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West Paris is a town in Oxford County, Maine, United States. Originally settled in 1771 for land that what was deemed "superior for pasturage, hay crops, and orchards", West Paris became a center of Finnish immigrant settlement in the 19th century, with many if the town's current residents being descendants of the original Finnish settlers The population was 1,766 at the 2020 census.
History
thumb|upright|left|West Paris, from Charles Alden John Farrar's Camp Life in the Wilderness, c. 1892
It began as part of Paris, granted by the Massachusetts General Court in 1771 to Captain Joshua Fuller and his company of 64 soldiers as payment for their service to the colony. First settled in 1779, the land was considered superior for pasturage and hay crops, and orchards were large and productive.
On November 4, 1773, when the Proprietors were lotting out the township, they held a meeting at Coolidge Tavern in Watertown, Massachusetts and they voted that there be reserved for the use of the proprietors their heirs and assigns forever two rods in width on the eastward side of every range line through the length of the township for the conveniency of ways if it shall be needed, establishing rangeways to prevent landlocking and segregation in the township of Paris and West Paris.
In September 1957, West Paris was set off and incorporated as a town. Parts of West Paris act as a drainage basin for the Little Androscoggin River.
West Paris is home to Snow Falls, a 40-foot waterfall that drops into a gorge created by the Little Androscoggin River.
The town is crossed by state routes 26 and 219.
Climate
thumb|upright|left|[[Arthur L. Mann Memorial Library in 2013]]
This climatic region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, West Paris has a humid continental climate, abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps.