Landscape Information
The village of Paris Hill was settled in 1779 and became the county seat when Oxford County was established in 1805. Resident Jesse Cummings deeded land for the common next to the Baptist Church, where court was first held. Between 1805 and 1826 surrounding the common, the county built a jail (originally of logs but replaced by a 2-story stone building), a jailer’s residence, a brick courthouse, and a Registry of Deeds building. Originally the common most likely consisted of rough turf with a few native trees, similar to others in Maine, and remained so for the following decades. Although no record exists of its design history, an 1887 newspaper article described moving a bandstand to the common near some elms. In 1909 residents installed a boulder with a bronze plaque as a memorial to native son Hannibal Hamlin, who was Abraham Lincoln’s vice president. Two other historical markers and a flagpole were added on the Main Street border, ca. 1970s.
The church was replaced in 1838; it remains today next to the one-acre common. A second courthouse was built in 1895 in the village center of Paris, making Paris Hill’s buildings obsolete. All except the church and jail were eventually converted to private residences, which remain today. The bandstand no longer exists. The jail is now home to a library and museum. Paris Hill Historic District, with 2,500 acres and 46 buildings, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
