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SITE OF OLD TOWN PARADISE PARADISE IS A SMALL INCORPORATED TOWN WITH A POPULATION JUST SHORT OF 500 AND LOCATED IN SOUTH CENTRAL WISE COUNTY. ONE OF THE EARLIEST SETTLERS IN WISE COUNTY WAS O. H. P. READ, WHO MADE HIS HOME HERE IN 1858. MANY PIONEERS BEGAN MOVING TO THE AREA, INITIALLY CALLED ELDORADO. WILLIAM M. ANDERSON OPENED A GENERAL STORE, AND SOON AFTER, OTHER BUSINESSES SPRANG UP TO SERVE THE COMMUNITY. A TOWN SQUARE WAS DESIGNED BY LOCAL SURVEYOR BEN BANKS, AND A WATER WELL WAS DUG ON THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF THE SQUARE. IN 1876, ELDORADO RECEIVED THE RIGHTS TO HAVE A POST OFFICE, BUT BECAUSE ANOTHER TOWN HAD CLAIMED THE RIGHTS TO THE NAME, IT CHANGED ITS NAME TO PARADISE PRAIRIE, LATER SHORTENED TO PARADISE. IN 1892, THE CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND & TEXAS RAILWAY BUILT A LINE FROM MONTAGUE COUNTY SOUTH TO WEATHERFORD IN PARKER COUNTY. THE RAIL LINE RAN THROUGH WISE COUNTY AND CAME WITHIN ONE MILE OF PARADISE. THE RAILROAD WAS A PROFOUND INFLUENCE ON THE SURROUNDING TOWNS. BECAUSE OF THE SHORT DISTANCE TO THE RAILROAD, RESIDENCES AND BUSINESSES BEGAN MOVING NORTHEASTWARD TO BE CLOSER TO THE LINE. BY THE EARLY 1900s, “NEW” PARADISE WAS WELL UNDER WAY WITH CHURCHES, HOTELS, A NEW CITY WELL AND SHOPS. BY 1927, MANY OF THE COTTON CROPS HAD BEEN DESTROYED AND “OLD” PARADISE CAME TO AN END. THE ONLY REMAINING STRUCTURE IN OLD TOWN PARADISE IS A PRIVATE HOME BUILT BY CONFEDERATE LIEUTENANT WILLIAM HALL JAY, WHO IS BURIED IN THE PARADISE CEMETERY. THE HOME SITS ON A CORNER JUST SOUTH OF THE OLD TOWN SQUARE AND IS A CONSTANT REMINDER OF AN EARLIER TIME. (2014) |
