Paris

Paris was the first community settled in the Bear Lake Valley. The pioneers arrived on September 22, 1863 through Emigration Canyon from Franklin. They were led by Apostle Charles C. Rich. The first people to arrive were John Poole, Charles Adkins and his wife Ann, Cass Whittle, William Harris, Lewis Ricks, Thomas Sleight, Thomas Mantle, John Bright, Ebenezer Landers, J. Bowman, Alan Allen and Manson Fiefield. They came in nine wagons. Others came that winter, making 118 people in all. They built 20 cabins. In the spring, 700 more people arrived.

Frederick T. Perris, a civil engineer, was brought to Paris in the fall of 1864 to survey the town. The town was named Perris after him, which evolved into the current spelling of Paris. The city was incorporated in 1897 with John U. Stucki as Mayor and J. R. Shepherd, Arthur Budge, Christian Fuller, Charles Innes, A.F. Segmiller, Walter Hoge, Wilford Rich, and Thomas Monson on the council. The population once reached 1,200.

When the county was organized in 1875, Paris became the seat of Bear Lake County. Prior records were sent to Soda Springs and the Oneida County courthouse at Malad. Along with the Bear Lake communities, other communities, including Randolph, Woodruff, Laketown, and eventually Star Valley, Wyoming, were governed from Paris. A county courthouse was completed in 1885. The building was one of Idaho's oldest county courthouses. Architect Truman O. Angell designed the building in the Italian Renaissance Revival style. It was torn down in 2021.

The first church meetings were held in homes and then progressed to a log meeting house and school built just south of the Tabernacle. The Bear Lake Stake was the first Latter-day Saint Stake outside of Utah and was organized in Paris from wards ranging from Woodruff, Utah, to Soda Springs, Idaho, and Star Valley, Wyoming. Charles C. Rich was the first leader, and David Kimball was the first stake president. William Budge replaced Kimball in 1877. Budge was a dominant leader for all the towns. The Bear Lake Stake Tabernacle was begun in 1884 and finished in 1888 at the approximate cost of $50,000. At a choir practice for the dedication, one of the oil lamp wicks caught the sustaining rope on fire, and the lamp fell to the ground, burning some of the choir loft and podium area. The building was repaired, and the dedication was held in September 1889. Today, the tabernacle is still used for stake conferences, graduations, and other church programs. Tours throughout the summer months are also conducted.

Schools were started in log structures, and then were replaced by a red brick building called Emerson Elementary School. The Fielding Academy offered education beyond high school. It was dedicated April 27, 1896. After classes in the academy ended in 1922 due to afire, Fielding High School served the town until consolidation in 1967. The communities needed to be self-sustaining, so Frances Pomeroy built a flour mill with grinders of native stone. A tannery, shingle mill, saw mill, lath factory, harness factory, dairy co-op and blacksmith shop were also established. The first newspaper, called the Bear Lake Democrat, was started in 1881, with George Osmond as the first editor. The name of the paper was later changed to the Paris Post. The first telegraph line came in 1871, telephones in 1901 and electric power in 1902.

Today, Paris is a nice clean town with a few businesses, a museum and a wonderful tabernacle with great tours. A walking tour of Paris can be taken. Many homes, as well as the homes of Charles C. Rich are marked and are still lived in. The tabernacle and the statue of Rich were refurbished in 2006.

Every year on the Fourth of July, past residents and visitors "come home" to Paris for a huge patriotic program held in the tabernacle, a pancake breakfast in Memory Park, a parade down mainstreet and a junior rodeo held at the fairgrounds in Paris.

Resources:

J. Patrick Wilde, Treasured Tidbits of Time, Vol. 1
History of the Bear Lake Pioneers