James Martin Patterson

(1812-1906) Kentucky native James Martin Patterson arrived in Dallas in 1846. Patterson and John W. Smith opened one of the first stores in Dallas using their pooled resources of $700. They built a flatboat and attempted to ship cotton down the Trinity River to the Gulf Coast in 1851. Patterson served as chief justice (county judge) from 1854-66. He retired in 1875 and managed his extensive property holdings until his death. (1996)