Paris is a city in
Logan County, Arkansas
Logan County (formerly Sarber County) is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,131. Its two county seats are Booneville and Paris.
History
The Arkansas General Assembly defined the stat ...
, United States, and serves as the
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
for the northern district of Logan County; its southern district counterpart is
Booneville.
Its population was 3,176 as of the 2020 U.S. Census.
Geography
Paris is located in a valley near the
Arkansas River
The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in Colorado, specifically ...
in the
Ozark Mountain region of northwest Arkansas. Its
ZIP code is 72855.
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the city has a total area of , of which are land and (5.43%) is covered by water.
Demographics
2020 census
As of the
2020 United States census, there were 3,176 people, 1,418 households, and 923 families residing in the city.
2010 census
As of the
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2010, 3,532 people, 1,553 households, and 984 families were residing in the city. The population density was . The 1,713 housing units averaged 780 per square mile (146.0/km). The
racial makeup of the city was 92.5% White, 2.4% African American, 0.40% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 1.11% from other races, and 1.29% from two or more races. About 2.16% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race.
Of the 1,553 households, 28.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.0% were married couples living together, 13.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.6% were not families. About 33.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.91.
In the city, the population was distributed as 23.8% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 24.7% from 25 to 44, 22.1% from 45 to 64, and 21.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 79.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $25,424, and for a family was $32,409. Males had a median income of $21,955 versus $17,015 for females. The
per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year.
In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the city was $14,738. About 15.0% of families and 18.5% of the population were below the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 27.7% of those under age 18 and 18.7% of those age 65 or over.
History
Pioneers settled the area about 1820. The village of Paris was formed on the Old Military Road between
Little Rock
Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...
and
Fort Smith, and south of the Arkansas River. The Logan County seat, Paris, was named after the
French capital in 1874. Paris was incorporated on February 18, 1879.
The villagers constructed a one-story frame
courthouse
A courthouse or court house is a structure which houses judicial functions for a governmental entity such as a state, region, province, county, prefecture, regency, or similar governmental unit. A courthouse is home to one or more courtrooms, ...
. The town prison was constructed nearly three blocks from the courthouse, and remained the town's prison for many years. The prison now serves as the Logan County Museum.
Coal mining
Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...
flourished. In the 1890s, Paris was a bustling city of 800 people. Citizens boasted of two newspapers, a bottling-works company, nine general stores, and the Paris Academy. Coal mining was the community's main industry by 1917, but had declined by the '60s. As a result, community leaders sought to diversify the town's economic base. Today, the economy of Paris is benefitting from the presence of manufacturing facilities producing parts for the automotive and
aerospace
Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astron ...
industries. Farming and ranching remain among the largest industries in the county, and tourism got a boost with the construction and opening of a 60-room lodge and guest cabins on the top of
Mount Magazine, which is south of Paris. An estimated 400,000 people a year travelled to Mount Magazine State Park in 2008.
Paris' schools have seen a steady increase in enrollment. The high school and middle school switched campuses to complete a promise to the patrons that was made in 1988.
Several interests have been made in the area by
bauxite
Bauxite () is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)), and diaspore (α-AlO(OH) ...
mining companies looking to reduce the costs of
aluminum foil
Aluminium foil (or aluminum foil in American English; occasionally called tin foil) is aluminium prepared in thin metal leaves. The foil is pliable and can be readily bent or wrapped around objects. Thin foils are fragile and are sometimes ...
production.
Last hanging in Arkansas
Paris was the site of the last public
hanging
Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...
in Arkansas before the first
electric chair
The electric chair is a specialized device used for capital punishment through electrocution. The condemned is strapped to a custom wooden chair and electrocuted via electrodes attached to the head and leg. Alfred P. Southwick, a Buffalo, New Yo ...
came into use, in Little Rock.
In 1914, Paris was thrown into turmoil from the murder of a young girl from
Delaware, Arkansas
Delaware is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Logan County, Arkansas, Logan County, Arkansas, United States. Delaware is located on Lake Dardanelle at the junction of Arkansas Highway 22, Arkansas highways 22 and Arkansas Highwa ...
. A young man named Arthur Tillman was courting a girl named Amanda Stevens. She disappeared one evening from her home and was found about eight days later, partly submerged in water in a well on the farm of Ambrose Johnson. She was found with a large stone tied around her neck with telephone wire, a bullet through her head, and about a wagon load of rocks covering her body. The girl was believed to be alive when she was put into the well because her hands were filled with dirt that could only result from a struggle or attempting to free herself. On July 15, 1914, Arthur Tillman was hanged for the murder of his girlfriend, Amanda.
Today, the jail is a museum dedicated to Logan County history. Where spectators were located is now a road, joining to the main road,
Highway 22. Visitors can tour through the entire building, jail keeper's living quarters side and the jail side. It has many relics of Paris' past, such as farming equipment, clothing, and everyday objects from the settlers' lives, and exhibits of Native American, Civil War, and coal-mining artifacts.
Paris Express
The ''Paris Express'' was founded in 1880, one year after the community of Paris was established, and it is the oldest, continually operating business in the city. J.T. Perryman was the first publisher, and W.H.H. Harley was the first editor. During the next five years of its existence, it had several owners.
In 1885, the weekly ''Express'' was purchased from Charles Noble by William M. Greenwood, former publisher of the ''Chismville Star'' and an associate with the ''Fort Smith Daily Tribune''. Greenwood published the ''Paris Express'' for 46 years until his death in 1929.
