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History · Patoka

Patoka’s post office opened in 1854, and 34% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1974 on and the census since 1880.

1854first post office
0on the National Register
34%homes built before 1940
3famous people
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Quick answers

How Patoka began

When was Patoka founded?

1854

The Patoka post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 444 in 18802020 census: 525172 years
Founding year: the first Patoka post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Patoka’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Patoka are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Patoka’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Patoka’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Patoka came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Patoka.

Read it all →

The village was named after a local Native American chieftain.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Patoka in 1909

Passages that mention Patoka, cut from the printed page as they were published.

The Altom family was founded by John Altom, who came from Tennessee with his father to Clinton county in 1842. He moved to this county and settled in Patoka township. He died in the village of Patoka in 1877, leaving a large number of descendants.
Brinkerhoff's history of Marion County, Illinois1909 · page 174Read the page →
Read the text

The Altom family was founded by John Altom, who came from Tennessee with his father to Clinton county in 1842. He moved to this county and settled in Patoka township. He died in the village of Patoka in 1877, leaving a large number of descendants.

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

Patoka, 1854 to 1992

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1854Post officeThe Patoka post office opens
  3. 1857Born hereJames Wickersham is born here
  4. 1873Born hereJames L. Hull is born here
  5. 20th century
  6. 1974On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1992Born hereDrew Baldridge is born here
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

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On the map

Patoka on the map, 1974 to 1985

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Patoka. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Patoka on the 1974 USGS mapPatoka on the 1985 USGS map1974Patoka sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Patoka.

People over time

Patoka, census by census

010020030040050060070018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 682

Between 444 and 682 people in every census since 1880.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Patoka’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

3 famous people were born in Patoka

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
James WickershamAmerican politician · b. 1857
Drew BaldridgeAmerican country singer · b. 1992
J
James L. HullUnited States Navy Medal of Honor recipient · b. 1873

Questions about Patoka’s history

What year was Patoka founded?

The Patoka post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

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 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 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.