’s co-founder, Tommy Grant,
sold his interest in early 1970, and since
that time, the company has been familyowned.
In fact, upon retiring, Sharrock is
looking forward to handing the business
over to his son, Brent, who began working
with his father while he was a teenager.
Fortunate to have many good employees
along the way, Paris Air Conditioning Company
has appreciated people like Carl Jensen,
who retired from the company after twentyeight
years. Currently, the company employs
twelve people with revenues averaging
approximately $2 million yearly.
Paris Air Conditioning Company is located
at 3460 Pine Mill Road on the opposite side
of the street of the main path of the 1982
tornado that blew through town. For every
air conditioning and heating system need, Paris
Air Conditioning looks forward to assisting
old and new customers with its historic
dependability and high-quality workmanship
and expertise. Paris Air Conditioning Company
may be contacted by calling 903-784-8585.
❖
Above: Paris Air Conditioning
Company’s office and warehouse
facility houses air conditioning units,
parts, and supplies, and is the location
from which radio-equipped service
units are dispatched.
Below: Customers may visit the
showroom to see what products the
company has to offer.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 145

❖
KIAMICHI
RAILROAD,
L.L.C.
Kiamichi Railroad at Campbell Soup.
A division of RailAmerica, Inc., the preeminent
provider of North American Short Line and
Regional railroad services in the country, the
Kiamichi Railroad was founded in 1987 to provide
rail service to a diversified collection of companies,
which ship and receive product by rail.
However, it was a century before that
America’s rail service took on a new role. In
1887, after the passage of the Interstate
Commerce Act, railroads became the first
industry in the country subject to federal
economic regulation. For the next ninety-three
years, the government maintained tight control
of railroad operations and rail carriers struggled
to maintain their dominance in the marketplace.
Paris has long been a railroad center. The
Texas and Pacific reached town in 1876; the Gulf,
Colorado and Santa Fe and the St. Louis-San
Francisco in 1887; the Texas Midland (later
Southern Pacific) in 1893; and the Paris and
Mount Pleasant (Pa-Ma Line) in 1910. By an act
of Congress in 1885, the St. Louis-San Francisco
Railway Company (Frisco) acquired the right to
construct its road between Fort Smith, Arkansas
and Red River north of Paris through the
Choctaw Nation. By this act it acquired its right
of way and station grounds, paying the Choctaw
Nation. The road from Fort Smith to Paris was
constructed in 1886 and 1887. The operation of
traffic trains between its termini was inaugurated
on July 1, 1887.
The Staggers Rail Act of 1980 brought about
deregulation of the industry and Class 1 carriers,
lines with revenues exceeding $262 million and
operating nearly 120,000 miles of road, were
allowed to disaggregate their networks.
Jack Hadley formed the Kiamichi Railroad
with a group of investors associated with
Anacostia & Pacific Company, Inc., a railroad
investment and management-consulting firm on
July 22, 1987. It was purchased in October
1995 by StatesRail, LLC, and was subsequently
purchased by RailAmerica, Inc. in 2002.
The Kiamichi consists of over 230 miles of
track in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas. It has
two lines extending from Lakeside, Oklahoma,
to Hope, Arkansas and from Antlers, Oklahoma,
to Paris, with running rights over the BNSF track
from Lakeside to Madill, Oklahoma. The two
lines cross at Hugo, where the Kiamichi (Ki-amee-shee)
is headquartered at 800 Martin Luther
King Boulevard in the heart of
the Choctaw Indian Nation.
Knowing this, most people assume
that the name is Indian in origin.
However, legend has it that the early
French explorers attached the name
to a now extinct, large, raucous,
member of the woodpecker family.
Thus the Kiamichi, which made
its presence known way back
then, is still making its presence
known today.
With 77 employees and revenues
approaching $16 million, the group
also operates three miles of old Texas
Northeastern Railroad line in Paris. The Kiamichi
also interchanges with the BNSF at Madill,
Oklahoma; the Union Pacific at Hope, Arkansas,
and Durant, Oklahoma; and the Kansas City
Southern at Ashdown, Arkansas.
The Kiamichi has a diversified traffic base that
includes aggregates, cement, food items, paper,
pulp board, flour, timber, raw logs, scrap
paper, fertilizer, coal, chemicals, plastics and grain,
and serves some of the finest and most respected
companies in America, including Ash Grove
Cement, Campbell Soup, Cardinal Glass FG,
Domtar Industries, Holcim Cement, Martin
Marietta Materials, Sara Lee, Pilgrim Pride,
Tyson Foods, and Weyerhaeuser. Service to
regional companies includes Western Farmer’s
Cooperative, Bibler Brothers, and WE PACK, and
companies in Paris including American Plant
Food, Paris Milling, and Valley Feed Mill.
For more information about the Kiamichi
Railroad, please visit www.railamerica.com.
146 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

