Paris, TX RoadyGoat
On April 2, 1982, Paris was hit by an F4 tornado that destroyed more than 1,500 homes, left 10 people dead, 170 injured, and 3,000 homeless. The damage toll from this tornado was estimated at US$50 million in 1982.
Everything Paris is known for
Paris, Texas, located in Northeast Texas at the western edge of the Piney Woods, has a distinct musical identity. The city is home to country artists like Gene Watson and Leslie Satcher, and reggae artist Cas Haley. Paris has also inspired numerous songs, with 108 tracks in our collection mentioning the city. These include "Paris, Texas" by Troy Cartwright and "Paris; Texas (feat. SYML)" by Lana Del Rey.
The city, known for its 65-foot replica of the Eiffel Tower topped with a red cowboy hat, continues to be a point of reference in music. Songs like "honky tonk in paris" by mackynsie mckedy and "PARIS" by Santiago Jimenez Jr. further showcase Paris, Texas's place in the musical landscape.
Showing top 20 of 138 songs
Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Paris.
On April 2, 1982, Paris was hit by an F4 tornado that destroyed more than 1,500 homes, left 10 people dead, 170 injured, and 3,000 homeless. The damage toll from this tornado was estimated at US$50 million in 1982.
For four years, the legendary deputy marshal Bass Reeves worked out of right here in Paris. When the federal courts covering Indian Territory were reorganized in 1893, Reeves was assigned to the Eastern District of Texas court at Paris, where he served until 1897. During those Texas years he broke up the Tom Story horse-stealing ring that had been plaguing the Red River country. Reeves spent thirty-two years as a federal peace officer in all, credited with more than three thousand arrests and, by his own account, killing fourteen men, always in the line of duty, though the newspapers of the day sometimes put the number higher. Today, inside the Lamar County courthouse, a bronze statue of Bass Reeves by sculptor Eddie Dixon stands watch on the stairway landing, honoring the man who once carried the law into the Territory from this very town. (Sources: TSHA Handbook of Texas; Houston Chronicle; Encyclopedia of Arkansas.)
Paris, Texas. It’s a town that hums with the echoes of names both familiar and perhaps forgotten. You might drive in and see the Eiffel Tower, complete with its cowboy hat, and think it's all just a bit of Texas whimsy. But spend a little time here, and you’ll find the ground is layered with stories. Before the railroads crisscrossed the landscape and turned Paris into a cotton hub, the Caddo people called this place home. Later, the town became a crossroads where fortunes were made and lives were shaped.
Bass Reeves, the first black commissioned United States deputy marshal west of the Mississippi River, was born to enslaved parents in July 1838 near Paris, Texas. He relocated to Indian Territory after severely beating his young master in a dispute over cards and lived among the "five civilized tribes," especially the Creeks, as a fugitive until 1863. Freed by the Emancipation Proclamation and no longer a fugitive, the six-foot-two, 190-pound former slave left the Indian country, bought land near Van Buren, Arkansas, and became a successful stockman and farmer. He married Nellie Jennie (or Jinney), a Texas native, in 1864, and they raised a family of ten, five boys and five girls. After his first wife's death, Reeves married Winnie Sumter of Muskogee, Oklahoma, in 1900 and started a second family. When Isaac C. Parker was appointed judge for the Federal Western District Court at Fort Smith, Arkansas, on May 10, 1875, to bring law to the Indian Territory, one of his first official acts was to swear in a United States marshal and appoint 200 deputies to curb the lawlessness in the area. White outlaws had so terrorized the interior groups, especially the Creeks and Seminoles, that Whites, with or without a badge, were unwelcome. Reeves was recruited because he knew the tribal languages and country well, and as a black he did not suffer from the reputation for abuse produced by the activities of the White criminal element among the Indians. Reeves had a well-earned reputation for law enforcement south of the Red River. He killed fourteen men in the performance of his duty while assigned to the federal district courts at Paris and Sherman, Texas, during his thirty-two-year career as deputy. Among them were Bob Dozier, a master criminal whose illegal activities included cattle and horse theft, land swindles, and murder, and who eluded Reeves for several years before being killed after refusing to surrender in the rain and mud in the Cherokee Hills. Another outlaw was Tom Story, expert horse thief and murderer, who sold stolen horses south of the Red River from 1884 to 1889, and who lost his life at the Delaware Bend crossing in an attempt to beat Reeves to the draw. Jim Webb, a cowboy and horse thief with eleven notches on his pistol handle, was outshot in a fierce running gunfight after a manhunt that lasted from 1893 to 1895; the dying Webb acknowledged Reeves as the better man by giving the deputy his pistol and scabbard. Dependability and devotion to duty were the benchmarks of Reeves's service to the government. Many of the district courts asked for Reeves because of his reliability in serving warrants. Having never learned to read and write, he had someone to read the subpoenas or warrants to him until he memorized which name belonged to each warrant. If the man Reeves arrested could not read, then the deputy had to locate someone who could to make sure that he had the right person. The deputy's respect for the law was legendary. He was always acquitted of the deaths of his prisoners. However, it was his refusal to make exceptions that was extraordinary. He once arrested his own son on a murder warrant after a two-week manhunt. His son was tried, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison, but was later given a full pardon. After 1907 the role and the duties of the United States deputy marshal as a primary law-enforcement officer were assumed by state agencies. At the age of sixty-nine Reeves accepted a job as patrolman with the Muskogee city police department, and from 1907 to 1909 there was reportedly never a crime committed on his beat. In 1909 his health failed, and he died on January 12, 1910, of Bright's disease.
