Business View Civil and Municipal | June 2022

40 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 6 have a large collection of buildings that were all built in 1917 because we had devastating fire in 1916. That makes our downtown square very distinctive. We have lots of rehabilitation going on in those old buildings right now and new business coming.” Paul Allen, President of the Lamar County Chamber of Commerce, grew up in Paris, raised his children in the city, and now is enjoying watching his grandchildren grow up there. He recounts, “I have seen the progress and the ups and downs of Paris and Lamar County. I think that we are in a time that is very exciting right now, just because of the development that’s taking place, the new retail that’s coming into town… we have more people moving into Paris and Lamar County than we’ve had a in a long time, but what makes this place special to me are the people.” Paris is the county seat of Lamar County and has a population of approximately 25,000 residents. The Mayor boasts, “We have a lot of friendly people. We just had a grand opening and ribbon cutting for a new business here about two to three weeks ago, and the management that had come from out of town was amazed at the number of people who showed up, including chamber members and ambassadors that supported their ribbon cutting, I heard Mr. Allen say, when speaking about being impressed with the turnout, ‘Well, get used to it you’re in Paris now.’” AT A GLANCE PARIS, TEXAS WHAT: A friendly, growing city of 25,000 WHERE: County seat of Lamar County in northeast Texas WEBSITE: www.paristexas.gov