Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1951 on and the census since 1880.
The Patterson post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Pattison (1872), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Patterson’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Patterson.
Patterson was laid out in 1872. It derives its name from Alexander Pattison, the original owner of the town site, but the name was misspelled on the plat and stuck.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Patterson, cut from the printed page as they were published.
PATTERSON Patterson lies on the southwest quarter of section 29, Crawford Township, and was laid out by A. W. Wilkinson, surveyor, for Alexander Pattison, March 5, 1872. The intent of the owner was to name the town Pattison, but the name was misspelled when the plat was filed for record and that accounts for it being as it is. The town lies something Over seven miles east of Winterset on the Des Moines branch of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, and has a population of about 150. About the year 1890 it had grown in population to the number
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Annual reunions have been held since that time and with one or two exceptions, when it was held at Patterson, the meetings have been held in the vicinity or within the Town of St. Charles, where the society was organized. Reunions are usually held during the month of August. Many look forward to this day as a day of meeting old friends and neighbors, and there congregate annually in the grove north of the Opera House, now owned by the Park Association, from one to three thousand people. Those who have been chosen president since 1902 are as follows: C. W. Faust, Dr. f. Roberts, Lewis Kimer, R. D.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
2025PattersonIowaCommunityCenter
2025EltonTommyFauxMemorialPlaygroundPattersonIowa
2024Central Iowa to move (23)
2024Central Iowa to move (22)
2024Central Iowa to move (21)
2024Central Iowa to move (20)
2024Central Iowa to move (19)
2024Central Iowa to move (18)
2024Central Iowa to move (17)
2004IAMap-doton-PattersonThe U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Patterson.
1951St Charles sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Patterson.
Between 120 and 186 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Patterson’s Wikipedia page.
Patterson’s post office has been open since 1872. Another post office, Pattison, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Patterson post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (10), Wikipedia, 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 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.
