City Sights

No. 0	The Monroe County Courthouse address Marker to Josephus Fox, Founder of Paris, Historical Museum, Historical Mural, John F. Kennedy Memorial, the courthouse building. It was constructed in 1912 of limestone, marble, and granite at a cost of $100,000 and in May, 1913, was ready for furniture. Built on site of original courthouse, it was the last domed courthouse built in Missouri. In the West Lobby is the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Memorial plaque. On it is a quotation from his inaugural address: "My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." In the lobby the Monroe County Historical Society has several items on display in its Historical Museum including relics of early days and paintings by Gordon Snidow, notable Cowboy artist, born in Paris. The Museum is located on the first floor of the courthouse. Admission is free. In the rotunda are four murals painted by Mrs. Doris Hill of Paris, each illustrating a 50-year period of the 200 years. The Great Seal of Missouri is featured in mosaic tile on the floor. A marker to the founder of Paris stands in the west front yard. It was dedicated in 1931 when the county observed its 100th anniversary. It was erected in memory of Ezra Fox, first white settler in Monroe County, born in Virginia in 1773, moved to Monroe County in 1819, died at Middle Grove in 1853; and to his son Josephus Fox, founder of Paris. The Veterans Memorial on the northwest courthouse lawn was dedicated in 1991. For more information, visit the Monroe County Courthouse page under Monroe County.	1960s circa Post Card compliments Homer Branham, Kansas City, MO
No. 1	Site of the Glenn House address Built before the civil War, it was headquarters for soldiers during the war as well as the Center for many social events for three quarters of a Century. Built in 1855 it had three stories of red brick with exterior walls of 14 inch solid brick and interior dividing walls of 9 inch solid brick, there were 31 rooms. All of the hotel facilities were on the send and third floors. There was at one time a drug store, a cafe and a cigar factory and other businesses on the second floor. The name was changed to the Jefferson hotel by John S. Pool. In 1921 it was bought by A. W. Benson & Son who operated it until Oct. 1968. Sold to Mr. & Mrs. Carl Mongler about 1969. In 1972 it was sold to the Savings Bank. Torn down in 1974 and the new bank built.	Jefferson Hotel Photos past & present
No. 2	Broughton House 313 E. Madison St. Probably the oldest building in Paris. The abstract shows that in 1831 J. C. Fox bought the land and built the house. Believed to be the original church building of the Baptist Congregation. It remained the property of the Baptists until after the Civil Ware in 1865 and Ben and Thomas Broughton purchased it. The house is be restored by its present Mr. and Mrs. Keaton Wheelan.	Broughton House Photos past & present
No. 3	Site of the Paris Covered Bridge address The Covered Bridge was built in 1857 over Middle Fork of Salt River. The builders were Joseph C. Elliot and son William B. Elliot. The bridge was a narrow Burr Arch structure, 100 feet long. It was restored in June 1952 by Roy Power and a strict weight and vehicle restriction was placed on it. In August 1958 the bridge was swept away by flood waters. Present bridge rests partly on stone foundation of the old bridge. Remains of the bridge exist downstream along the banks of the river. For more photos of the Paris Covered Bridge, visit Photo Gallery 5.	Post Card compliments Homer Branham, Kansas City, MO
No. 4	Three-Section Tombstone Founder's Cemetery, north edge of Paris Listed in Ripley's "Believe It Or Not". Possibly only one in the world to list three wives of one husband. For the three wives of Daniel Dulany. Jacintha D. Dulany Born Feb.22, 1822 Married Jan. 12, 1841 Died Dec. 24, 1842 Ann E. Dulany Born Sept. 6, 1825 Married Jan. 8, 1851 Died Jan. 4, 1853 Mary A. Dulany Born Feb. 1, 1822 Married April 14, 1845 Died Dec. 13, 1845 One inscription at base of stone for all three. Visit the Founders Cemetery Page for more information.
