One story says that Charles Mitchell Innes, from Scotland, named the place for Paisley in his home country, in about 1873.

[6] Another informant stated that the place was named by Samuel G. Steele, also a native of Scotland.

[6] Archeological sites from the 1930s at Paisley Caves and 1966 at Fort Rock give the oldest known evidence for early Native Americans.

[7][8] Paisley is home to an annual Mosquito Festival that raises funds for vector control.

The group stages a play each year in the spring, either at the Community Center or the Paisley School Auditorium.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.44 square miles (1.14 km2), all of it land.

In 1980 on the Colahan Ranch in Paisley, a well was unintentionally drilled into a fault, revealing the hot water.

[11] After using the water for irrigation for a time, the Colahans invited the local electricity cooperative to investigate the well's use as a geothermal energy source in 2008.

[11] The plant was expected to come online in 2013 with a projected energy output of three megawatts using grants from both Federal and State governments for up to seven million dollars.

The racial makeup of the city was 97.98% White, 0.81% Native American, 0.40% Asian, 0.81% from other races.

[18] Recreational activities including hunting, fishing in the Chewaucan River, hiking in the nearby Fremont and Winema National Forests, hang gliding, rock hounding, and swimming in local lakes and hot springs.