Origin of the Paris Fire of 1916

Nobody settled how the fire began, and Neville's 1937 county history lists three theories. One was sparks from a switch engine igniting dry grass near the spur tracks. Another was burning trash blowing from the yard of what he called a Negro home nearby. A third blamed a truck driver's match dropped in the grass. Suits against the railroads proved nothing and no damages were paid. Insurance experts, Neville wrote, blamed a strong wind that held superheated air close to the ground, so brands lit roofs far ahead of the flames.

What the plaque says

Origin of the Paris Fire of 1916 On March 21, 1916, a fire swept through Paris that consumed 264 acres and 1,440 buildings and killed three people. Property loss was estimated at $11 million. Paris was founded in the mid-1840s, and many of the town's historic structures were lost in the fire including the Federal Building and Post Office, the Lamar County Courthouse and Jail, City Hall, numerous commercial buildings and several churches. Substantial rainfall in Paris last occurred 51 days prior, and winds gusting up to 60 mph that day likely contributed to the city's dryness. Although no one is certain how the fire started, it is known that there was a small trash fire burning near Sid Long's timber warehouse on SW 4th street and Frisco avenue, and an alarm was sounded at 5:30 p.m. The high winds quickly set fire to roof shingles in the surrounding blocks. Mayor Ed H. Mccuistion sent out appeals to nearby fire departments after he decided that widespread conflagration was imminent. Bonham, Cooper, Dallas, Honey Grove and Hugo, Oklahoma, answered the call, and the fire was under control by 3:30 a.m. Chamber President Henry P. Mayer prepared a sign for a meeting the following day that simply read "Smile." The slogan was adopted quickly and encouraged residents to rebuild the city with optimism. The Civic League, which had organized just two days before, shifted its focus from beautification to sanitation because the fire left many residents living in tents and shacks. Paris was reconstructed quickly with the help of out of town architects, local builders and citizens. Paris' reconstruction produced one of the best examples of architectural integrity and geographically-concentrated post-Victorian buildings in the United States. (2016)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Sam Bell Maxey House State Historic Site — 0.4 mi
  The Italian-villa-style house in Paris, finished in 1868 with a lawyer's fees, where a Confederate major general turned U.S. senator and two later generations of his family lived.
• Evergreen Cemetery — 0.6 mi
  Paris's town cemetery since 1866, with a carved-stone gallery that includes the Babcock monument in cowboy boots, and the grave of the three-year-old whose death led to the 1893 lynching of Henry Smith.
• Eiffel Tower — 2.2 mi
  A 65-foot Eiffel Tower with a red cowboy hat, built by the local welders' union in 1993 beside Paris's Love Civic Center.
• Cooper Lake State Park — 22 mi
  Two units on Jim Chapman Lake, a Corps reservoir proposed in the late 1930s, stalled by a lawsuit until 1984 and dedicated in 1991, with a 10.5-mile equestrian trail and wildlife land around it.

More markers nearby

• Mt. Canaan Baptist Church — 0.3 mi
• Burial Site of John S. Chisum — 0.5 mi
• Paris Fire Department — 0.7 mi
• Robert Cooke Buckner — 0.7 mi