On March 21, 1916, a fire swept through Paris that consumed 264 acres and 1,440 buildings and killed three people. Property loss was estimated at $11 million. Paris was founded in the mid-1840s, and many of the town’s historic structures were lost in the fire including the Federal Building and Post Office, the Lamar County Courthouse and Jail, City Hall, numerous commercial buildings and several churches. Substantial rainfall in Paris last occurred 51 days prior, and winds gusting up to 60 mph that day likely contributed to the city’s dryness. Although no one is certain how the fire started, it is known that there was a small trash fire burning near Sid Long’s timber warehouse on SW 4th street and Frisco avenue, and an alarm was sounded at 5:30 p.m. The high winds quickly set fire to roof shingles in the surrounding blocks. Mayor Ed H. Mccuistion sent out appeals to nearby fire departments after he decided that widespread conflagration was imminent. Bonham, Cooper, Dallas, Honey Grove and Hugo, Oklahoma, answered the call, and the fire was under control by 3:30 a.m. Chamber President Henry P. Mayer prepared a sign for a meeting the following day that simply read “Smile.” The slogan was adopted quickly and encouraged residents to rebuild the city with optimism. The Civic League, which had organized just two days before, shifted its focus from beautification to sanitation because the fire left many residents living in tents and shacks. Paris was reconstructed quickly with the help of out of town architects, local builders and citizens. Paris’ reconstruction produced one of the best examples of architectural integrity and geographically-concentrated post-Victorian buildings in the United States.
(March 16, 1853 - September 27, 1932) Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, John James Culbertson grew up in large northeastern cities. He married Emily Lou Lee of New Jersey in 1882 and soon became a salesman for a cotton product company based in Alabama. During his southern travels, Culbertson saw the potential for profit from cottonseed oil. He moved to Paris and was instrumental in building the first Paris cotton mill about 1884. The company, Paris Oil Works, was sold to American Cotton Oil Trust in 1887, and Culbertson moved to Arkansas to manage a southern oil company plant. Four years later the Culbertsons returned to Paris, where he built a small cottonseed oil empire through the Paris Oil and Cotton Company, later known as Southland Cotton Oil Company. Culbertson was asked to participate in a master plan for the growth of Paris in 1913. As an influential Texas financier, he was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas when it was formed in 1914. His nationwide reputation as a cotton producer led President Woodrow Wilson to appoint him to the board that organized a bureau to oversee cotton and cottonseed products for the U. S. Food Administration in 1917. After Paris was ravaged by fire in 1916, John and Emily Culbertson were among leading citizens who rebuilt the city. Held in high esteem by the people of Paris, the Culbertsons gave many public spaces, monuments and works of art to the city and several local institutions, including the Paris Public Library and the fountain of imported Carrara marble on the city's central plaza. (1999)
Although Paris was founded in the mid-1840s, many of its historic structures were lost in a fire that destroyed almost half the town in 1916. The blaze started about five o'clock on the afternoon of March 21, 1916, at the S. J. Long Warehouse near the southwest city limits. Its cause is unknown, but one theory is that a spark from a switch engine ignited dry grass near the warehouse. Winds estimated at 50 miles per hour soon blew the fire out of control as it burned a funnel-shaped path to the northeast edge of Paris. Firemen from Bonham, Cooper, Dallas, Honey Grove, and Hugo, Okla., helped the Paris Fire Department battle the flames, which were visible up to 40 miles away. The blaze destroyed most of the central business district and swept through a residential area before it was controlled at about sunrise on March 22. Property damage from the fire was estimated at $11,000,000. The structures burned included the Federal Building and post office, Lamar County Courthouse and Jail, City Hall, most commercial buildings, and several churches. Rebuilding was begun quickly as townspeople collected relief funds and opened their homes to the victims. A railroad and market center before the disaster, Paris soon regained its former prosperity.
A. M. Aikin, Jr., legislator, son of A. M. and Mattie (Stephens) Aikin, was born at Aikin Grove in Red River County, Texas, on October 9, 1905. His parents moved to Lamar County in 1907 to operate a country store. Aikin attended a three-teacher school in Milton, then rode horseback four miles to Deport each day until he graduated from high school. He credited his lifetime interest in education to the early personal difficulties he encountered in acquiring his own education. He milked cows to earn room and board at Paris Junior College and worked in a department store in Paris from 1925 to 1931 to earn enough money to attend Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee, where he graduated with a bachelor of laws degree in 1932. In 1929 Aikin married Welma Morphew, a lifelong advocate of landscape beautification, whose career included serving as a regent of Paris Junior College. The Aikins had one son. Aikin, a Democrat, began his political career in 1932, when he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives. He completed two terms before going to the Senate in 1937. He served forty-six years in the state's two legislative chambers and missed only 2½ legislative days in his career. From his first year in elective office, he supported every major educational bill passed by the legislature. He was an advocate of all-weather farm-road legislation on the grounds that schools were of little value to students if they were inaccessible. Aikin, "the father of modern Texas education," is best remembered as the cosponsor with Representative Claud Gilmer of Rocksprings of the Gilmer-Aikin Laws . These measures, passed in 1949, established a centralized state education system and the Minimum Foundation school program, which provided state-financed minimum teachers' salaries and set guaranteed public school funding levels for other related expenditures. In addition Aikin authored legislation to increase state aid to public schools, including colleges, and sponsored a bill in 1933 to establish the Teacher Retirement System, which became a constitutional amendment in 1937. In 1956 he sponsored an amendment to establish a minimum retirement compensation of $100 a month to attract capable teachers to the profession. Aikin served on the Senate Finance Committee beginning in 1937, when he became a senator, and chaired that committee from 1967 until he retired in 1979. In 1943 he was president pro tem of the Senate and acting governor for fourteen days in the absence of Governor Coke Stevenson . Aikin became dean of the Senate in 1963 and dean emeritus upon his retirement. The A. M. and Welma Aikin Regional Archives, a part of the Mike Rheudasil Learning Center at Paris Junior College, was established to honor Aikin in 1978 and houses his papers, a replica of his Senate office, and a gallery of memorabilia related to his career. The archives also houses local-history manuscript collections from Delta, Fannin, Lamar, and Red River counties and is a regional depository for the local records division of the Texas State Library . The Aikin Monolith, a Texas red granite monument, towers outside the entrance to the Aikin Archives, a gift of the Texas Association of Public Junior Colleges. Aikin died in Paris on October 24, 1981. In 1985 the A. M. Aikin Regents Chair in Junior and Community College Education and the A. M. Aikin Regents Chair in Education Leadership were established at the University of Texas, with a total endowment of $1 million. Former Paris Junior College president Louis B. Williams led the fund-raising effort. The total gift of $500,000 was matched from the Permanent University Fund to establish the memorial.