PARIS CHURCH
OF GOD
A famous hymn-writer once noted, “Little is
much when God is in it.” And that may be a
fitting prologue to the history of Paris Church of
God. It was in 1917, just after a powerful tent
revival held on the J. A. Holcomb property (now
the location of the Sara Lee plant off Loop 286)
by Evangelists G. T. Brouayer and George Asher,
which ten people gathered together to organize
what was only the fifth Church of God in Texas.
Nearly a century later, Paris Church of God
includes an average weekly attendance of 300, a
membership of 702, and nearly $1 million
worth of property.
From its humble beginnings under that tent,
the faithful attendees of Paris Church of God
soon stepped out in faith to secure a small
Union Church located on the corner of
Henderson Street and Love Avenue before
settling at 10 South Twelfth Street in a
tabernacle-style building replete with dirt
floors, wooden shutters and wooden benches
for pews.
In 1946, Reverend J. T. Melton became
pastor of the growing church and a tract of land
was purchased at 1404 Bonham Street where
construction began on a wood frame church
with seating for two hundered, and adjoining
Sunday school rooms.
In 1966 the building was sold and a
sanctuary and Christian education center were
built. Additional Sunday school rooms were
added in 1975; the fellowship hall was enlarged
in 1977; a new parsonage and the present
sanctuary were completed in 1979 to
accommodate the flourishing congregation; and
the sanctuary was renovated in 1981.
Under the leadership of Pastor D. L. Holt the
church has expanded its outreach programs to
include a singles ministry, Agape ministry, a
ministry to addictions, food pantry, His
Excellence Youth Group, His Voice Junior High,
and H20 College/Singles Ministry. Church
programs have also increased to include an
expanded music department and a marked
growth in children’s ministry.
A church historian once wrote of Paris
Church of God’s continued legacy in the
community, “Far more than material blessings
are the lives which have been changed, the
bodies which have been healed, and the joy of
seeing spiritual growth as [the entire church
body] grows in grace and in the knowledge of
the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Paris Church of God is located at 1400
Bonham Street in Paris, Texas.
❖
Above: Paris Church of God
1966-present.
Below: Paris Church of God
1946-1966.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 147

WHITAKER
HOMES
❖
Above: Doyle Whitaker, Chris
Whitaker and Doreen Ruthart.
Since 1964, Whitaker Homes has evolved from
real estate sales to building entry-level homes,
assisting buyers throughout the process, from loan
qualification to color selection. It maintains a
long-lasting relationship with customers.
Founders and operators Doyle and Gail
Whitaker re-established the local FHA and VA new
home market. The Paris Homebuilder Association
elected Doyle president in 1974, and named Doyle
Whitaker the 1975 “Builder of the Year.”
The company has constructed custom
homes, commercial and multifamily units,
including the Dairy Queen, Village Shopping
Center, Holiday Inn, Tanglewood Apartments,
and Regency Apartments; developed the
Dorchester and Overton additions; and helped
establish and was the original builder in the
Kaywood Addition.
In the late 1980s-1990s, Whitaker built
and sold homes over a nine-county area,
utilizing FHA and USDA Rural Development
financing and various homebuyers’ assistance
programs. After completing a project in
Nash, Texas, Whitaker began building homes
in Waxahachie’s Clift Estates, where it
continue to build 40 to 50 homes per
year, incorporating large home amenities in
smaller models.
During the last three years, Whitaker has
grown to a fifty-home-per-year organization,
building almost exclusively in the affordable
home arena.
Owned by Doyle and Chris Whitaker, the
business maintains a home office at 2550
Lamar Avenue in Paris, and a field office at
638 Jordan Lane in Waxahachie. Doreen
Ruthart, a twenty-four-year employee, is
operations/office manager.
Doyle has served as a Paris City Council
member, mayor pro-tem, HBA president,
Chamber of Commerce board member,
secretary-treasurer and vice president of
Noon Optimist Club, and was designer
of the Building Vocational Technology
Department at Paris Junior College and
helped found and develop Paris Living,
CDC. Chris was involved with building
“A House for Courtney,” and with
Lamar County Junior Achievement. He
has coached upward basketball for three
years, serves on the Paris Wildcat Club’s board
of directors. Doreen is past-president of
the Greater Paris Rotary Club, a Paul
Harris Fellow, past chairman of Paris Pregnancy
Care Center, and 2002 Lamar County
Crimestopper “Board Member of the Year.”
The company’s future plans are to continue
building “semi-custom” affordable, entry-level
priced homes, expanding to three to five
market locations and to a rate of 80 to 100
homes annually.
Whitaker Homes may be reached at
www.whitaker-homes.com. You may call them
at 903-785-3393 or fax your requests
to 903-785-3506.
148 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

KING’S INN
Catering largely to workers and salesmen,
the King’s Inn Motel at 1907 Lamar Avenue in
Paris, Texas offers comfortable rooms with
weekly and monthly rates, as well as renting
rooms by the night.
The motel was constructed in 1959 by
Embers and later was purchased in 1996 by
Harry Patel of the Jala Corporation.
“We provide a room for a single night or
for life,” says Patel, manager of the King’s
Inn. “Each unit offers clean, comfortable
accommodations at an economical price. Each
room has its own luxurious bath, and some also
provide the bonus of a kitchenette.”
Patel, who was formerly the owner of a motel
in Ardmore, Oklahoma, says the two-story
architecture features a combination of brick and
wood exterior construction materials. The
design utilizes an outside stairway to give both
short-term and long-term guests the privacy
and convenience of quick access to their
quarters from their vehicles.
An active member of the Paris community
throughout his years of residence in Paris, Patel
contributes to a variety of charitable causes,
including donations to the Salvation Army’s
efforts to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina.
When motel employees and guests, as well as
other residents of the area gather to play
volleyball, the motel assists in providing
refreshments for their enjoyment.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 149

