Paris, TN (Henry County) Part I

[Rural King]

I thought I'd share some pictures of Paris, TN, which is well known for hosting the world's largest fish fry yearly. Its a picturesque Tennessee town with some great architecture.

Basic Stats:

City Population: 9,763 (2000)

Henry County: 31,115 (2000)

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Henry County Courthouse

Downtown/Court Square streetscapes

A pic that relates some small town goodness from a more first-person perspective.

This building I'm sure used to have to do with the railroad, my guess would be a hotel, but it might have been offices.

Again, not sure what this building was originally built for, but probably had to do with the railline. Its a stunning structure IMO.

Paris City Hall. Note the Catfish on the exterior wall.

Paris's Public Library

The Commercial Bank and Trust Building - The tallest building in Paris.

Another shot from a more first-person perspective.

Some pics of some downtown churches.

I hope you enjoyed Part I. Part II will be coming soon and will show downtown housing. Downtown Paris is full of great old housing and other structures. At some point I will show off Paris's Eiffel Tower too.

Feedback is welcomed!

[soverbey]

Wow I had no idea of what a gem the town of Paris is to Tennessee. I will have to stop the next time I'm near there, it's beautiful!

[Fellowmann20]

I went fishing near there once. Its a nice town, and it sort of reminds me of downtown Hernando, Mississippi. Thanks for the pics!

[Rural King]

Thanks for the nice responses guys. Paris is a definately very nice town worth a visit if you are ever in the area, not to mention LBL and all its great recreational opportunities are just up the road a few miles (US 79).

[Bears]

Thanks for those pictures RK. I've always passed thru part of Paris on my way to Murray KY but never really stopped to sight see. How similar are the two towns? I always saw Henry County licence plates at Murrays Walmart so I'm not sure if thats because Paris is small or people are just avoiding the tax.

[Rural King]

Murray is somewhat bigger than Paris, about 5000 more people; Paris a little over 10K, while Murray is at 15K. Murray is more prosperous and is growing very rapidly with retirees, people moving there to take advantage of a stable and growing industrial base (unique for the Purchase Region of KY), tourism, and alot of growth due to Murray State University. Paris has been fighting to keep its industrial base, is aided by tourism which offsets things a little, but is pretty stagnant overall outside of commercial growth at the moment.

People from Henry County, esp. from Paris and Puryear do so to get out of sales taxes, not because Murray offers that much more, because it doesn't really IMO offer substantially more retail, dining, etc that can't be found in Paris (whose commercial and dining options are aided by tourism). Lots of Henry County kids go to Murray State too, so that adds to the plates you see, although lots go to UT-Martin too, which is about an equal distance away.