The 1916 fire destroyed almost half the town and caused an estimated $11 million in property damage.

[7] In 1893, black teenager Henry Smith was accused of murder, tortured, and then burned to death on a scaffold in front of thousands of spectators in Paris.

[8] In 1920, two black brothers from the Arthur family were tied to a flagpole and burned to death at the Paris fairgrounds.

[8] In 1943, the U.S. Supreme Court in Largent v. Texas struck down a Paris ordinance that prohibited a person from selling or distributing religious publications without first obtaining a city-issued permit.

The Texas and Pacific reached town in 1876; the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway (later merged into the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway) and the Frisco in 1887; the Texas Midland Railroad (later Southern Pacific) in 1894; and the Paris and Mount Pleasant (Pa-Ma Line) in 1910.

Paris Union Station, built 1912, served Frisco, Santa Fe, and Texas Midland passenger trains until 1956.

[13] In the late-19th and early-20th centuries, several lynchings were staged at the Paris Fairgrounds as public spectacles, with crowds of White spectators cheering as the African-American victims were tortured and murdered.

His murder was the first lynching in US history that was captured in photographs sold as postcards and other trinkets commemorating the killing.

"[14] On July 7, 1920 Irving and Herman Arthur were burned alive at the fairgrounds before a crowd of 3,000,[15] their charred corpses then being dragged by a convoy of shouting white terrorists through Paris's African-American neighborhood as a warning to the Black community.

Two White men were arrested, but the prosecutor cited lack of evidence and declined to press charges, and no serious subsequent attempt to find other perpetrators was made.

Following this incident, an attempt by the United States Department of Justice Community Relations Service to initiate a dialogue between the races in the town[17] ended in failure when African-American complaints were mostly met by silent glares from White community members.

[12] A 2009 protest rally over the case led to Texas State Police intervention to prevent groups shouting "white power!"

[19] In 2007, a 14-year-old African-American girl was sentenced by a local judge to up to seven years in a youth prison for shoving a hall monitor at Paris High School.

[20] In 2015, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled after an investigation that African-American workers at the Sara Lee Corporation plant in Paris (closed in 2011)[22] were deliberately exposed disproportionately to asbestos, black mold, and other toxins, and also were targets of racial slurs and racist graffiti.

This is cooler than its southern neighbor Dallas, and while similar to Atlanta, Georgia, it has warmer summertime temperatures.

On April 2, 1982, Paris was hit by an F4 tornado that destroyed more than 1,500 homes, and left 10 people dead, 170 injured, and 3,000 homeless.

[29] In 2020, its racial and ethnic makeup was 56.6% non-Hispanic White, 23.06% Black and African American, 1.35% Native American, 1.42% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 0.23% some other race, 5.38% multiracial, and 11.88% Hispanic or Latino of any race, reflecting demographic trends of greater diversification.

Both campuses were operated jointly under the name of the Paris Regional Medical Center, a division of Essent Healthcare.

After the fire, Scott brought the architect Wees back to Paris to redesign the historic downtown area.

Paris is part of Texas's 4th congressional district, represented by Republican Pat Fallon.

The Texas Education Code specifies that all of the Paris city limits is in the community college's service area.

Texas A&M University-Commerce, a major university of over 12,000 students, is located in the neighboring city of Commerce, 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Paris.

[citation needed] However, those traveling north of the city can go into the Midwest on a four-lane thoroughfare via US 271 across the Red River into Oklahoma, and then the Indian Nation Turnpike from Hugo to Interstate 40 at Henryetta, which in turn continues as a free four-lane highway via US 75 to Tulsa.

[45] Dubbed the "Paris Metro", Texas Monthly has cited the town as a model for rural transport.