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Paris was the first county seat of Linn County, Kansas, United States. It once had a population of about 300 or 400 people and was abandoned in the 1860s. It was a rallying point for pro-slavery men during Bleeding Kansas.

History

Paris was named for Paris, Kentucky, the former home of James L. Barlow, "a lawyer of considerable ability" and a slave owner, one of the town's most prominent citizens. James P. Fox, "by profession a lawyer, but without much ability in this line beyond a vocabulary of invective, abuse, and an abundant supply of cuss words", one of the earliest settlers of the county, the first treasurer of the county, and a pro-slavery man elected to both the Big Springs and Topeka conventions, settled in the area. In 1856 he used his influence to have his claim selected as the town site for Paris and the county seat. The Paris Town Company was incorporated by a special act approved February 14, 1857, and consisted of James P. Fox, John H. Tate, I. T. Glover, and Luke Grimes. In the summer of 1858 one of the murderers of the Marais des Cygnes massacre, Charles Matlock, was arrested and taken to Paris, where he managed to escape his guard, never to be captured again. The first Republican Convention in Linn County convened at Paris on March 12, 1859.

Paris lost an election to decide the location of the county seat to Mound City on November 8, 1859, in a 471–508 vote. The clerks for the probate court, county court, and district court refused to move county records to Mound City. Eventually John T. Snoddy went to the probate judge, D. W. Cannon, and persuaded him to write an order for Snoddy to bring the records to Mound City. Fifty men were organized to march on Paris and J. H. Trego was sent with a team to retrieve a cannon from Osawatomie. About December 1, 1859, the forces of Mound City, led by Charles R. Jennison, set up the cannon before daylight in a position "so as to rake the court house and business blocks, in case the records were not immediately forthcoming on demand." The Parisians awoke taken by surprise and were initially in denial of the knowledge of the records whereabouts. The town was given some time, and threatened that "at the expiration of the time, if they were not produced, firing would begin from the howitzer, and the town blown to atoms." Just before the expiration of this time, the records were drawn out from someone's bed.

The town decayed rapidly after it lost the county seat, and in only a few years, hardly a ruin was left to tell where it was. In 1866 or 1867 it was almost entirely abandoned as a town.

Notable inhabitants

• Robert Byington Mitchell – settled in Paris in 1857

References

1. ^ Stearns 1912, p. 430.
2. ^ Cutler 1883, p. 1102.
3. "James P. Fox". Kansas Bogus Legislature. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
4. ^ Cutler 1883, p. 1116.
5. Cutler 1883, p. 1105.
6. ^ Stearns 1912, p. 432.
7. Cutler 1883, p. 1107.
8. Cutler 1883, p. 1103.
9. Stearns 1912, p. 431.

Sources

• Cutler, William G. (1883). Andreas, Alfred Theodore (ed.). History of the State of Kansas: Containing a Full Account of its Growth from an Uninhabited Territory to a Wealthy and Important State; Of its Early Settlements; Its Rapid Increase in Population and the Marvelous Development of its Great Natural Resources. Also, a Supplementary History and Description of its Counties, Cities, Towns and Villages, Their Advantages, Industries, Manufactures and Commerce; To Which are Added Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Prominent Men and Early Settlers. Chicago: A. T. Andreas. OCLC 1157121756 – via the Internet Archive.
• Stearns, J. H. (1912). "Paris, Linn County". In Martin, George W. (ed.). Collections of the Kansas State Historical Society, 1911–1912. Embracing Addresses at Annual Meetings; Some Review of Fifty Years; The Withdrawal of the Methodist Church, South, from Kansas; Blizzards, Earthquakes and Rainfall; The Kansas School Fund; The Route of Coronado; Crossing the Plains; The Soldier in Kansas; First Kansas at Wilson's Creek; A Beecher Island Diary; An Indian Fight in Ford County; First Capital of Territory; Lost Towns and Names; Personal Narrative. Vol. XII. State Printing Office, Topeka. pp. 430–432 – via Google Books.

v t e Municipalities and communities of Linn County, Kansas, United States
County seat: Mound City
Cities	Blue Mound La Cygne Linn Valley Mound City Parker Pleasanton Prescott
CDP	Centerville
Unincorporated communities	Boicourt Cadmus Critzer Farlinville Goodrich Mantey Trading Post
Ghost towns	Hail Ridge Keokuk Linnville Moneka Paris
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• Geography of Linn County, Kansas
• Ghost towns in Kansas
• Former county seats in Kansas