In 1830, when the founder of Paris, Hiram Capron, hired Lewis Burwell to survey what was to become the town of Paris, Capron envisioned a “lower town” and an “upper town”.
In the lower town, Broadway was to be the main business thoroughfare flanked by West River Street and East River Street. East River Street would later become River Street and finally Grand River Street North. Early in Paris’s history, the lower town was home to mills powered by the Nith and Grand rivers. It was also home to the mill workers. The mill owners lived up the hill to the north on what became known as Snob or Quality Hill.
The upper town centred on the east-west traffic on Dundas Street, the road built by Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada John Graves Simcoe. The road connected York with London. The section between Dundas and Paris is still known as Governor’s Road. The upper town was home to the first churches and schools in the town; the old Village Hall and later the Town Hall (now The Bawcutt Centre); as well as livery stables, taverns and hotels patronized by those travelling by horse and stage coach along Dundas Street. Main Street is one block south of Dundas Street in an area developed by Robert Roseburgh.
As travel by train became the norm and the mills and businesses in the lower town grew in importance, the upper town’s importance faded. Grand River Street North eventually became the centre of commercial activity in the town. The area surrounding Main Street is now primarily residential.