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History · Paris

Paris’ post office opened in 1855

Below: maps from 1972 on.

1855first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
1famous people
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Quick answers

How Paris began

When was Paris founded?

1855

The Paris post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 163171 years
Founding year: the first Paris post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Paris’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Paris are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Paris’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Paris’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Paris, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Paris yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Paris is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Lafayette County, Mississippi, United States. Paris is located at the junction of Mississippi Highway 9W and Mississippi Highway 315 10 miles (16 km) east of Water Valley. Pern the 2020 Census, the population was 163.

Its first post office opened in 1855.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Paris, 1855 to 1972

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1855Post officeThe Paris post office opens
  3. 1895Born hereTheora Hamblett is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1972On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Paris on the map, 1972 to 1990

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Paris. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Paris on the 1972 USGS mapParis on the 1984 USGS mapParis on the 1990 USGS map1972Paris sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Paris.

Questions about Paris’ history

What year was Paris founded?

The Paris post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.