Windows of West Alley will offer vision of history in downtown Paris

PARIS, Tenn. — West Tennessee’s oldest city is bringing part of their history alive in a unique way.

It’s like looking into the past through four time portals with intricate stories detailing landmarks in Paris history.

“Our West Alley was built in 1899, so that means historically speaking we really don’t want to paint any of that brick, but fortunately folks bricked in their windows with new brick. So it gave us the idea to paint the windows,” Downtown Paris Association Executive Director Kathy Ray said.

They’re all a part of the Back Alley Paris Project, and combined they are the Windows of West Alley.

“When we started off, we started off just knowing what was in the buildings when we started painting them,” one of the artists, Dan Knowles, said.

The four murals are the Windows of West Alley, depicting historical events from the late 1800s and early 1900s on the west side of the courthouse square.

With everything from duels to doctors to dresses, brick by brick, it took the artists three months to finish.

“We are so thrilled that the city needed to repair alleys, and it is in their budgets to do it this year, which made sense for us to look at,” Ray said. “If we are going to redo an alley, let’s make it beautiful! Let’s make it entertaining.”

And these murals aren’t just telling a story — they’re bringing the community together.

“There have been hundreds and hundreds of folks who have come through this alleyway while we have been working, people that I would have never had the chance to meet in normal life that I got to meet,” Knowles said.

The alley will officially open Monday after the Grand Opening Ceremony at 10 a.m.