History: 

The flourishing and enterprising town bearing the above name is prettily situated, in a basin as it were, on a very high elevation of ground. It was named after the metropolis of France by David Huffman, who laid it out in 1831. On learning of a "New, Paris " in this State, he prefixed to it the Saint, to avoid any difficulty that might occur in mail matter. The lots were surveyed by the old pioneer surveyor, John Arrowsmith. The first house in the town was built by David Huffman ; a hewed-log house, standing on the northwest corner of Springfield and Main streets. It was a very neat piece of work, carefully made by Huffman himself, and was the pride of the neighborhood. The first frame house of any note was built by John Falkner, soon after the town had been laid out. It is now the American . Hotel, on Main street. Huffman was the first merchant, inn-keeper and Postmaster. William Rosebro was one of the early tavern-keepers, occupying the house known as the old La Rue Tavern. Jacob Protsman was the first blacksmith, and occupied a log shop on Main street. Dan Putman was an early grocer, located on West Main street. The town grew quite rapidly, and in the year 1845 it numbered nearly twenty houses. In 1846 or 1847, the Columbus & Piqua Railroad was built throught St. Paris, which gave it great advantages over neighboring villages, and it began steadily to increase, until it is now known as one of the live towns of Champaign County, and bids fair to rival others, its seniors in years. Some twenty-odd additions have been made since the original plat, and through the efforts of its many enterprising citizens it has become a town of fair population, studded with numerous churches, fine residences, business houses, banks and a good school. It also supports several manufacturing interests, among them carriage manufacturing, a tile factory, steam saw-mill, grist-mill, etc., and with its railroads and telegraph facilities, is in daily communication with the world at large. It has its three grain ware rooms, where 300,000 bushels of grain are annually shipped to the markets of the country. The American House and "U. S. " are the hotels of the town. The proprietor of the former is Joe A. Hellings. We were unable to get at the exact date of its incorporation as a town, but the year 1858 will not miss it far.