PARIS
ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
CORPORATION
The Paris Economic Development
Corporation (PEDC) plans, promotes, finances,
and constructs opportunities for the retention,
growth and attraction of businesses that
enhance the level of employment, economic
base and quality of life in Paris and Lamar
County, Texas.
PEDC has significantly aided the growth and
development of primary employers in the Paris
area since 1993, helping attract Turner
Industries with over 500 employees and to
acquire the former Babcock & Wilcox facility.
PEDC brought Lamar County’s largest single
capital investment, a 1,000-megawatt independent
power plant of Panda Energy, now Florida
Power & Light’s Lamar Power Partners, an over
$400 million project; TCIM Marketing Services,
a large call center that has employed up to 800
telemarketers; and C-TECH, a secondary computer
company from Minnesota.
PEDC has developed a state-of-the-art industrial
park with all utilities on the Northeast Loop,
as well as numerous infrastructure projects
including sewer line to B&W; Soup Street; Park
Street; new terminal at Cox Field; Seventh Street
Southwest; water line to Hydro Conduit; Hearne
Street; Industrial Park infrastructure; many training
grants; and numerous expansion projects.
An outstanding steward of the economic
development sales tax monies, PEDC has generated
multiple returns on its investments. It has
always been housed in association with the
Lamar County Chamber of Commerce, which is
now in the renovated Union Station Depot at
1125 Bonham.
Original PEDC board members were Philip
Cecil, chairman; Curtis Fendley; Leon Williams;
Eric Clifford; and Barney Bray III. Succeeding
PEDC presidents have been Curtis Fendley,
Michael Rhodes, Jay Guest, Donald Wall, and
Sims Norment.
Gary Vest, who came on board as the first
executive director and served from June 1994 to
September 2006, coordinated PEDC’s four goals
for the future: retention and expansion of existing
industry; recruitment of new primary
employers; start-up business and small business
development; and infrastructure and training.
For more information about PEDC, please
call 903-784-2501 or contact by email at
pedc@paristexas.com.
150 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

Charlie Adkins and his wife, Patsy, who
moved to Paris in 1959, operated a Firestone
dealership selling home and automobile items
and financing the purchases, a practice that led
to the loan business.
“In 1985, when I was about to graduate from
college, my Dad brought up this plan as a
potential business for me to operate,” said Mike
Adkins. “He and I met with others in the
business and began researching it. We especially
enjoyed meeting a father and son team
in Jefferson.”
After graduation, Mike received some
offers that he and his father thought he
should not pass up. He accepted a corporate
job in Dallas that ultimately took him
to Denver, Colorado, but after three years
moved back to Paris to buy the finance
company. His father was diagnosed with cancer
about that same time and the disease proved
fatal later in 1988.
With a mission to “provide credit to those
who qualify, educate customers who don’t, and
to promote good credit and fiscal responsibility,”
Adkins United Finance provides consumer
finance loans and sells appliances, electronics
and furniture.
The company’s present location at
306 Clarksville Street in Paris was
originally a Gulf Oil service station
operated by Charlie Adkins alongside
the Firestone Company in the mid
1960s. It was purchased in 1989 from
the old Ideal Bakery Thrift Store
following a fire.
A location at 100 East Main Street in
Clarksville, was added in 1998, another
at 1008 North Van Buren in Mount
Pleasant in 2002, and Mike looks
toward expanding to other areas where
the company’s services are needed.
Adkins United Finance’s 10
employees currently serve 2,500
customers in Lamar, Red River, and
Titus Counties.
Mike’s son, Andrew, works part-time
on weekends and hopes to save money to
buy his first car. Although his daughter,
Madeline, is not presently involved with
the business, she is a major motivation to
improve and expand its operations.
Active in the community, Mike
is a member of the Chamber of
Commerce and First United Methodist
Church of Paris.
ADKINS UNITED
FINANCE CO.,
INC.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 151

CIRCLE W
HEALTH FOODS
L.L.C.
As owner of Circle W Health Foods, L.L.C.,
DeEtte Cobb has been involved with the natural
food industry and education since 1968. She
and her husband Joe, a rancher and farmer in
New Mexico, attended Dr. Hazel Parcell’s School
of Scientific Nutrition in Albuquerque for two
years. They incorporated this concept as a way
of life for their family of six.
In 1975, after moving to Paris, Texas, the
Cobbs began shopping at Circle W Health
Foods owned by Ima and Buryl Whitaker. In
1996, they purchased the store from the
Whitakers. Joe, who loved the business, ran it
passionately until his death in 2005.
“It was something we knew about, and we
enjoyed working with people,” DeEtte says. “Joe
put his heart and soul into it. He built the store
to what it is today.”
Christine Sims, Faynell Cooper, and Bettye
Wear faithful employees with a combined experience
of sixty years stayed with the stores when
the Cobbs bought it. Faynell Cooper, ND, CN,
continues as manager.
After Joe’s death, DeEtte continued the
Circle W tradition of the most complete health
food store in Northeast Texas. She soon moved
the store to Tejas Plaza Shopping Center
located on Collegiate Drive. The business
opened at 2721 East Price Street in October
2005. The updated look with the same personal
service has brought in new customers and welcomed
loyal patrons.
The Cobb children and their families are
always involved in Circle W. Joe Jr., Robert, and
Richard Cobb designed and built a unique
counter constructed of steel. Daughter Carla
Coleman has expanded her talent in the marketing
area of the store. Her photography will serve
in the historical story of Circle W Health Foods.
DeEtte now implements a red rooster as the
store’s symbol. It is incorporated in the private
label, business cards, and website. New merchandise,
including designer-label casual shoes
for women, has been added. Old favorites such
as the soft serve yogurt offered some twenty
years ago is still popular.
Circle W provides education and supplemental
products to those seeking a natural pathway
to a better life style and health. The business
is a member of the Lamar County Chamber
of Commerce and the National Nutritional
Foods Association.
152 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

