Patterson’s post office opened in 1909, and 2 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 22% of U.S. towns · #418 of 847 in California. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Patterson Branch Library and the Plaza Building. Most of Patterson was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2000. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1911 on, and the census since 1920.
Founding year: the first Patterson post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Patterson’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Patterson is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns, #418 of 847 in California. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Patterson’s overall grade.
Few California towns list much on the Register (a typical California town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Patterson’s 0.8 sits above most of its state (74% of California towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C+. The pre-1940 share (±0.9 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Patterson’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The Rancho Del Puerto Mexican land grant (1844) by Governor Manuel Micheltorena extended east of the present-day Highway 33 to the San Joaquin River. The northern boundary was Del Puerto Creek, and the southern boundary was just south of present-day Marshall Road. This early land grant marked the beginning of the area that would eventually become modern-day Patterson.
Passages that mention Patterson, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Stanislaus County California1921 · page 204Read the page →
Read the text
J. J. Rhea in the "Stanislaus County Prospectus," 1912, says in writing of the Miller & Lux System: "Four miles south from the town of Patterson is the end of the main canal of the Miller & Lux system which has for more than twenty years furnished water to more than 10,000 acres of Stanislaus land." This system irrigates all lands lying between the Southern Pacific Railroad and the San Joaquin River from the county land on the south to Crows Landing. The water is taken from the San Joaquin River near Mendota (elevation 175 feet) in Fresno County and brought across Fresno and Merced Counties into Stanislaus.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Stanislaus County California1921 · page 1291Read the page →
Read the text
was so employed until the devastating earthquake and fire, in 1906, when he went to Santa Barbara County and engaged in farming on Mission Hill. He devoted sixty acres to lima beans, and seventy acres to grain. In 1914 he came to Patterson and bought twenty-three and one-half acres at Sequoia and Vineyard, devoted to alfalfa, and placed there twenty head of milch cows. On April, 1918, he rented 300 acres at Westley, and that tract he farmed in connection with his Patterson enterprise.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Patterson, 1909 to 1970
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Patterson, census by census
Grew from 694 people in 1920 to 23,781 in 2020, more than tenfold.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Patterson’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Places now gone
Patterson’s post office has been open since 1909.
Gone or out of use
Patterson Airportairport
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Patterson’s history
What year was Patterson founded?
The Patterson post office opened in 1909, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Patterson rank for history?
Patterson is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns, #418 of 847 in California. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Patterson?
Two places: the Patterson Branch Library (listed 1990) and the Plaza Building (2004).
How old are the homes in Patterson?
2% of Patterson’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 2000.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (4), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
Date?
Date?
2023
2014