John Simpson Chisum, pioneer cattleman, son of Claiborne C. and Lucinda (Chisum) Chisum, was born in Hardeman County, Tennessee, on August 16, 1824. His parents were cousins. He was reared on his grandfather's plantation, one of five children, and accompanied his parents and a group of relatives to Red River County, Texas, during the summer of 1837. Claiborne Chisum, probably the earliest settler in Paris, Texas, was public-spirited and wealthy. John Chisum worked as a store clerk in Paris, served briefly as a road overseer in Hopkins County, accumulated land, operated several small grocery stores, was a member of the I.O.O.F. Lodge, and held the office of Lamar county clerk from 1852 to 1854. With Stephen K. Fowler, a New Orleans investor, he filed on land in northwestern Denton County, purchased a partnership herd, and entered the cattle business with the Half Circle P brand. Chisum also managed herds for neighboring families and various partners and shared in the calves. He became an active cattle dealer in search of markets and drove a small herd to a packing house in Jefferson. By 1860 he was running 5,000 head of cattle, which he valued at $35,000, owned six slaves, and was considered a major cattleman in North Texas. At the outbreak of the Civil War Chisum was exempted from service and placed in charge of several herds in his district. Early in 1862 he took a herd across Arkansas to the Confederate forces at Vicksburg but thereafter exhibited little interest in the Southern cause. In the fall of 1863, suffering from Indian raids and drought, he and other cowmen in the Denton area started moving herds to Coleman County, where they camped on the Concho River near its junction with the Colorado. He terminated ties with Fowler and received cattle for land. Chisum and his partners soon had 18,000 head grazing along the Colorado. In the fall of 1866 he joined Charles Goodnight and others driving cattle to feed the 8,000 Navajos on the Bosque Redondo Reservation near Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Chisum wintered 600 steers near Bosque Grande, below Fort Sumner, and in the spring sold his herd and contracted to furnish additional cattle. The market vanished in 1868, when the army resettled the Navajos in Arizona. Chisum arranged to supply Goodnight, now ranching in Colorado, with Texas cattle for markets there and in Wyoming. For three years he delivered 10,000 head annually to Goodnight crews at Bosque Grande, for one dollar a head over Texas prices. During this period he adopted the Long Rail brand and the Jinglebob earmark for his herds. In 1872 Chisum abandoned his base in Texas and established his headquarters at Bosque Grande; he claimed a range extending more than 100 miles down the Pecos. He loosed herds obtained from Robert K. Wylie, the Coggin brothers , and others in West Texas with his own for fattening and sought markets in New Mexico, Arizona, and Kansas. In the summer of 1874 Chisum won a contract to provide beef to several Apache reservations in New Mexico, only to have his operations crippled by marauding Indians. His total stock losses from 1868 to 1874 reached $150,000, the largest in the nation. In November of 1875 he transferred his livestock holdings, estimated at over 60,000 head of cattle, to Hunter, Evans, and Company, a St. Louis beef-commission house, which assumed his indebtedness, mostly for Texas cattle, of over $200,000. Chisum settled at South Spring River, near Roswell, New Mexico. As he helped Hunter and Evans gather cattle for markets, horse thieves and renegade Indians struck branding crews and horse herds. Lincoln County authorities and the army at Fort Stanton offered little help. Simultaneously, Chisum was drawn into the Lincoln County range war of 1878 by festering difficulties generated by his attorney, Alexander A. McSween, and rancher John H. Tunstall, who defied Judge Lawrence G. Murphy's economic stranglehold on the county. In the summer of 1878, with both Tunstall and McSween dead and th
Paris Texas built a sixty-five-foot Eiffel Tower in 1993 to match its name. Then Paris Tennessee built one taller. So Paris Texas topped theirs with a giant…
A 65-foot replica of the Eiffel Tower wearing a red cowboy hat.
Featured on The Daytripper — a full-episode local travel guide.
176 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.
On April 2, 1982, Paris was hit by an F4 tornado that destroyed more than 1,500 homes, left 10 people dead, 170 injured, and 3,000 homeless. The damage toll from this tornado was estimated at US$50 million in 1982.
For four years, the legendary deputy marshal Bass Reeves worked out of right here in Paris. When the federal courts covering Indian Territory were reorganized in 1893, Reeves was assigned to the Eastern District of…
On March 21, 1916, a fire swept through Paris that consumed 264 acres and 1,440 buildings and killed three people. Property loss was estimated at $11 million. Paris was founded in the mid-1840s, and many of the…
(March 16, 1853 - September 27, 1932) Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, John James Culbertson grew up in large northeastern cities. He married Emily Lou Lee of New Jersey in 1882 and soon became a salesman for a cotton product…
Although Paris was founded in the mid-1840s, many of its historic structures were lost in a fire that destroyed almost half the town in 1916. The blaze started about five o'clock on the afternoon of March 21, 1916, at…
You're driving through Paris, Lamar County, past the site of a significant Baptist minister's work. Robert Cooke Buckner, born in Tennessee in 1833, moved to Texas in 1859. He became pastor of this congregation in 1861.…
You're driving past the site of the First National Bank of Paris, a true Texas institution. It opened its doors in 1886, founded by William J. McDonald, a Civil War veteran and lawyer. McDonald was known for his shrewd…
As you drive through Paris, Lamar County, you're passing through a place with a complicated Civil War story. While Lamar County sent a lot of food south to the Confederacy, its citizens actually voted AGAINST secession…
You're driving past the historic site of the Paris Fire Department. Fire protection here started way back in the early 1870s with a volunteer group called Phoenix Fire Company No. 1. But things got serious in 1908 when…
You're driving past the Lamar County Courthouse in Paris. Just a few years ago, in 1916, a massive fire tore through downtown, destroying the old 1897 courthouse. But the city rebuilt quickly, finishing this impressive…
A 65-foot replica of the Eiffel Tower wearing a red cowboy hat.