On May 27, 1912, thirteen properties
in North Texas constituted the original
acquisitions that formed Texas Power &
Light Company, known today as TXU
Electric Delivery.
Sherman Electric Light and Power Company
began operating in January of 1887, and it was
not unusual to find people who were skeptical
of this new form of energy. The properties were
sold to the Sherman Oil and Cotton Company
in 1889, again to the Sherman Gas & Electric
Company in 1904, and in 1907 to Sherman
Electric & Gas Company.
Electricity made its entrance in Gainesville in
April of 1887 when the Gainesville Electric
Light, Heat and Power Company was chartered
and a $15,000 plant was built. This company
was active in 1894 when its facilities were
acquired by the Merchants Electric Light and
Power Company. In 1907 it became the
Gainesville Electric Company.
Cleburne experienced electric light in 1888,
when a stock company out of Fort Worth
established an electric light plant there at a cost
of nearly $20,000. Though the plant was
destroyed in a fire in 1892, it was quickly rebuilt
and became Cleburne Electric Light Company.
Artificial gas was added to the operations in
1906 and the company took the name of
Cleburne Gas & Electric Light Company.
In June 1888, the town of Paris passed an
ordinance enlarging the franchise and privileges
previously granted to the Paris Gas & Light
Company to include the manufacture and sale
of electricity. In January 1892 the Paris Electric
Light & Railway Company was formed and was
purchased on June 30, 1989, by the Paris Light
& Power Company.
The first recorded effort to bring electricity to
the town of Waxahachie was on December 9,
1887. On August 1, 1912, Texas Power & Light
Company purchased the physical properties of
the Paris Steam Heating Company, which was
incorporated in 1901 to generate and sell energy
and to produce and sell manufactured gas
and steam.
Today, TXU Electric Delivery offers save,
dependable electric service as they build and
maintain the electric delivery infrastructure in
North Texas.
TXU ELECTRIC
DELIVERY
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 153

PARIS JUNIOR
COLLEGE
Paris Junior College is an innovative
community college advancing the lifelong
educational development of
students while strengthening the life of
its diverse community. It provides highquality,
flexible academic transfer and
career-focused educational programs
and services through a commitment to
teaching and learning excellence.
PJC traces its roots to the mid-1920s
when many young people were leaving
the community to attend college and
many more could not afford the fouryear
colleges and expense of living away
from home. Organizers believed a local
junior college would give high school
graduates an opportunity to further
their education.
On June 16, 1924, the Board of
Education passed a resolution to
“organize, equip, and open a junior
college.” First semester began on
September 14, 1924 with six departments
and ninety-one students. PJC was
housed in a wing of Paris High School
until the start of the 1925-26 school year
when it was moved to the renovated Paris Post
Office building.
PJC was the brainchild of Henry P. Mayer.
Others in the community who joined
him, including J. G. Wooten, W. F. Moore,
S. B. M. Long, Reverend F. L. Weir,
J. J. Culbertson, T. L. Beauchamp, J. P. Amis, and
Reverend E. F. Egger. Mrs. T. D. Wells served as
secretary of the subscription committee that
helped raise money for the college.
The first graduating class consisted of Grace
Moore, Vernon Stout, Aileen Teague, Rachel
Jeffries, and Mary Elizabeth Young, while the
first edition of the college newspaper, The Bat,
was published in 1925. A football team debuted
that same year, while basketball and baseball
teams and a debate team were introduced
in 1926.
PJC moved to its present location on Clarksville
Street in 1940. The main building housed
10classrooms, 10 offices, 11 laboratories, an
auditorium, library, and private studios for music,
while storage rooms and a cafeteria were located in
the basement. DeShong Chapel, a gift from Mr.
and Mrs. J.C. DeShong, was built in 1956.
After a decade of construction and expansion
throughout the 1970s, PJC was among the
fastest growing two-year colleges in Texas. More
expansion occurred in the 1990s and the
old Howard’s Building was renovated to
accommodate the college’s Health Occupations
program, as well as Continuing Education, the
Social Sciences Department, Electronics,
Electromechanical and Drafting Department.
In November 1944 the college added a
horology course to the curriculum, a jewelry
program that initially began in cooperation with
the Civilian Rehabilitation Department. Today,
the Texas Institute of Jewelry Technology (TIJT)
attracts students from around the world.
Currently, PJC includes over 4,000 students
and consists of 54 acres, including 18
major buildings and residence halls, with
additional campuses in Greenville and Sulphur
Springs. A total of 375 staff and part-time
employees serve an area including the counties
of Lamar, Delta, and Hunt, most of Hopkins and
Red River Counties, and the eastern one-third of
Fannin County.
For more information about PJC, visit
www.parisjc.edu.
154 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

CHURCH OF
THE HOLY
CROSS,
EPISCOPAL
The Episcopal Church, with its definite
English character, came to North Texas with the
arrival of British cotton ginners and textile
merchants. As far back as 1839, Bishop
Leonidas Polk crossed the Red River from
Arkansas into Lamar County, making “the first
foreign missionary visit by a bishop of the
Protestant Episcopal Church.”
In February 1870 the first congregation of
Episcopalians was gathered by the Reverend F.R.
Starr, a missionary appointed to Paris and
parts adjacent. The first Episcopal Church
building was erected in Paris in 1871. The
present Subbiaco stone church building was
completed in 1917, built to replace the church
on Main Street that was destroyed in the 1916
Paris fire. Since that time, additions of majestic
stone buildings have expanded into the present
campus, joining with the Central Presbyterian
and First Baptist in a century of ministry on
Paris’ historic Church Street.
The Church of the Holy Cross is striving to be
a growing, dynamic congregation of Christians
with such hospitality that no matter how large the
gathering we will retain a realized sense of being
“family” to persons, couples, families, seekers,
visitors, and friends. Among our strengths are our
Anglican, liturgical heritage of inspiring and
exquisite worship, a beautiful campus with a
reverent and uplifting church for prayer and
worship, and people who are committed to
growing in our understanding of Holy Scripture,
faith, spirituality, and generous giving to the
ministries of God through His Church.
Holy Cross is particularly proud of its growing
Episcopal Day School established in 2005, ages
two through kindergarten, (903) 737-9800, and
our Teens group. Sunday services are 8:00 a.m.,
Holy Eucharist Rite I and 10:30 a.m. Choral
Eucharist Rite II. For more information, please
visit the website www.holycrossparis.org or by
phone at (903) 784-6194.
❖
Above: The Baptism of Eva Vogt.
Bottom, left: Children of Holy Cross
Episcopal Day School.
Below: Church of the Holy Cross,
Episcopal.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 155

