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==History== [[Image:LoganCountyCrt.jpg|thumb|Logan County Courthouse]] Pioneers settled the area about 1820. The village of Paris was formed on the Old Military Road between [[Little Rock]] and [[Fort Smith, Arkansas|Fort Smith]], and {{convert|5|mi|0}} south of the Arkansas River. The Logan County seat, Paris, was named after the [[Paris|French capital]] in 1874. Paris was incorporated on February 18, 1879. The villagers constructed a one-story frame [[courthouse]]. The town prison was constructed nearly three blocks from the courthouse, and remained the town's prison for many years. The prison now serves as the Logan County Museum. [[Coal mining]] flourished. In the 1890s, Paris was a bustling city of 800 people. Citizens boasted of two newspapers, a bottling-works company, nine general stores, and the Paris Academy. Coal mining was the community's main industry by 1917, but had declined by the '60s. As a result, community leaders sought to diversify the town's economic base. Today, the economy of Paris is benefitting from the presence of manufacturing facilities producing parts for the automotive and [[aerospace]] industries. Farming and ranching remain among the largest industries in the county, and tourism got a boost with the construction and opening of a 60-room lodge and guest cabins on the top of [[Mount Magazine]], which is {{convert|18|mi}} south of Paris. An estimated 400,000 people a year travelled to Mount Magazine State Park in 2008. Paris' schools have seen a steady increase in enrollment.{{when|date=August 2019}} The high school and middle school switched campuses{{when|date=August 2019}} to complete a promise to the patrons that was made in 1988. Several interests have been made in the area by [[bauxite]] mining companies looking to reduce the costs of [[aluminum foil]] production. ===Last hanging in Arkansas=== [[Image:atillmanhanging.jpg|thumb|Arthur Tillman at the gallows]] Paris was the site of the last public [[hanging]] in Arkansas before the first [[electric chair]] came into use, in Little Rock. In 1914, Paris was thrown into turmoil from the murder of a young girl from [[Delaware, Arkansas]]. A young man named Arthur Tillman was courting a girl named Amanda Stevens. She disappeared one evening from her home and was found about eight days later, partly submerged in water in a well on the farm of Ambrose Johnson. She was found with a large stone tied around her neck with telephone wire, a bullet through her head, and about a wagon load of rocks covering her body. The girl was believed to be alive when she was put into the well because her hands were filled with dirt that could only result from a struggle or attempting to free herself. On July 15, 1914, Arthur Tillman was hanged for the murder of his girlfriend, Amanda. Today, the jail is a museum dedicated to Logan County history. Where spectators were located is now a road, joining to the main road, [[Arkansas Highway 22|Highway 22]]. Visitors can tour through the entire building, jail keeper's living quarters side and the jail side. It has many relics of Paris' past, such as farming equipment, clothing, and everyday objects from the settlers' lives, and exhibits of Native American, Civil War, and coal-mining artifacts. ===Paris Express=== {{Unreferenced section|date=August 2019}} The ''Paris Express'' was founded in 1880, one year after the community of Paris was established, and it is the oldest, continually operating business in the city. J.T. Perryman was the first publisher, and W.H.H. Harley was the first editor. During the next five years of its existence, it had several owners. In 1885, the weekly ''Express'' was purchased from Charles Noble by William M. Greenwood, former publisher of the ''Chismville Star'' and an associate with the ''Fort Smith Daily Tribune''. Greenwood published the ''Paris Express'' for 46 years until his death in 1929. Hugh and J.C. Park of the ''Van Buren Press-Argus'' purchased the ''Express'' from the Greenwood estate and then sold it a few months later to Wallace D. Hurley. Hurley published the paper until 1939, when it was purchased by John Guion and Robert Breeden. Guion was editor and publisher of the ''Express'' and a sister paper, the ''Paris Progress'', and in 1946 served as president of the Arkansas Press Association. At that time, the Paris company began publishing the Charleston and Greenwood papers. The ''Progress'' was launched in 1910 and started out as a semiweekly. In 1920, it was renamed the ''Paris Progress'' and in 1927 became a weekly. The ''Paris Commercial Press'', which was only in business during 1937, became consolidated with the ''Progress''. It was also a weekly. The papers were purchased in 1976 by Harte-Hanks Communications, Inc., of [[San Antonio]], Texas. The ''Paris Express'' and the ''Paris Progress'' were combined into a biweekly bearing the name of ''Paris Express Progress'' in January 1977. The ''Paris Express Progress'' was sold in April 1988 to Westward Communications, a [[Dallas]]-based company. The biweekly ''Paris Express Progress'' combined into a "super" weekly issue on May 17, 1989, called the ''Paris Express''. In July 1997, Westward Communications sold to Westward Communications, LLC based out of [[The Woodlands, Texas]]. Stephens Media Group purchased the ''Paris Express'' in March 2000. The company is based in [[Las Vegas, Nevada]]. During that timeframe The ''Paris Express'' had six full-time employees and a circulation of 3,600.
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