Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Patterson Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Patterson Township

Patterson Township’s post office opened in 1880, and 59% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1930 on and the census since 1900.

1880first post office
0on the National Register
59%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Patterson Township began

When was Patterson Township founded?

1880

The Patterson Township post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Drake (1902), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 213 in 19002020 census: 404146 years
Founding year: the first Patterson Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Patterson Township’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 Patterson Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Patterson Township’s homes were built before 1938.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Patterson Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Patterson Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Patterson Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Patterson Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Wilmington (Patterson) is a village in Greene County, Illinois, United States. The population was 91 at the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1880. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 636 to 404 (-36%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Drake, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Grand PassHanks StationMcClay Orchard
Gone or out of use
Bishop Dale SchoolschoolCoates SchoolschoolHillview Number 1 QuarrymineHoward SchoolschoolLovelace SchoolschoolLower Sand Ridge SchoolschoolOak Grove SchoolschoolSwamp College SchoolschoolUpper Sand Ridge Schoolschool
7cemeteries and burying grounds inside Patterson Township
BluefieldHanksJohnsonPaarPine TreeRawlinsSmith

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Timeline

Patterson Township, 1902 to 1930

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1902Post officeThe Drake post office opens
  3. 1918Post officeThe Drake post office closes
  4. 1930On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Patterson Township on the map, 1930 to 1980

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

Patterson Township on the 1930 USGS mapPatterson Township on the 1950 USGS mapPatterson Township on the 1980 USGS map1930Pearl sheet · 1:62,500

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

People over time

Patterson Township, census by census

01002001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 228

Between 91 and 228 people in every census since 1900.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Pearl TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMontezuma TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPearlIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWalkerville TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRoodhouse Township1 historic placeA−

Questions about Patterson Township’s history

What year was Patterson Township founded?

The Patterson Township post office opened in 1880, 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 →
Start a conversation
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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.