You're driving through Paris, and you're passing by the site of the original Aikin Institute, the heart of the city's public school system. Back in 1884, Mayor John C. Gibbons and a dedicated board organized the system,…
You're driving through Paris, Lamar County. Look for the site of the First Baptist Church, originally chartered as Union Baptist Church in 1854 by Reverend Willis M. Pickett and six members. This congregation became a…
You're driving past the site of Paris's First United Methodist Church. Its story begins in 1843 with the organization of the First Methodist Church in the area. After merging with another congregation in 1918, it became…
You're driving past Campbell Cemetery, established way back in 1843. It's recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery.
You're driving past the Scott Mansion in Paris, a grand home built between 1908 and 1910 for Rufus Fenner Scott, Sr., a prominent businessman. Designed by architect J. L. Wees, it's a unique blend of art nouveau and…
You're driving through Paris, the county seat of Lamar County. This spot marks the very first official call for a survey of the city, back in 1844, when Texas was still a republic. George W. Wright, a veteran of the…
You're driving past the site of Central Presbyterian Church in Paris. This congregation started way back in 1844 as the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Over the years, they built several sanctuaries, with the…
You're driving past the site of Paris's First Presbyterian Church. Organized in 1861, the congregation met in various locations before building their first sanctuary in 1874. This Romanesque-style building, constructed…
Paris Texas built a sixty-five-foot Eiffel Tower in 1993 to match its name. Then Paris Tennessee built one taller. So Paris Texas topped theirs with a giant…
You're driving through Paris, and right here is the Lightfoot-Coleman House, a beautiful example of Eastlake architecture. It was built in 1874 for Henry William Lightfoot, a Confederate veteran and law partner of Sam…
You're driving past the home of William Henry Lightfoot, built in 1876 right here in Paris. Lightfoot was a veteran of the Civil War, serving in Forrest's Cavalry, and later became the law partner of U.S. Senator Sam B.…
You're driving past the McCuistion Home in Paris. Built way back in 1858 as a story-and-a-half house by Dr. A. S. Johnson, it saw a major remodel in 1907. But its real claim to fame came with Dr. L. P. McCuistion, who…
You're driving past the Old Cemetery of Paris, a place with stories etched in stone, and some lost to time. While the oldest grave is believed to be from <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1845</say-as>, the marker…
You're driving through Paris, where St. Paul Baptist Church was organized way back in 1867. It became a founding church of the Zion District Baptist Association in 1872. The congregation built its first church around…
You're driving past the Paris home of Sam Bell Maxey, a man who wore many hats across a long and active life. A West Point grad, he fought with distinction in the Mexican War. Later, he rose to Major General in the…
When Paris, Tennessee built a 60-foot replica of the Eiffel Tower in 1993, something stirred in the civic pride of Paris, Texas. They could not let another Paris claim the definitive small-town Eiffel Tower. So in 1993,…
You're driving past the site of St. Joseph's Hospital in Paris. In 1911, six Sisters of Charity arrived by train to take over this infirmary, then called St. Joseph's. They admitted their first patient on October 1st,…
You're driving through Paris, and right here, you're passing over a piece of Texas history: the Central National Road of the Republic of Texas. This wasn't just any dirt path; it was designed as a military highway, a…
You're driving through Paris, the city that might've been left in the dust if not for the railroad. Attempts to bring trains here started way back in the 1800s, but it wasn't until 1875 that the first line finally…
You're driving past the site of the Paris Cotton Compress, a business that helped make this town a commercial hub. Opened in the early 1880s by local businessmen, this complex processed cotton bales for shipment across…
You're driving past the Atkinson-Morris House in Paris. Built around 1890 by Jethro Atkinson, who owned the city's first shoe store and was a bank director, this home is a fine example of the Victorian style that was…
Bass Reeves, the first black commissioned United States deputy marshal west of the Mississippi River, was born to enslaved parents in July 1838 near Paris, Texas. He relocated to Indian Territory after severely beating…
A. M. Aikin, Jr., legislator, son of A. M. and Mattie (Stephens) Aikin, was born at Aikin Grove in Red River County, Texas, on October 9, 1905. His parents moved to Lamar County in 1907 to operate a country store. Aikin…
John Simpson Chisum, pioneer cattleman, son of Claiborne C. and Lucinda (Chisum) Chisum, was born in Hardeman County, Tennessee, on August 16, 1824. His parents were cousins. He was reared on his grandfather's…
You're driving through Paris, Texas, the hometown of James Otto Richardson, a man who once commanded the entire U.S. fleet right before World War II. Born here in 1879, Richardson rose through the Navy ranks, eventually…
You're driving through what was once wild Texas frontier country, and right here, you're passing through the story of Jane Adeline Smith Wilson. She was just fifteen when she married James Wilson, and two months later,…
You're driving through Lamar County, Texas, and right here is Paris, the hometown of James Campbell Bates. Bates was a doctor, but when the Civil War broke out, he joined the Ninth Texas Cavalry. He saw action in places…
You're driving through Northeast Texas, and right here in Paris, Texas, a significant artist was born. Jerry Bywaters, born in 1906, became a central figure in the Dallas art scene after studying in Europe and New York.…
Right now, you're driving near Paris, Texas, and you're passing by the site of Camp Maxey. Before World War II, this area was home to small farming communities. But in 1941, the U.S. Army chose this spot for a massive…
You're driving through Paris, Texas, a town that James Mitchell Daniel helped rebuild after a devastating fire in 1877. But before that, during the Civil War, Daniel raised an artillery company right here. On January…
You're driving through Paris, Texas, the hometown of Ebenezer LaFayette Dohoney, a man who fought for what he believed in, even when it was unpopular. Back in the 1870s, Dohoney was a state senator and a delegate to the…
You're driving through Lamar County, heading towards Paris. Right here, you're passing through the stomping grounds of William H. Johnson, an attorney and politician who made quite a name for himself in Texas. Johnson…
Right here in Lamar County, you're driving through the stomping grounds of Samuel Bell Maxey, a Confederate general and later a U.S. Senator. Maxey came to Texas from Kentucky in 1857, settling just south of Paris. He…
