
There are 16 towns in the United States with the name “Paris”, but only 8 of them have a population over 1,000. Most, but not all of the Parises, were named after the city in France. The Paris in New York State, for example, was named for Colonel Isaac Paris, a major benefactor. There is one state with two Parises, Wisconsin, but only one of them has more than 1,000 people. A few of the towns named Paris in The US, like Paris, TN, have replicas of the Eiffel Tower to entertain visitors and honor their namesakes.

Of course, the largest Paris in the world is the one in France. We have been there a few times but not recently. It has a population of 2,148,000+. It’s impossible to keep up with population change. The 2nd largest Paris is the one in Texas with a population of about 26,000 and a French attitude. “Howdy, Y’all”. Its Eiffel Tower replica sports a red cowboy hat. We’ve been there.

There are four other very diverse Parises in the world. They are in Denmark, Panama, Kiribati and Ontario. Kiribati is an island in the Pacific that most people have probably never heard of. The Ontario Paris, which is reportedly very pretty, is fairly large with a population exceeding 12,000. There once was a Paris in the Yukon Territory during the Klondike Gold Rush, but it has completely disappeared.

There is a movie named Paris, Texas. Ruth has watched it and given it a fairly good review. I refused to watch it because it was directed by a respected German filmmaker named Wim Wenders, so how can it be authentic when it comes to Texas culture?

Hank
.