Paris, Michigan
May 26, 2022
Paris is an unincorporated community and the largest settlement within Green Charter township at 43°46′24″N85°30′09″W on the Muskegon River about 5 miles north of Big Rapids -- home of Ferris State University. John Parish is considered the "father" of the village, having arrived in the 1850s and then platted the village in 1865. It was at first named Parish after him, but the name later became Paris. A fire on May 26, 1879 destroyed a large portion of the village, including records of Green Township. The Paris ZIP code, 49338, serves the northwest portion of Green Township. Paris Park, north of town, was the site of the second fish hatchery in the state of Michigan. The Paris Fish Hatchery opened in 1881, and from 1913 to 1938, salmon and brown trout fingerlings were shipped by rail baggage cars in milk cans painted a distinctive red. The Works Progress Administration renovated and expanded the facility in the mid-1930s. The hatchery operated until 1964, and in 1972 was acquired by the Mecosta County Park Commission and refurbished as a park that reopened in July 1976. In 1980, students from the Mecosta-Osceola Career Center in Big Rapids built a 20-foot-tall replica of the Eiffel Tower out of metal frames from WPA workers' beds that had been stored in barns.