MORRIS TOBIN,
M.D., P.A.
❖
Above: St. Joseph’s Infirmary in Paris,
Texas, C. 1936.
Below: The Sanitarium of Paris,
Texas, C. 1941.
“A physician never stands so tall as when he
stoops to help someone in need” is the motto of
Morris Tobin, M.D., P.A.; a Nephrologist who
has practiced medicine the last thirty years in
Lamar County. He wholeheartedly feels that
medicine is not buildings and mortar, but a long
heritage of dedicated professionals striving to
give the best care possible to all. He cited several
medical care professionals, whom over the last
eighty years, have treated and cared for patients
regardless of their background: Courtney
Townsend, a general practitioner for sixty-one
years, making rounds until the day he died; Carl
Barker, a general practitioner for fifty years
who delivered everyone in Lamar County
between 1935-1960; Donald Lewis, a general
surgeon for fifty-five years, carrying the mantles
that his father and L. P. McCuistion wore;
Jim Clifford, “The Cancer Doctor,” father of
radiology and oncology who practiced for fortyfive
years; and Larry Walker, “Dr. Larry,” a
family practitioner who has truly been “the
papa” of primary care for the last thirty years.
Dr. Tobin’s field of nephrology is a
microcosm of the exponential growth of
medicine in Lamar County. When he arrived
thirty years ago, there was one dialysis machine,
one nurse, and one patient. Today, the dialysis
unit is one of the largest in the state with 150
patients and thirty nurses. Cardiology, surgery,
and pathology, just to name a few, have
experienced the same explosive growth. More
importantly, Dr. Tobin feels practitioners like
Courtney Townsend and Donald Lewis are still
attracted to Lamar County, and he finds it
comforting to know that the baton is being
passed to the next generation, eager to carry on
that proud tradition.
156 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

The Paris Golf & Country Club was founded
in 1916 on approximately 112 acres on FM 195,
three miles east of Loop 286 in Lamar County,
Texas and has continued to serve families from
generation to generation. It is known for
producing many quality players at all levels,
including high school, college and tour event
players. Many of them have enjoyed varying
degrees of success including Danny Briggs,
Cade Stone, Kevin Dillen, John Adams,
Mark Dees, and Jeb Stuart. Currently, Paris Golf
& Country Club provides golf access for both
the boys’ and girls’ golf teams from Paris Junior
College, North Lamar High School, and Paris
High School.
Paris Golf & Country Club has been the
backdrop for many special annual events.
Among these include the J. T. Davis/Paris
Education Foundation Tournament, a Men’s
Memorial Day Weekend Three Man Scramble,
and a Ladies Invitational Event that has been
twenty-eight years running. In the summer of
2006, the Club hosted the fifty-eighth annual
Men’s Fourth of July Match Play Event.
General Manager Weldon D. Mullens and the
Board of Directors constantly strive to bring the
finest in club experience to the member and
guest of Paris Golf and Country Club. The
spacious clubhouse is more than adequate for
simultaneous member dining/entertaining and
various social events, while the full-service Golf
Shop is managed and maintained by PGA Head
Golf Professional, Chris Jefferson, and a willing,
capable staff.
The beautiful Paris Golf & Country Club is
located at 126 Amherst Road in Paris, Texas.
PARIS GOLF &
COUNTRY CLUB
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 157

PARIS CUSTOM
TRAILERS
❖
Cleve Fendley.
Ever since he organized Paris Custom
Trailers, Cleve Fendley has been in the business
of manufacturing and distributing livestock
trailers and utility-equipment trailers to
wholesale dealers throughout the United States.
Paris Custom Trailers began when Fendley
was offered the opportunity to purchase a
similar business. Instead, he started his own
company, doing the organization, purchasing,
sales, and handling of personnel and dealer
accounts, as well as bookkeeping.
“I soon realized that the more effort I put into
it, the more I was rewarded,” Fendley says. “I
began in July of 1981 on First Southwest in
Paris, Texas. In 1982 the tornado hit Paris.
I was renting facilities in Bob McCarley’s
old lumberyard.
“Since the tornado had done considerable
damage to his facilities on the Loop, he thought
he might have to move back to the old site so I
started looking for a new location. I bought twelve
acres on Airport Road, south of Reno, Texas and
immediately began building a new shop. We
moved here in July 1982, and have expanded five
different times since, so the facility now
encompasses some twenty-seven square feet.”
Starting with Fendley and two employees,
the business grew at a rate of 15 percent
annually for 12 to 15 years, to employ a
maximum of about 30 persons before he
reached a point where he was satisfied. “At this
point in my life, I’m just enjoying the trailer
business,” he says.
Fendley credits much of the business’ success
to the important roles played by several of the
company’s personnel, emphasizing that good
people make a good business. “I’ve met some
unique individuals, both as personnel and in my
dealer network,” he says.
An active member of the community, Fendley
has contributed to a number of local civic clubs
in the form of a trailer for fundraising auctions.
He and his wife, Sharon, are long-time members
of the Lamar Avenue Church of Christ, where he
serves as an elder and teaches Sunday school.
158 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