No. 5	Fox Street address The first street in Paris in 1831 when the site of Paris was selected. Founder was Josephus fox, son of Ezra Fox.	Fox St. Photos past & present
No. 6	Site of the old Meier House address The Meier House was built before the Civil Ware time. It was estimated there were around 50,000 bricks in the house. The house walls were solid brick, three bricks thick. It was owned by Mr. and Mrs. H. F. Meier, then by a daughter, then a grandson, Russell Brooks. The old house was torn down in 1969. Now a mobile home lot.	Meier House Photos past & present
No. 7	The Clay Mallory Home 318 W. Marion St. No exact date on when it was built but is probably the oldest building in Paris. The abstract shows that in 1831, J. Cephus Fox bought the land and built the house. Owned by Clay Mallory.	Clay Mallory Home Photos past & present
No. 8	The R. O. Osborn's Home or Grimes House 330 W. Monroe St. Built in 1889 on the Queen Anne style, two and one half stories high, a circular veranda on three sides of the house. Tradition is that it was the first or one of the first homes to have a bath tub. The bathtub was of copper with a wooden frame around it. Owned by Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Hultz.	Osborn/Grimes Home Photos past & present
No. 9	The Robert M. Burgess House 319 W. Monroe St. Built in 1860, a French mansard style containing eight rooms of solid brick construction, has huge hand cut stones for a foundation. Exterior plans are said to have been used in part fot the Governor's Mansion in Jefferson City. Mr. Burgess first settled on a farm near Goss. He was a buyer and a shipper of livestock. Owned by Mr. and Mrs. Tim Burnett, Jr.	Burgess House Photos past & present
No.10	Site of Flanders House address Built in 1831, possibly one of the first homes built in Paris. It was made of brick and wood. It was also the home of the first county court of Monroe County and the building in which the First Christian Church was organized in 1832. The old house had 14 inch solid brick outside walls, with solid brick division walls between rooms and was one and one half stories high with six rooms. On the west area of the grounds an ice house was built underground. Torn down and Senior Citizen apartments built on site.	Flanders House Photos past & present
No.11	Site of Effie Ashcraft Home address Built before 1859, the house was a log structure house on East Caldwell. In 1974 and 1975 the house sold to the Monroe County Historical Society. The building was torn down and the logs are to be used by the society to build a one room log house to use for display and other purposes.	Effie Ashcraft Home Photos past & present
No.12	The Male Academy East Monroe St. Built in 1850 located on Monroe Street north of the fairgrounds. There are 13 rooms and one of the back rooms has an inside well. There was space for 30 boarders. There is an old cemetery located west of the house, where persons who died during a smallpox epidemic in the 1850's were buried. Property now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Russell Herron. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
No.13	The Old Buerk Home 201 E. Caldwell St. Built in the late 1850's or early 1860's by Thomas and Christian Buerk. The Buerk brothers were from Germany. Thomas Buerk was generally supposed to have been the wealthiest man in Paris. Owned by Mr. and Mrs. Lyle Popkes.
