Located on the corner of Lafayette Boulevard and Princess Anne Street, the Paris Inn was a well-known Black-owned gathering place in Fredericksburg, remembered as both a neighborhood social spot and a place where trouble could quickly erupt, especially in the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s. Civil Rights Trail sources identify it as being owned by Clarence Coakley, a prominent local Black businessman who also operated taxi cabs. The two-story building had been standing since before 1900 and had earlier housed other businesses, including a restaurant associated with the Calamos family, a poolroom run by Thornton Grayson, upstairs flats, and a barber shop, before its later demolition in 1976.