St. Paul Baptist Church was organized in 1867 and was one of the founding churches of the Zion District Baptist Association in 1872. Its original pastor, the Rev. Elisha Barnes (1811-95), served 20 years and led the congregation in building its first church about 1876. The Rev. C. N. Hampton, pastor from 1895 to 1920, oversaw the erection of a brick edifice that was lost in the 1916 Paris fire. The present church was finished under the Rev. J. H. Harris. Other pastors were W. M. Conner, L. M. Luke, C. B. Martin, S. A. Tillman, J. R. Miner, L. V. Bolton, J. A. Brown, M. J. Stewart, B. S. Peoples, T. J. Houston, L. K. Kimbrough, E. Rhodes, V. C. L. Coleman, J. E. Coby, S. K. Bizzell, H. M. McCown, L. H. Brown, W. E. Bradford, and W. S. Wright.