You're driving through Paris, Texas, a town that was home to Alexander White Neville, a newsman and historian who spent nearly fifty-four years with the Paris News. Neville wasn't just a reporter; he was a true…
You're driving through Northeast Texas, the heartland of the Ninth Texas Infantry. Organized in November of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1861</say-as>, this regiment served longer in the Army of the…
You're driving through Paris, Texas, the county seat of Lamar County. This town owes its very existence to George Washington Wright, a merchant and legislator who arrived in this area in 1839. After suffering the tragic…
You're driving through Northeast Texas, and right here in Paris is where baseball star William Edward 'Eddie' Robinson got his start. He was just a teenager, helping his mom make ends meet during the Great Depression by…
You're driving through Northeast Texas, maybe near Paris, where David Earl Philley was born in 1920. He learned to hit right-handed after breaking his left arm as a kid, but became a switch-hitter. After serving in…
You're driving through Paris, Texas, a town with a history of bouncing back. In 1982, this community was slammed by a devastating tornado. It ripped through the heart of the city, destroying over 1,500 homes and leaving…
You're driving through Lamar County, near Paris, where M. L. Armstrong once served in the Texas Legislature. Arriving in Texas in 1852, Armstrong was elected to the House in 1859. He spoke out against secession, but…
You're driving through Lamar County, and right here, in Paris, is where James S. Gillett settled in 1839. He was a lawyer, a military officer, and when Texas joined the Union in <say-as interpret-as="date"…
You're driving through Lamar County, right on the Oklahoma border. This area was home to the Caddo Indians for centuries, but by the 1800s, settlers were arriving. The county itself was established in 1840, but the…
You're driving through Paris, Texas, a town that was home to Henry W. Lightfoot, a prominent lawyer and politician. He arrived here in 1872, eventually partnering with General Sam Bell Maxey. Lightfoot married Maxey's…
You're driving through Paris, Texas, where Lemuel Hardin Williams arrived in 1857. He was a successful merchant and a delegate to the Secession Convention. Now, here's the kicker: despite being a slaveholder, Williams…
You're driving through what is now Lamar County, and right here in Paris, Dr. Thomas Dudley Wooten found a new home after the Civil War. Before settling here, Wooten was a dedicated surgeon for the Confederate Army. He…
You're driving through Lamar County right now, the place where George W. Wilson helped establish Paris as the county seat. Arriving in Texas around 1840, Wilson was instrumental in surveying the land, considering sites,…
You're driving through Paris, Texas, a town that was home to Emma Shanklin Binnion. She arrived here at just fifteen, coming all the way from Tennessee to live with her uncle. She graduated from Paris High School in…
You're driving through Paris, Texas, the birthplace of Edgar Elliott Bramlette. Born in 1860, Bramlette was a true Renaissance man. He earned the very first Master's degree ever awarded by the University of Texas in…
You're driving through Lamar County, and right here in Paris, John A. Buck started his Civil War journey. He enlisted as a second lieutenant on December 31, 1861, in what would become the Twenty-second Texas Cavalry…
You're driving through Paris, Texas, a town that owes much of its early prosperity to Dr. Simon Clement. He arrived here in 1843, initially settling near Clarksville before moving to Paris in 1850. Clement wasn't just a…
You're driving through Paris, Texas, the birthplace of bluesman Gary B. B. Coleman. Born right here in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="m d y">1947 1 1</say-as>, Coleman grew up idolizing blues legends. By fifteen,…
You're driving through Paris, Texas, a town whose very foundation owes a debt to the Gibbons family. In 1841, young Edward G. Gibbons arrived here with his parents from Tennessee. By 1844, his father was instrumental in…
You're driving through what was once Lamar County, or maybe Collin County, where Thomas Lewelling made his mark. He arrived in North Texas in the late 1830s, becoming an early resident of Paris. By 1848, he was editing…
You're driving through Lamar County, and right here, the Paris and Great Northern Railroad once served as Texas's gateway to the vast Frisco system. Chartered in 1881, this line was built to connect Paris to the Red…
You're driving through Northeast Texas, and right here, the Paris and Mount Pleasant Railroad once connected these communities. Chartered in 1909, this line aimed to stretch about fifty miles, linking Paris to Mount…
You're driving through Northeast Texas, and right here, the story of the Paris, Marshall and Sabine Pass Railway began. Chartered back in 1882, this ambitious line aimed to connect the Red River in Lamar County all the…
You're driving through Lamar County, and right here in Paris, Albert J. Redding built a life serving this community. He arrived in Texas in 1847, eventually settling in Paris by 1848. Redding wasn't just a doctor; he…
You're in Paris, Texas, so here's the Paris, France tangent behind the name: Paris, Texas, was founded in eighteen forty four and named for Paris, France, by Thomas Poteet, an employee of town founder George Wright. It…
You're in Paris, Texas, so here's the Paris, France tangent behind the name: the Eiffel Tower opened for the eighteen eighty nine world's fair. Gustave Eiffel's company designed and built it, with engineers Maurice…
You're in Paris, Texas, so here's the Paris, France tangent behind the name: the French Revolution began in seventeen eighty nine amid financial crisis, unequal privilege, food hardship, and political conflict. It…
You're in Paris, Texas, so here's the Paris, France tangent behind the name: Notre-Dame took nearly two centuries of medieval construction and survived revolution, alteration, and the devastating twenty nineteen fire…
You're in Paris, Texas, so here's the Paris, France tangent behind the name: Paris's City of Light nickname is linked both to Enlightenment-era intellectual life and to its early adoption of extensive street lighting.…
You're driving through Paris, Texas, the hometown of John S. Chisum, a legendary cattle baron. Born in 1824, Chisum arrived in Paris in 1837, eventually building one of the largest cattle empires in the American West.…
You're driving past the site of Mt. Canaan Baptist Church in Paris. Formed in 1886 by Rev. Sam McCarley, this congregation began with informal prayer gatherings for newly freed slaves. They found a spiritual home in…
You can't talk about Paris, Texas, without talking about its Eiffel Tower. But did you know it was born from a rivalry? Back in the 1990s, Paris, Tennessee, built a 60-foot replica of the famous French landmark. Not to…
