This article is the first in Global News’ Ontario road trips series, offering getaways to some fun locales across the province. Most Ontarians are aware that there is a London in Ontario but many are probably unaware that there is also a Brussels, a Copenhagen, a Vienna, a Moscow and an Athens among dozens of other towns and cities named after European cities. Heck, Kitchener was originally named Berlin.
That said, if you are only able to pick one Euro capital to visit in Ontario, it should probably be Paris. The quaint community, which is located at the intersection of the Nith and Grand rivers in Brant, is often billed as the “prettiest little town in Canada.” Whether that is the case or not, you can take a visit their yourself to decide.
Story continues below advertisement What’s in a name? The area was initially called The Forks of the Grand River before an American named Hiram Capron bought up much of the land and chose to settle there in 1829. View image in full screen The downtown of Paris, Ont., sits right along the banks of the Grand River.
Kevin Nielsen / Global News Capron, who is credited with building much of Paris’s early infrastructure, is also the one who chose the name. There are large deposits of gypsum located along the river that are used to create plaster of Paris. The Paris Museum and Historical Society says that alongside that, Capron also envisioned his town being as beautiful as the original in choosing the name.
By 1841, Paris had grown to .
