Patterson (ghost Town)

Patterson is a ghost town mentioned in Ron Brown(a)s books. Just over the Vaughan/Richmond Hill border where a post office and all sorts of industry was set up in the mid-1800(a)s. For precise details about its history the Ontario plaque (in the photos) reads:

PATTERSON

The early settlers, Peter Frank, John Velie, William Rumble, William Graham and others from England.

About 1855, Patterson and Brothers, who had patented a fanning mill came from New York State. They built a plant on the east part of Lot 21, Con 2 and manufactured agricultural implements such as reapers, mowers, scufflers and plows. They also constructed a sawmill, gristmill, foundry, machine shop, blacksmith shop, storage warehouse, lumber yard, office buildings and houses for their men. In 1871, the population was 200. There was a post office open from 1865 to 1888, a school from 1872 to 1964 and a Methodist church that was burnt in the early 1900(a)s. Four teams of heavy horses were kept busy hauling the implements to the railway station in Richmond Hill. Since they were unable to obtain a spur line from the railroad, the plant was moved to Woodstock in 1891.

Peter Patterson was a J.P., M.P., Reeve of Vaughan and a Warden of York County. Gradually many of the buildings were moved away or taken down. Peter(a)s son, John D. Patterson who died in 1939, acquired more property and called it Don Head Farms.

TOWN OF VAUGHAN FORMERLY TOWNSHIP OF VAUGHAN 1850 - 1970 Erected in 1974 by the Town of Vaughan in co-operation with Vaughan Township Historical Society

To see a 1948 map of the area go here: http://maps.library.utoronto.ca/datapub/digital/3400s_50_1948-[30M14W]3rd.jpg