Pattonville

Pattonville, a farming community at the junction of U.S. Highway 271 and Farm Road 196, ten miles southeast of Paris in southeastern Lamar County, was first settled around the time of the Texas Revolution by Robert Patton, after whom it was named. A post office was established there in 1860, discontinued in 1866, and reestablished in 1871. By 1885 the town had an estimated population of 100, served by a Methodist church, a district school, a blacksmith, a dry-goods store, two grocery stores, and several steam-driven cotton gins and gristmills. The construction of the Paris and Mount Pleasant Railway in 1913 further spurred development. A bank was in operation at Pattonville by 1914; and during the early 1920s the town population grew to 250. Though Pattonville, like most agricultural communities, suffered during the Great Depression, in the late 1930s some 250 residents and eight businesses were still reported there. In 1965 the community had an estimated 165 residents and seven businesses; it had an estimated 180 residents and two businesses in 1990. The population remained the same in 2000.