Imagine looking up and seeing the sky filled with black smoke, the air thick with the smell of burning pine. About five o'clock on the afternoon of March 21st, 1916, a fire started in the S. J. Long warehouse near the…
Some stories are difficult, but they must be told. In 1893, Paris became the site of one of the most notorious lynchings in American history. A Black man named Henry Smith was accused of murdering a young white girl.…
On March 21, 1916, Paris faced a catastrophic systems failure. The city’s infrastructure, built largely of wood, was no match for a small fire whipped into an inferno by 50-mile-per-hour winds. The disaster became a…
You're driving through what is now Lamar County, Texas, a place that in the late 1820s was known as Pecan Point. Right here, John Goodloe Warren Pierson, a man who wore many hats from surveyor to lawman, led a group of…
Head ten miles north of Paris and you're crossing what was once a city in itself. This was Camp Maxey, an infantry training base named for Paris's own Samuel Bell Maxey. Work began in 1941, and the camp was activated on…
You're driving through Lamar County, and right here is the land that shaped William Owens. Born in 1905 in the tiny hamlet of Pin Hook, Owens overcame a spotty education, working to help his mother scratch a living from…
You're driving through what is now Lamar County, Texas, a land first scouted by John Eldridge Emberson back in 1816. He and five companions camped right here on a lake that still bears his name – Emberson Lake. Emberson…
You're driving through what used to be the Texas frontier, near Dial, in Lamar County. Right here, in 1836, Isaac Lyday built Fort Lyday. It wasn't a big, official army post, but a private fort, about a quarter-acre…
You're driving through Lamar County, and right here is the area where Samuel Moore Fulton set up shop in the 1820s. He was a merchant and steamboat operator, trading with Native Americans along the Red River. His…
You're driving through what was once Lamar County, where Cyrus Kirkham Holman built his life. Born in Missouri, he came to Texas in the 1840s, becoming sheriff and a major landowner right here. But when the Civil War…
You're driving through what used to be the heart of Texas's peanut boom! Right here in Lamar County, around 1906, commercial peanut production kicked off. Farmers here were growing peanuts, thrashing them, and sending…
You're driving through what was once Lamar County, and right here, Marcus George Settle was building a life. Born in Tennessee in 1819, he arrived in Texas around 1841, changing his name and farming the land. By 1850,…
Pin Hook is on Farm Road 195 eighteen miles northeast of Paris in northeastern Lamar County. The first settlement in the area took place on Little Pine Creek before 1836, some of it on grants from Arkansas Territory.…
You're driving through Lamar County, Texas, where Mitchell Henderson McCuistion served as a Confederate officer during the Civil War. He volunteered in 1862, joining the Ninth Texas Infantry. McCuistion fought in major…
You're driving through what is now Lamar County, a region that saw a lot of early Texas history. William M. Williams, known as 'Buckskin,' settled here in 1835. He was a lawyer, a soldier, and a legislator, serving…
Ambia, on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, Farm Road 1506, and Mallory Creek five miles southwest of Paris in southern Lamar County, was established in 1886 as a stop on the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe…
Arthur City is on the Red River at the intersection of Farm Road 197 and U.S. Highway 271 in extreme north central Lamar County. The town was founded by Capt. J. G. C. Arthur in 1886 as a stop on the St. Louis-San…
Atlas is at the intersection of Farm roads 2036 and 137, five miles northeast of Roxton and five miles southwest of Paris in south central Lamar County. It was founded in 1884 when the Texas-Midland Railroad began to…
Biardstown is on Farm Road 1497 six miles south of Paris in south central Lamar County. It was originally called Baird in honor of a founder, John W. Biard , whose name was miswritten Baird. The post office opened in…
Emberson, a small farming community, is just north of the intersection of Farm roads 1499 and 1500 and seven miles northwest of Paris in north central Lamar County. It was named in honor of founder John Emberson , who…
Garrett's Bluff is on Farm Road 1499 near the Red River and twenty miles northwest of Paris in northwestern Lamar County. The town took its name from Jesse Garrett, who operated a ferry across the Red River to Indian…
Gibson, also called Spring Hill, was at the intersection of Farm Road 195 and a dirt road twelve miles northeast of Paris in extreme northeastern Lamar County. The site had been settled by 1881, when the post office…
High is on Farm Road 1509 and the Missouri Pacific Railroad eleven miles southwest of Paris in southwestern Lamar County. It existed for many years before it received a post office in 1891. McDaniel High started the…
Howland is at the intersection of Farm roads 1184 and 137, on Justiss Creek four miles east of Roxton in southern Lamar County. The area was settled in 1880 as Pleasant Grove, but the name was soon shortened to Grove,…
You're driving past the historic grounds of the Lamar County Fair in Paris. Back in 1911, five local businessmen pooled one hundred dollars each to found this fair association. They even got a loan of property to get…
You're driving past Evergreen Cemetery, the final resting place for many notable citizens of Paris and Lamar County. The old town cemetery just got too crowded, so in 1866, community leaders formed the Evergreen…
You're driving through Paris, Lamar County, where a father and son built much of this town. John Winn Harrison arrived in 1886 from Alabama. After years as a carpenter, he partnered up, then struck out on his own around…
You're driving through Paris, Texas, and right here is where Travis Clack Henderson built his life. Born in Alabama in 1836, he moved to Paris in 1856 and became a farmer. He joined the militia and served as Captain in…
For all its French-flavored name, Paris, Texas sits squarely in tornado country, and on April second, nineteen eighty-two, that fact came calling in the worst way. A violent tornado rated F four, near the top of the old…
Roll the name of this town around, and it opens a door onto one of the loudest days in French history. On the fourteenth of July, seventeen eighty-nine, a crowd of Parisians in Paris, France stormed a grim old fortress…
You're driving past Paris Junior College. Henry P. Mayer, a member of the Paris Independent School District Board of Education, proposed the establishment of a junior college in Paris in 1992. He quickly gained the…
North Lamar, up in Paris, is picked fifth this fall in District seven, four-A Division Two — a district the preview expects Sunnyvale to cruise through, with the real fight coming for second. The full District seven…
Chisum (Paris, TX) placed on the 3A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Drake Howard (0.476 avg).
