Colonel Robert Patterson brought his family to the land now known as the Rubicon Farm in 1804. Patterson, a Revolutionary War soldier and founder of Lexington, Kentucky named the property after a nearby creek. Construction began on the present Federal-style farmhouse in 1816 and was intended to bring culture and good living to the fledgling Miami Valley area.

Colonel Patterson’s son and daughter-in-law, Jefferson and Julia Patterson inherited the farm and operated it from 1840 to 1868. Their sons, John and Frank founded the National Cash Register Company (NCR) in 1884, furthering the prosperity of the Patterson family and industry in Dayton.

The 1800’s proved to be a century of great change in American history in a number of ways. These changes can be clearly seen in the major life events or rites of passage of the people of the era. These milestones include birth, coming of age, marriage, and death.

Jefferson and Julia Patterson and their family witnessed the changes that took place in America. During this era, from 1840 to 1868, the family resided at Rubicon Farm Patterson Homestead) and experienced many important milestones in the history of the Patterson family.

Each room in the exhibit is designed to focus on one of the life events in America in general and in the Patterson family specifically. Of particular interest is a Civil War display that illuminates the fact that, for the youth of the era, war was very much a part of their coming of age.