CENTURY 21
HARVEY
PROPERTIES
Renee Harvey began her career in 1985 as an
independent real estate broker and started
Renee Harvey Realty. At that time, she was
appointed by the FDIC as lead broker for the
sale of assets in the mid-1980s and conducted
the first ‘Sealed Bid Sale’ in the history of
the FDIC. In 1998, Renee’s business, as Century
21 Parker-Harvey, purchased Century 21
Whitaker-Justice. The company flourished and
was ultimately renamed Century 21 Harvey
Properties in 2003 with locations in Paris at
2550 Lamar Avenue and Clarksville at 1700
West Main.
As owner/broker for Century 21 Harvey
Properties, Renee recruited and assembled an
outstanding real estate team to represent buyers
and sellers in every realm of the real estate
industry and has been awarded the Top Office in
the North Texas Brokers Council, which carries
a membership of fifty offices. Currently, Century
21 Harvey Properties employs 40 individuals
and estimates an annual sales volume of over
$60 million per year.
With the desire to continue to provide
superior customer service in the sales and
acquisitions of real property, Century 21 Harvey
Properties also works diligently to support the
community. The company has associations with
organizations such as Keep Paris Beautiful,
United Way, Habitat for Humanity, Paris
Chamber of Commerce, Lamar County Adult
Special Olympics, Methodist Mission Homes,
Make-A-Wish Foundation, Rotary Club, Boy
and Girl Scouts of America, TREPAC, VFW
Auxiliary, and the Red River Valley Down
Syndrome Society.
For more detailed information about
Century 21 Harvey Properties, please visit
www.c21php.com.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 159

SLAYDEN
FLOORS
Jimmy Slayden started his
flooring career in 1965 at
Blue Diamond Company in
Dallas. After serving his four-year
apprenticeship at Local 1870,
winning an award for his skills,
Slayden continued to work in
Dallas until he and Betty Wilson
Blount married in 1980.
Together, Jimmy and Betty
opened Head Lines Beauty Shop
and Slayden Floors in 1984 at
2859 Lamar Avenue in Paris. One
of his first commercial jobs was
for Misso Construction working
on the sixth and seventh floor additions to
St. Joseph’s Hospital.
Slayden has done numerous commercial jobs
in the area for Harrison, Walker and Harper,
installed floors for Howard’s, Wal-Mart, and
Win-Dixie stores over four states, and since
1985 has done the work for Brookshires/Super I
in four states, winning “Contractor of the Year”
recognition in 1989 and 1994.
Betty Jo Taylor joined Slayden Floors as a
receptionist and secretary in 1990, and soon
became estimator and bookkeeper. She is an
integral part of the business’s success. In 1994,
Slayden Floors moved into its present site at
2915 Lamar Avenue.
Slayden has a history of excellent service to
the Paris area, and appreciates all those who
have helped make the business a success.
❖
LAMAR LOANS
LLC
Tammy Huffman.
Lamar Loans LLC is an organization
committed to being “Your” Hometown Financial
Source for personal loans, merchandise
financing, and personal tax service. Lamar
Loans opened on May 17, 2000. The company
is owned and operated by its founder,
Tammy Huffman.
Tammy brought eleven years of lending
experience with her when she ventured out of
the familiar world of the corporate financial
market to open her own financial services
office. Seeking investors for her adventure,
Tammy secured sound financial backing from
local investors in May 2000 and after meeting
the licensing requirements, Lamar Loans was
opened at 2407 Lamar Avenue, Suite B, in Paris.
Starting the business with no clientele,
Lamar Loans LLC has grown to include
over 800 in its customer base during the
first five years of business. Tammy remains
active in the community as she serves on several
boards of local charities and civic organizations.
She is also a member of the Business and
Professional Women/USA and Lamar Avenue
Church of Christ.
For more information about the company
and convenient payment locations, visit Lamar
Loans on the Internet at www.lamarloans.com.
160 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