No.14	Site of the Opera House address Built in 1888and 1889. now the site of the Paris National Bank. It was two stories high, the lower rooms were used by stores and the upper rooms for public meetings and entertainment. It was lighted by gas. Torn down and present National Bank built on lot.	Opera House Photos past & present
No.15	The Baxter Vaughn Home 117 East Locust St. Built by James McVey before 1865. Mrs. McVey's wife was Mary McBride, Daughter of Ebenezer McBride, who owned the first sewing machine in this area. Her sister Bina made her wedding dress when she married William Woods. He was the founder of William Woods College at Fulton, Missouri. Owned by Mrs. Nell Sebastian.	Baxter Vaughn Home Photos past & present
No.16	The Pioneer Home 208 W. Locust St. Building time not known. It is brick and each room has its own brick footing, the division walls extend to the ground. The old abstract shows this land was first issued to Hightower T. Hackney on April 19, 1830, the year before Paris was founded. Now owned by Mrs. Velma Stalcup.	Pioneer Home Photos past & present
No.17	The Judge D. H. Moss Home 403 W. Locust St. Built in 1884 in the Queen Anne Style, it was one of the handsomest and most complete residences in Northeast Missouri. The fine dental and cresting work on the top of the roof is quite ornamental. Some of the windows have French plate glass and are square with handsome lintel work and cove cornices. The home contains 11 large rooms, ranging in size from 14 by 15 to 18 by 16 feet. Now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Shatzer.	Judge D. H. Moss Home Photos past & present
No.18	Site of the Female Seminary West Locust Street Built in the 1850's, was located on West Locust Street where the homes of Mrs. Howard Harris and Miss Helen McKamey now stand. Alfred Wilson deeded the two lots to the City. It was still in session in 1867. Material from old building used in present Harris house.	Female Seminary Photos past & present
No.19	The Brace Home West end of Locust Street and turn left go ¼ mile (Rock Road) Built in 1850 the house was owned by Judge Theodore Brace, admitted to the bar at age 22, elected Colonel of the first regiment of Monroe County. In 1874 was elected to the State Senate and probate judge of Monroe County in 1878, and a Circuit judge in 1880. There are two large front rooms with hall between, each room has a fireplace, two back rooms are built as an ell on the west front room, with a veranda on the east and south sides of these rooms. They originally had 11 foot ceilings. There is a large curved oak stairway to the second floor four bedrooms. Mr. and Mrs. Elwood Raines purchased the home in 1957.	Brace Home Photos past & present
No.20	The Thomas Conyers House 122 Payne St. Built in 1845 by Thomas Conyers, a major in the Black Hawk War, who operated a grocery store in a building on the present site of the Monroe County Abstract building. The original house has rafters of saplings, with one side only hewed flat to hold roof sheathing, the rest of the saplings still carrying the original bark. Three of the original soft pine, wide board floors are in use. Original fireplace still used in living room. Interior walls of solid brick, each with its own foundation. North part added in 1905 has eight heavy curved glass windows on northwest corner. Owned at on time by Mrs. and Mrs. R. I. "Si" Colborn. Mr. and Jack Nichols are the present owners.	Thomas Conyer's House Photos past & present
No.21	The Old Buckner Home 526 South Main St. Built in 1871 by William Fitzhugh Buckner. Mr. Buckner died in 1929 at the age of 101 years. Mr. Buckner's eighty years of membership was the longest number of years in any Masonic Lodge in the United States. He was also the last surviving Veteran of the Mexican War. The original house contained eight rooms, a cellar, a large front veranda, large front and back halls, rooms were 16 by 16 feet. Around 1900 a bath and a room were added and a basement dug under the middle of the house for a furnace. Mr. and Mrs. Carl Bounds purchased the home in 1945.	Buckner Home Photos past & present
No.22	The Allen Home South edge of Paris on Highway 15 Built in 1869 by the grandfather of Dr. George M. Ragsdale, prominent Paris physician. The ground floor contains five large rooms. The baseboards are hand grained, with a walnut curved stairway, spindles and newel post, with four bedrooms upstairs. The front portico floor and steps were made of hand hewn rocks, as well as the foundation and the bottom window casings. Anne Carman is the present owner .	Allen Home Photos past & present
No.23	The W. B. Priest Family Home West of Paris on Business Highway 24. It was built prior to the Civil War. Of brick construction, its outer walls are solid, as well as the inner division walls. The porch has been restored.	W. B. Priest Family Home Photos past & present
No.24	Caretaker's Building Walnut Grove Cemetery north of Paris on Highway 15 The original building's design is Little Dixie Victorian architecture constructed around 1870. The round turret originally enclosed a water tower for storage of water. A directory has been placed at the entrance of the cemetery. For a Walnut Grove Cemetery directory, visit the Walnut Grove Cemetery pages.	Caretaker's Building Photos past & present
No.25	Union Covered Bridge Highway 24 west then south on Route C The only "Burr-arch" covered bridge left in Missouri is located near Paris. Named for the Union Church which once stood nearby. this 125 foot-long, 17 ½ foot-wide bridge was built in 1871 by Joseph C. Elliott for $5,000. Visit the ParisMO.net Union Covered Bridge page for more information. For more photos of Union Covered Bridge, visit Photo Gallery 5.	Union Covered Bridge Photos
No.26	The First Baptist Church North Main St. Built in 1917, it is red brick with a Greek porch. For more information on the First Baptist Church, visit our Churches page.	First Baptist Church Photos past & present
No.27	The First Christian Church Corner of Caldwell & Washington Streets Built in 1910, the gray brick structure is English Gothic Type. The bell that hands in the church hung in the steeple of the church in 1848. For more information on the First Christian Church, visit our Churches page.	First Christian Church Photos past & present
No.28	The Presbyterian Church West Caldwell St. Built in 1920 of red brick and features a Greek porch. For more information on the Presbyterian Church, visit our Churches page.