Hugh and J.C. Park of the ''Van Buren Press-Argus'' purchased the ''Express'' from the Greenwood estate and then sold it a few months later to Wallace D. Hurley. Hurley published the paper until 1939, when it was purchased by John Guion and Robert Breeden. Guion was editor and publisher of the ''Express'' and a sister paper, the ''Paris Progress'', and in 1946 served as president of the Arkansas Press Association. At that time, the Paris company began publishing the Charleston and Greenwood papers.
The ''Progress'' was launched in 1910 and started out as a semiweekly. In 1920, it was renamed the ''Paris Progress'' and in 1927 became a weekly. The ''Paris Commercial Press'', which was only in business during 1937, became consolidated with the ''Progress''. It was also a weekly.
The papers were purchased in 1976 by Harte-Hanks Communications, Inc., of
San Antonio
San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...
, Texas. The ''Paris Express'' and the ''Paris Progress'' were combined into a biweekly bearing the name of ''Paris Express Progress'' in January 1977. The ''Paris Express Progress'' was sold in April 1988 to Westward Communications, a
Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
-based company.
The biweekly ''Paris Express Progress'' combined into a "super" weekly issue on May 17, 1989, called the ''Paris Express''. In July 1997, Westward Communications sold to Westward Communications, LLC based out of
The Woodlands, Texas
The Woodlands is a Special district (United States), special-purpose district and census-designated place (CDP) in the U.S. state of Texas in the Greater Houston, Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area. The Woodlands ...
.
Stephens Media Group purchased the ''Paris Express'' in March 2000. The company is based in
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
. During that timeframe The ''Paris Express'' had six full-time employees and a circulation of 3,600.
Area schools
Paris school district
Paris School District, the area school district,
has three public schools:
* Paris Elementary
* Paris Middle School
*
Paris High School
Private school:
*Saint Joseph Catholic School
Subiaco
Subiaco preparatory academy:
* Subiaco Abbey Academy
Points of interest
* Mount Magazine State Park has the highest point in the state of Arkansas.
* Logan County Museum is the restored jail and the site of the last state-sanctioned hanging in Arkansas. Prisoners were kept in an iron cage upstairs, while the jailor and his family lived downstairs. Displays on permanent exhibit at the museum include the history of local mining, the development and demise of the county's railroads, the history and impact of the Smith family of doctors, numerous Indian artifacts, and vintage quilts and other needlework. Main-entrance exhibit themes change monthly.
* Cove Lake Recreation Area is near Mount Magazine.
Local festivals
* Frontier Day - held on the first Saturday of October, Frontier Day celebrates the founding members of the city.
* Butterfly Festival - held the next-to-last weekend in June, it honors the multitudes of butterflies (both rare and common) found in the bluff region of Mount Magazine, founded in 1997. The initiative for the festival was spearheaded by June Gilbreath (fundraising and awareness) after the discovery of a rare species of butterfly — the
Diana fritillary
The Diana fritillary (''Speyeria diana'') is a fritillary butterfly found in several wooded areas in southern and eastern North America (primarily in the Arkansas River valley, several counties in South Carolina, spots along the Appalachian mou ...
butterfly that was previously thought to be extinct, but is found in abundance on the mountain summit. The species has since been designated as the official state butterfly of Arkansas. The festival is celebrated at two sites, atop Mount Magazine and in downtown Paris. Attendance has steadily climbed since 2002 with the 2007 event topping 10,000 people.
* Farmers Market - beginning in May, farmers bring fresh produce to the square for sale.
Notable people
*
James Bridges
James Bridges (February 3, 1936June 6, 1993) was an American screenwriter, film director, producer, and actor. He is a two-time Oscar nominee: once for Best Original Screenplay for '' The China Syndrome'' and once for Best Adapted Screenplay fo ...
, screenwriter and director of numerous films
*
Jon Eubanks,
Republican member of
Arkansas House of Representatives
The Arkansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Arkansas. The House has 100 members elected from an equal number of constituencies across the state. Each distr ...
from Paris since 2011
*
Paul Gibson,
NFL
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...
football player and NCAA hurdles champion
*
Zilphia Horton, community organizer, educator, and folklorist
*
R. H. Sikes, professional golfer, winner of two
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...
events
*
Bill Walters, lawyer and legislator
*
James Lee Witt
James Lee Witt (born January 6, 1944) is a former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) during the tenure of U.S. President Bill Clinton, and is often credited with raising the agency's level of professionalism and ability to ...
, director of
FEMA
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Exec ...
under
President Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the attor ...
*
Bob Wootton
Robert Clifton Wootton (March 4, 1942 – April 9, 2017) was an American guitarist. He joined Johnny Cash's backing band, the Tennessee Three, after original lead guitarist Luther Perkins died in a house fire. He remained Cash's guitarist for ...
, guitarist for
Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...
and the
Tennessee Three
References
External links
The ''Paris Express''online edition — the local weekly newspaper
Paris Area Chamber of CommerceParis School DistrictParis Community Profile on EPodunkParis, Arkansas on the Encyclopedia of ArkansasParis, Arkansas Post Office on the Encyclopedia of ArkansasMount Magazine International Butterfly FestivalCowie Wine Cellars museum and bed and breakfast, local vineyard and wine bottling
Paris Farmers Market
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Cities in Arkansas
Cities in Logan County, Arkansas
County seats in Arkansas
Populated places established in 1874
1874 establishments in Arkansas