You're driving past the site of Lafayette, folks! This wasn't just any old spot; it was the very first county seat for Lamar County. Imagine a simple clapboard courthouse, built right here on land donated by John…
You're driving through Paris, and right here is the site of the Paris Lodge No. 27. Its charter, granted in 1845, was the very last one issued by the Grand Lodge of Texas during the Republic era. This lodge, founded as…
You're driving through Paris, Texas, the county seat of Lamar County. It wasn't always called Paris, though! Originally, this area was known as Pinhook. Lamar County itself was created way back in 1840, organized a year…
You're driving past Moore's Springs Cemetery. Levin Vinson Moore settled here in 1836, and his family's farmstead had a natural spring. The earliest marked graves date to 1873, and the cemetery was officially recorded…
You're driving past the site of Providence Baptist Church, organized in 1868 by John A. Fuller with about twelve members. Early services were held in the local Methodist church and schoolhouse, but Joseph Givens donated…
Just north of Reno, the landscape holds the memory of a city that appeared almost overnight and vanished just as quickly. In 1941, with war closing in, the Army picked this stretch of Lamar County for Camp Maxey, a…
Ten miles north of Paris, out in this same Lamar County countryside, the Army built a city from scratch. Construction on Camp Maxey started in 1941 and the camp was activated on July fifteenth, 1942 — farmland to…
You're driving through Lamar County, near Brookston, and you're passing through a living piece of Texas history. Back in 1841, when Zacharia Westfall was granted over a thousand acres here, this whole region was vast,…
You're driving past Antioch Cemetery and Church of Christ, established between 1846 and 1848. This was the first Church of Christ in Lamar County, founded by Elder Thomas Barrett. The pioneer Biard family, who also…
You're driving past the site of Camp Maxey, a massive World War II training ground that brought nearly 200,000 soldiers to this area. Originally requested to boost the local economy, the camp became a hub for two…
During World War II, the U.S. government built a massive training camp in the red clay hills outside Paris, Texas, and then filled part of it with the enemy. Camp Maxey opened in 1942 and at its peak housed over 45,000…
You're driving through Lamar County, not far from Brookston, where Joe J. Perkins was born in 1874. Perkins started with a general store in Decatur, but he built an empire, involved in everything from coal mining to…
You're driving through Brookston, Texas, a town that owes its very existence to a railroad delay. Established in 1870, Brookston became the temporary end of the line for the Texas and Pacific Railway when construction…
You're driving past the Smiley-Woodfin Native Prairie Grassland, the largest section of native grassland still existing in Texas. Imagine a prairie system that once stretched all the way to Canada! Since the 1830s, this…
You're driving past the site of the Biardstown School. The Biard family donated land for the first schoolhouse in 1867, which was replaced by a second building in 1885. The rural school eventually became part of the…
You're driving past Paris, Texas, home of George Washington Stell, Sr. He was a War of 1812 veteran who arrived in Texas in the late 1830s. Stell was a farmer, surveyor, and builder. He actually constructed the very…
You're driving past Shady Grove Cemetery, a resting place with roots stretching back to 1844. The first soul buried here was a young man named Young, who died on Tollet's Prairie. Knowing his end was near, he asked to…
Blossom, Texas, sits nestled in the rolling hills of Lamar County, not too far from the Red River, a place where the land feels old and stories run deep. For years, the town held onto its quiet charm, a place where…
You're driving through Blossom, Texas, a town that owes its very existence to the railroad. In 1876, the Texas and Pacific Railway laid down tracks, and this little settlement, then called Blossom Prairie, became a…
You're driving past Pleasant Grove, built in 1857 by Kentucky settlers Jas. Shelby and Mary Williams. They even dressed the lumber right here on site, using hand-hewn oak joined with bois d'arc pegs. Look for the native…
You're driving through Blossom, where the First Baptist Church was organized back in 1873 by the Rev. Sam Anderson. Early services met in a log schoolhouse, and baptisms happened in local ponds. The church has seen…
You might not expect a connection to the White House in a town this size, but a future Vice President of the United States went to school here. John Nance Garner was born in 1868 in a log cabin near Detroit, Texas, up…
Powderly, Texas, has a rich history that dates back to the Civil War era when it was first settled and known as 'Lenoir'. The town's name was changed to honor Terence V. Powderly, a labor leader and commissioner of…
You're driving past the home of Captain William E. Moore, built in 1871. Moore was a Civil War soldier and later served as a state senator during Governor Richard Coke's administration, a period that marked the end of…
The rolling Cross Timbers of North Texas, with their mix of open prairie and dense post oak forests, drew early settlers to what would become Bartonville. Farmers and ranchers, primarily from the Southern states,…
You're driving past the site of Rockford Church, founded by Cumberland Presbyterians around 1864. The congregation later affiliated with another church in 1925 before dissolving in 1958. The adjacent cemetery, opened by…
You're driving past the site of Shelton's Fort, built in 1837 by Jesse Shelton. More than just a log house and stockade, this was a vital way station for pioneer travelers and a refuge for settlers escaping Indian…
You're driving through Lamar County, and right here is the area where Eli Jenway Shelton, a Texas Ranger and state representative, grew up. His family settled here in 1837, building a fortress that became known as Fort…
You're driving through Roxton, Texas, a town with roots stretching back to 1837. It started as Fort Shelton, founded by Eli Shelton on Cane Creek. By 1853, it was known as Prairie Mount, complete with a post office. But…
You're driving through Mount Joy, Texas, past the site of what was once the home of Leroy Nelson DeWitt. Born in Virginia in 1840, DeWitt moved to Texas with his family in 1854, planting roots in this community. He…
Just south of Roxton runs the North Sulphur River, and it is not the river nature made. Back in the 1920s, landowners had a channel dredged straight down the middle of a slow, meandering creek, trying to drain the…
Roxton's heritage is a story of Black and white lives in the cotton belt. The town was founded by white settlers out of the American South, who brought their farming traditions with them. But the cotton kingdom they…
You're driving through Delta County, near the North Sulphur River. This area was first home to Caddo Indians before Euro-American settlers arrived in 1836. Many used this spot as a campground, and even before it was…
How does a place get a name as lovely as Poetry? It started as a practical matter. Back in the 1870s, this community was called Turner's Point, after Elisha Turner, who had settled here on the old Shreveport-to-Dallas…
