 | Historical Marker |
- The Bethel House: James Nimmo arrived in Paris in 1833 and by 1836, he had purchased from the Crown, a large acreage on the 2nd Concession, Brantford Township. It was on Lot 15 in the 1850s that a cobblestone Regency cottage was built on a ridge overlooking the Grand River. The French door on the vestibule which was built out from the house, the French windows and the cobblestone gave the house a welcoming feeling. Because the basement was fully finished in brick, it accommodated six rooms, one containing a fireplace with irons and strong hooks in the ceiling. The property changed hands several times until 1975 when a gravel company purchased it and the cobblestone house was demolished.
- Cobblestone Buildings in Paris, Ontario, By Kay Tew Marshall
Whatever claim Paris may have to architectural merit in Ontario, today, exists in twelve houses and two churches built of masonry broadly termed "cobblestone." The art of cobblestone masonry was brought to Paris by an American, Levi Boughton, who came here from Normandale, Albany County, New York State, in 1838, with his wife, Sida Mann.
Mr. Boughton's craft was very far from new, having been introduced into Briton nearly 2,000 years ago, by the great Roman builders. Cobblestone construction survived in England and one or more masons are believed to have brought it from there to New York State, where several hundred cobblestone houses are still extant.
Intricate in design and expensive to build because of the time involved, the masonry consists of horizontal rows of small, round, smooth, glacial-deposit stones set in mortar with a line of mortar in between the rows and often points of mortar between each stone. This facing is tied into a solid rubble wall by every fourth or fifth stone which is longer.
In the eastern United States, mainly around Rochester, New York, cobblestone houses were built over a period of about 60 years beginning in the early eighteen hundreds, However, Boughton's arrival here was toward the end of cobblestone's popularity so the building period in Paris and district lasted a scant 20 years.
The houses were too expensive to build as it took many months to size the stones and lay the courses (rows) on the walls, so they were soon supplanted by the square-cut, stone houses built by a group of Scottish masons of this district.
In and around Rochester, cobblestone houses are regarded with pride and provide one of the attractions for tourists. They have been a subject of study by architects and artists and several are State owned and preserved. In Ontario, where Paris has the largest single known group of these houses, they are relatively unrecognized for their beauty and rarity.
Fortunately, the better ones locally, notably Hamilton Place, on Grand River North, the Montieth House, on Broadway, and Levi Boughton's own original home on the corner of Queen and Ball Streets, have fallen into good hands and are in an excellent state of preservation.
Of particular interest is St. James' Anglican Church, which was the first cobblestone building in Paris, and the Paris Plains Church, north of the town, built by a group of pioneers from stones gathered from the fields of their own farms.
Of Levi Boughton, himself, little is known except that he lived out his life in Paris, becoming a man of property. He had sixteen children, yet curiously, not one of his descendants now lives in Paris. Boughton is forgotten; but his houses still stand firm, a memorial to his fine craftsmanship and a reminder of the early cultural development of the town.
