Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Patoka Church of God in Christ-Patoka Colored School. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1937 on and old-book passages.
The Patoka post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Columbia (1813), opened inside today’s town 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 Patoka’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
From Wikipedia’s history of Patoka.
Patoka was laid out and platted in 1813. The town's name comes from an Indian word meaning "log on bottom", on account of the many muddy logs at the bottom of the river. The Patoka post office was established in 1833.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Patoka, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The following was written for the centennial issue of the Clarion-News, in March, 1913, concerning this place: "Patoka, the oldest town in Gibson county, was formerly called Smithville. The town was in existence a number of years prior to the organization of the countv. In fact, when John Severns, the first white settler in Gibson county, settled, in 1789, on the south bank of the Patoka river, at a place now known as Severns' bridge, the town of Patoka sprang into being. Other settlers naturally followed the path made liy Severns through the wilderness
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
"Patoka being the oldest town in the cdunty, was, as a matter of course, first in everything pertaining to the needs and requirements of an advancing civilization, such as schools, churches, mills, etc. The first grist-mill was erected near Patoka by Keen Fields. The first school house in Gibson county was built in Patoka in 1815 and for several years was used as a house of worship. The first minister to preach there was Rev. Thomas Martin, of the Baptist faith, and it is claimed by one writer that he was the first in the county. The first two-story log house in this county was built in Patoka l)y
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Patoka’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Patoka itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Patoka’s post office has been open since 1833. Another post office, Columbia, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Patoka post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Patoka Church of God in Christ-Patoka Colored School (listed 2022).
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 (3), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
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