No.29	The First Methodist Church 207 W. Caldwell For more information on the First Methodist Church, visit our Churches page.
No.30	Paris Public Library 101 N. Main St. Built in 1917, it is red brick with a Greek porch. For more information, visit the Dulany Library page.
No.31	Main Street Main Street	1950s circa Post Card compliments Homer Branham, Kansas City, MO
No.32	Mark Twain State Park/Shrine Located at Florida, 10 mi. east of Paris at Highway 107 and Route U intersection The quarter-of-a-century old museum is a tribute to Samuel Clemens, who was born in the county and in later years used many of his childhood friends from the county in his books. Along with Twain's original birthplace, the Shrine possesses the author's invaluable handwritten manuscript of Tom Sawyer". Visit the ParisMO.net Mark Twain State Park & Mark Twain Shrine pages.
No.33	Clemens Family Mural Paris Post Office. W. Monroe St. It has hung in the lobby since 1940 and depicts the arrival at Florida in Monroe County, of the Clemens family before Mark Twain: was born. Fred G. Carpenter, artist.	Clemens Family Mural Photo
No.34	Rockwell Visit Monroe County Appeal Office, 230 N. Main St. (Open M-F 8-5) A reproduction of the Norman Rockwell painting "A Country Editor" completed in 1946, can be seen in the office of the Monroe County APPEAL at Paris. Rockwell came to Paris and used the APPEAL's editor, the late Jack Blanton, and other employees as his models. In April, 1945, Norman Rockwell came to Paris and spent three days sketching and photographing the daily routine of the Monroe County APPEAL. In the May 25, 1946, issue of the Saturday Evening Post, the full-color finished picture appeared along with an article about the "country editor," Jack Blanton. The original painting now hangs in the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Rockwell couldn't resist painting himself into the activity. He is seen coming through the door, pipe clenched, sketch paper under his arm. Shown standing to the right of the counter, talking to Mr. and Mrs. Ed Wood (Fernelle's parents), is city editor and reporter, Malcolm Higgins. Rockwell's visit came during the week following President Franklin Roosevelt's death on April 12, 1945. The man in the chair is reading the account of the president's death. The pictures on the front page are of Roosevelt and his successor, Harry S. Truman. Jack Blanton is depicted at the old manual typewriter he used to bang out editorials for which he was well known. Looking over his shoulder is Paul Nipps, the Appeal's printer. Dickie Wyatt, the printer's devil is dashing past secretary Fernelle (Blondie) Wood White. On the back wall above the desk is a picture of Blanton's father, B.F. Blanton, the founder of the Appeal. The gold-star service flag hands beneath a picture of Blanton's grandson, also named Jack, who lost his life in the Army Air Forces during World War II. While Rockwell did not paint in Paris, his detailed sketches and the over 100 photographs enabled him to recreate such minor details as the broken venetian bland and the missing light bulbs. A total of nine paints and sketches were published in a four page feature by the Saturday Evening Post.	"A Country Editor" 10"x 5" printable image for 8½" x 11" paper (77kb)
No.35	Bicentennial Tree 710 Cleveland St. The Pin Oak Tree is over 300 years old.	Bicentennial Tree Photos past & present
No.36	California Redwood Tree 460 W. Monroe St. It was brought by covered wagon from California in 1832.