Sesame Solutions, LLC, is the only full-line
processor of sesame seed in the United States.
Its current annual volume is approximately fifteen
million pounds of sesame.
The plant was built in the 1950s by the
Anderson Brothers of Paris, Texas, with the
financial backing of John Kraft.
In the early 1970s the business was sold to
McCormick & Company, the international spice
company, which operated the business throughout
the next couple of decades.
In 1991, Sesaco Corporation, the leading
sesame production company, took over the
operation in order to extend its position in the
sesame value chain and to further the development
of sesame as an ingredient.
Finally, in 2001, T. J. Harkins, a leading
North American bakery distributor recognized
the importance of United States based processing
for food security. Together with Sesaco, they
formed a joint venture, committing further
resources to renovate the facility.
Today the business, operating under the
name Sesame Solutions, LLC, remains
the exclusive full-line sesame processor in the
United States.
The current method of processing is essentially
the same as the process developed by
James Anderson at this site several decades ago.
This process is now considered to be the industry
standard for manufacturing bakery-grade
white hulled sesame seed.
The company’s primary market is the United
States’ bakery industry, where its products are used
as an ingredient in breads, crackers and snacks.
Because Sesame Solutions, LLC, supplies the
major branded food companies, who in turn sell
their products throughout the entire country, it
has been said, “There is a little bit of Paris,
Texas, in every town in the United States.”
❖
SESAME
SOLUTIONS,
LLC
Sesame Solutions is located at 700
West Center Street in Paris, Texas.
• Son of George Fisher, postman, and Mary
Fisher, Society Security service representative.
• Paris High School with honors; Paris Junior
College, first in class; University of Texas Plan
II honors program; UT Law School.
• Previously worked for: Congressman Wright
Patman; the Joint Economic Committee; State
Senators Ralph Hall and Lloyd Doggett; Texas
Senate and House; Constitutional Revision
Convention; Governor’s office; Attorney
General’s office; Paris Junior College.
• Lamar County Judge, practiced with Judge
Cedric Townsend; sole practitioner, Roxton
City Attorney.
• Calvary United Methodist Church, advanced
certified lay speaker, Gideon.
• During Emberson and Paris tornadoes, emergency
management officer and Red Cross president;
founded Emberson Tornado Committee;
incorporated Interfaith Disaster Services.
• Served as president or chair for: Lamar County
Chamber of Commerce; Jaycees; Reno
Kiwanis; Lions; American Cancer Society; PJC
Alumni; Texas Exes; Democratic Party;
Shriners; North and East Texas County Judges
and Commissioners; Criminal Justice Advisory
Committee; Paris Independent School District
Redistricting; Keep Paris Beautiful.
• Boards: McCuistion Hospital; United Way;
Human Resources Council; Habitat for
Humanity; Council of Governments; Resource
Conservation and Development; Maxey
Museum; Paris Redistricting; Agape Clinic.
• Awards: BPW “Boss of the Year”; Jaycees
“Outstanding Young Public Servant”; Soil and
Water Conservation District Award; Jaycees’
“Distinguished Service Award”; Kiwanis District
“Lay Person of the Year”; Chamber
“Ambassador of the Year”; Kiwanis life member.
BRADY FISHER,
ATTORNEY
AT LAW
❖
Mayor Billy Joe Burnett, County
Judge Brady Fisher, and Governor Bill
Clements view damage caused by the
1982 Paris tornado.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 161

SPONSORS
Adkins United Finance Co., Inc. ..................................................................................................................................................151
Bank of America...........................................................................................................................................................................120
C. L. Smith Equipment & Service Company ................................................................................................................................111
Campbell Soup Supply Co., L.L.C................................................................................................................................................124
Century 21 Harvey Properties, Inc. ..............................................................................................................................................159
Church of the Holy Cross, Episcopal............................................................................................................................................155
Circle W. Health Foods, L.L.C......................................................................................................................................................152
Brady Fisher, Attorney at Law ......................................................................................................................................................161
First Baptist Church .....................................................................................................................................................................144
First Federal Community Bank ....................................................................................................................................................143
FPL Energy and the Lamar Energy Center ....................................................................................................................................112
Harrison, Walker & Harper..........................................................................................................................................................116
Holiday Inn - Paris.......................................................................................................................................................................130
Jamar Contractors, Inc. ................................................................................................................................................................111
Kiamichi Railroad, L.L.C. .............................................................................................................................................................146
Kimberly-Clark Corporation ........................................................................................................................................................122
King’s Inn.....................................................................................................................................................................................149
Lamar County Electric Cooperative Association............................................................................................................................126
Lamar Federal Credit Union.........................................................................................................................................................142
Lamar Loans LLC.........................................................................................................................................................................160
Legacy Corporate Management, LLC ............................................................................................................................................136
Liberty National Bank ..................................................................................................................................................................138
Morris Tobin, M.D., P.A................................................................................................................................................................156
Nicholson Outdoor Power Equipment .........................................................................................................................................118
North Main Auto Sales.................................................................................................................................................................111
Paris Air Conditioning Company..................................................................................................................................................145
Paris Church of God ....................................................................................................................................................................147
Paris Custom Trailers Inc. ............................................................................................................................................................158
Paris Economic Development Corporation ...................................................................................................................................150
Paris Golf & Country Club ..........................................................................................................................................................157
Paris Junior College......................................................................................................................................................................154
Rodgers-Wade..............................................................................................................................................................................140
Sara Lee Food Service ..................................................................................................................................................................134
Sesame Solutions, LLC .................................................................................................................................................................161
Slayden Floors .............................................................................................................................................................................160
Stephens & Sons Concrete Contractors, Inc. ................................................................................................................................128
Stone Title Company, Inc. ............................................................................................................................................................111
Turner Industries Group, LLC ......................................................................................................................................................132
TXU Electric Delivery...................................................................................................................................................................153
Whitaker Homes..........................................................................................................................................................................148
162 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