The main roads you're driving in Poetry, Farm to Market 986 and 1565, cross right here, and they're part of a mid-century engineering project that kept thousands of small Texas towns alive. The state launched the Farm…
Once known as Turner's Point, the town that is now Poetry, Texas, saw its first post office and school established in 1858. In 1876, the community underwent a name change to Poetry, a suggestion by local merchant Maston…
As you drive into Deport, you have to wonder about the name. It sounds… unusual. And there's a good story behind it, though it's not the one you might guess. Despite how it sounds, no town ever got "deported" here. The…
As you drive through Deport, you're crossing an invisible but very important line. This town is one of the few in Texas that sits in two different counties: Lamar and Red River. The county line runs right through it,…
You're driving through Petty, Texas, a community that's had more names than a wanted outlaw. Originally called Lookout for its high ground, the name was changed to Dowlin by the railroad. Why? Apparently, passengers got…
You're driving through Lake Creek, Delta County, past the site of a man who helped shape this community: Thomas Wilson Stegall. Born in North Carolina in 1832, Stegall served in the Confederate Army before moving his…
You're driving past Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, a resting place with stories etched in stone. The earliest marked grave here belongs to four-year-old Sammie Bryan, who died way back in 1874. But this cemetery's history is…
You're driving through Lake Creek, Delta County, past the land once farmed by John William Wilson. Born in 1841, Wilson lived a remarkable life. He served the Confederacy during the Civil War, enlisting in 1862. At the…
You're driving through Lamar County, near Petty, where this spot used to be a landmark for pioneers. Up until the 1860s, this was a hundred-square-mile prairie, with the only trees being a grove of persimmons right over…
You're driving past Hickory Grove Black Cemetery, a resting place for former slaves and freedmen who settled here in the 1800s. Samuel and Dicie Swann bought this land in 1881, and Dicie's mother, Cherry Lee, is the…
You're driving past the Lee Cemetery, established by Herbert J. Lee's 1865 will. The earliest burials date back to 1860, with most graves from the 1870s and 80s. The last burial here was in 1913.
You're driving past the birthplace of a man who served as Vice President of the United States! John Nance Garner was born right here in Detroit, Texas, on November 22nd, 1869. Before becoming VP in 1933, he was a Texas…
You're driving through Deport, Texas, a town born from a simple need for water. Colonel Dee Thompson founded this spot on Mustang Creek in the late 1800s, aiming to give his horses a reliable watering hole. The…
You're driving near Detroit, Texas, the birthplace of John Nance Garner, better known as 'Cactus Jack.' Born in 1868, Garner would go on to become the 32nd Vice President of the United States under Franklin D.…
Detroit, Texas, a small town in Red River County, has a rich history that includes a connection to a significant figure in American politics. John Nance Garner, the 32nd Vice President of the United States, was born…
Hobart Taylor, Jr., attorney and civil servant, was born in Texarkana, Texas, in 1920 to Hobart Taylor, Sr. , and wife Charlotte Taylor. His father, businessman and civil rights activist Hobart Taylor, Sr., was the son…
You're driving through Detroit, Texas, a town that owes its existence to a railroad that never quite got there. Back in the early 1870s, settlers were banking on the Texas and Pacific Railway. When it finally arrived in…
You're driving past the site of the First Christian Church of Detroit. This congregation was organized in 1901 by the Rev. A. H. Darnell, who also served as its first pastor. He led the construction of this sanctuary…
You're driving past the Detroit home where John Nance Garner lived as a young lawyer from 1889 to 1892. From these roots, he launched an incredible political career, serving in the Texas Legislature, the U.S. House of…
(1868-1967) As a young lawyer lived, 1889-92, in this house owned by his parents. He rose from Uvalde County Judge (1893-96), to Texas Legislature (1898-1902), to U. S. Congress (1904-32), with a term as Speaker, House…
You're driving past Hickory Grove Cemetery, established by the 1850s as a community burial ground. The earliest marked graves date to 1852, including Mary Isabella Alexander, Franklin Day, and Nancy Smith. Many…
You're driving past Enloe, a town that grew up around the railroad in the late 1890s. The Methodist congregation here first met in the 1870s and moved to this location in 1896. Their first church building burned on…
You're driving through Ben Franklin, where this Methodist Church was founded in 1854. Early services were held in log structures, with circuit riders like Rev. Bennett Elkins serving the Sulphur Forks Mission. The…
As you drive through Cooper, look around – you're in the heart of Delta County! It wasn't always called Delta. The land here, shaped like the Greek letter Delta, sits where the North and South Sulphur Rivers meet. Back…
You're driving past the site of what was once Amy, Texas. It started in 1875 as Hobbs Thicket, settled by four Hobbs brothers from Mississippi. By the early 1900s, it was a bustling community with a school, general…
The town of Detroit, Texas, owes its name to a very pragmatic decision — and to one man's homesickness. This community grew up in the early 1870s along the route the Texas and Pacific Railway had surveyed, and when the…
The location of Detroit wasn't chosen for its beauty; it was determined by 19th-century engineering. When the railroad planned its route through Red River County, its surveyors weren't thinking about founding a town.…
You're driving through Cooper, Texas, and right here is where Littleton Rattan made his home. Born in Illinois, Rattan fought in the Black Hawk War before heading to Texas in 1839. He farmed this land in Delta County…
You're driving past Grant, Oklahoma, right in Choctaw County. This town has roots going back to around 1885 when Basil Gooding opened a store here. But what's really interesting is what happened in 1904. Right here, on…
You're driving through Red River County, near Detroit. Look for Bluff Cemetery, a historic resting place that began with a veteran's donation. Benjamin Weatherly, who fought in both the U.S.-Mexico War and the Civil…
You're driving past the site of Giles Academy, founded way back in 1859 by settlers from Giles County, Tennessee. They hired Thomas Hart Benton Hockaday, also from Tennessee, as their first teacher. He taught the…
You're driving through Tira, but this area was once known as Brushy Mound. It got its name from the dogwood brush that covered the land. By 1885, a school was founded here with Miss Mollie Wood as the first teacher, and…
You're driving past New Salem Cemetery, a final resting place for many of this area's earliest settlers. <break time="400ms"/> The story here begins with Philip Greenleaf Williams, who arrived in 1844 and built a…