Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Pateros was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1909 on, and the census since 1920.
Pateros dates its founding to 1886 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1920.
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 Pateros’s history is told.
Peaked at 866 in 1950; 593 people lived here in 2020.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pateros’ Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Pateros.
Pateros was originally established as Ive's Landing in around 1886 by Lee Ives. Ives began farming the area near the confluence of the Methow and Columbia Rivers, which was populated by a small band of Native Americans and around 20 Chinese miners. Ives also built an 18-room hotel at the town site and operated a ferry crossing. The first post office was built in 1895.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveHotel ives
Born hereLowell Peterson is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2018Pateros Rail Bridge
2018Pateros Mall
2017Welcome to
2014Pateros Washington 2014 Fire
2014Carlton Complex Pateros 4
2014Carlton Complex Pateros 3
2014Carlton Complex Pateros 2
2014Carlton Complex Pateros 1
2009Pateros Washington
2009Organic Apples
2009Organic Apples Pateros WA cropped
2009Apple and Pear packing plant
2008Pateros and Lake
2004WAMap-doton-PaterosEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pateros. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Pateros.
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.
1909Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Pateros’ page.
Retake this view · +15Pateros’s post office has been open since 1900. Another post office, Ives, 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).
In 1886, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Pateros’ post office opened in 1896, and the census of 1920 counted 412 people here.
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 (18), 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
c. 1915
c. 1915
c. 1915