ABOUT THE CHAMBER
On June 1, 1904, the Lamar County Chamber of Commerce was chartered as the Paris Board of Trade under laws of the State of
Texas. Several attempts at organized civic work in Paris had been tried earlier, the first in 1886. The organizations existed for a while
but died largely for lack of something to do. Rufus F. Scott, however, decided that a board of trade was essential after the Ames Shovel
& Tool Company visited Paris. Ames was deciding between Paris and Hugo for the site of its handle factory. Paris won, and Scott was
elected the Board of Trade’s first president.
Sam W. Williams followed as president in 1910. On November 21, 1911, the Chamber sponsored the first airplane in Paris, Texas.
The $1,200 investment by local merchants successfully attracted 15,000 spectators (potential customers) to Paris. It was also during
William’s term that the Chamber built the first part of the Paris & Mt. Pleasant Railroad.
In 1914, T. J. Record became president. He was also the joint chairman of the Board of Trade and the Progressive Club. The
Progressive Club was an organization similar to the Jaycees. It was responsible for the popular and long-used city slogan and logo,
“Paris - The North Star of Texas,” which was produced during a club contest. The Progressive Club later merged with the Chamber.
Henry P. Mayer became president of the Board of Trade in 1915. During his term, the organization’s original charter was amended.
On October 21, 1915, the Board of Trade.became the Chamber of Commerce of Paris, Texas. The following year the city was
decimated by the Fire of 1916. The Chamber was the driving force in the rebuilding of Paris. It was Mayer who produced the famous
“SMILE” card which appeared the morning after the fire, providing inspiration to many.
The decade of the 1920s was one of prosperity. The Chamber’s charter was again amended on September 14, 1928, changing the
name to the Chamber of Commerce of Lamar County, Texas. It became an Organization Member of the Chamber of Commerce of the
United States on November 30, 1929.
The 1930s were dedicated to dealing with the Great Depression. During this decade the Chamber found it necessary to set aside
its well-planned Program of Work to become almost a governmental agency. It set up a National Recovery Administration, along with
relief boards. Lake Crook was improved through Chamber effort during this decade, and the Canning Plant and the Federal Mattress
Factory were secured.
During the 1940s, perhaps the biggest, most improtant step in Paris’ history occurred. Through the efforts of the Chamber and
various Paris citizens, the city became an important military center when Camp Maxey was built north of town. The Chamber spent
hundreds of dollars for army camp expenditures, helped establish a rent stabilization committee, and paid expenses providing
facilities necessary for the U.S. Employment Service. When the war was over, the Chamber lobbied to establish Camp Maxey as a
permanent post. When that effort failed, it initiated the estabishment of a large poultry project at the Camp. In the late 1940s, the
Chamber’s Aviation Committee was largely responsible for securing the city’s first major commercial airlines. Mid-Continent Airlines
inaugurated its service in 1947, and Central Airlines began its flights in 1949.
Industry began to locate en masse in Paris during the 1950s. The Chamber and its bigger and improved industrial committee
deserved much of the credit. Industries such as Westinghouse, Babcock & Wilcox, Sesa-Kraft, Vassarette, UARCO, Flex-O-Lite, and
Campbell Soup came to Paris during this decade.
The Chamber continued to promote agriculture, business, education, medical facilities, government and the general quality of life
activities that made Lamar County attractive for the working family and as a retirement center. More industry was recruited, including
Kimberly-Clark in 1982 and Lamar Power Partners in 2000. In 1988 it received accreditation from the United States Chamber of
Commerce. At that time, only ten percent of the chambers in the nation held that performance rating. In 2003, the Lamar County
Chamber of Commerce relocated to the restored Santa Fe Depot, setting an example for Paris’ renovation efforts.
About the Chamber ✦ 163

For more information about the following publications or about publishing your own book, please call
Historical Publishing Network at 800-749-9790 or visit www.lammertinc.com.
Black Gold: The Story of Texas Oil & Gas
Historic Abilene: An Illustrated History
Historic Amarillo: An Illustrated History
Historic Anchorage: An Illustrated History
Historic Austin: An Illustrated History
Historic Baton Rouge: An Illustrated History
Historic Beaufort County: An Illustrated History
Historic Beaumont: An Illustrated History
Historic Bexar County: An Illustrated History
Historic Brazoria County: An Illustrated History
Historic Charlotte:
An Illustrated History of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County
Historic Cheyenne: A History of the Magic City
Historic Comal County: An Illustrated History
Historic Corpus Christi: An Illustrated History
Historic Denton County: An Illustrated History
Historic Edmond: An Illustrated History
Historic El Paso: An Illustrated History
Historic Erie County: An Illustrated History
Historic Fairbanks: An Illustrated History
Historic Gainesville & Hall County: An Illustrated History
Historic Gregg County: An Illustrated History
Historic Hampton Roads: Where America Began
Historic Henry County: An Illustrated History
Historic Houston: An Illustrated History
Historic Illinois: An Illustrated History
Historic Kern County:
An Illustrated History of Bakersfield and Kern County
Historic Laredo:
An Illustrated History of Laredo & Webb County
Historic Louisiana: An Illustrated History
Historic Midland: An Illustrated History
Historic Montgomery County:
An Illustrated History of Montgomery County, Texas
Historic Oklahoma: An Illustrated History
Historic Oklahoma County: An Illustrated History
Historic Omaha:
An Illustrated History of Omaha and Douglas County
Historic Ouachita Parish: An Illustrated History
Historic Pasadena: An Illustrated History
Historic Passaic County: An Illustrated History
Historic Philadelphia: An Illustrated History
Historic Prescott:
An Illustrated History of Prescott & Yavapai County
Historic Richardson: An Illustrated History
Historic Rio Grande Valley: An Illustrated History
Historic Scottsdale: A Life from the Land
Historic Shreveport-Bossier:
An Illustrated History of Shreveport & Bossier City
Historic South Carolina: An Illustrated History
Historic Smith County: An Illustrated History
Historic Texas: An Illustrated History
Historic Victoria: An Illustrated History
Historic Tulsa: An Illustrated History
Historic Williamson County: An Illustrated History
Historic Wilmington & The Lower Cape Fear:
An Illustrated History
Iron, Wood & Water: An Illustrated History of Lake Oswego
Miami’s Historic Neighborhoods: A History of Community
Old Orange County Courthouse: A Centennial History
Plano: An Illustrated Chronicle
The New Frontier:
A Contemporary History of Fort Worth & Tarrant County
The San Gabriel Valley: A 21st Century Portrait
The Spirit of Collin County
164 ✦ HISTORIC PARIS AND LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS

ISBN: 9781893619715